Good Evening … I realize not everyone will care whether or not a “prisoner/criminal” has access to his TV or not … but the person is someone whose very large family had “made me a part of theirs” when I was in college in California years ago (with no family of my own there) … and he will always be “dear to me” .. he made a few mistakes a long time ago, when he was 19-20 yrs old (and had no money & a terribly-over-worked court-appointed attorney) … I do have some “sympathy” for him sitting bored to death in a cell, day-in-and-day-out … So if anyone else can find the sympathy and mercy in their hearts, too, please read on for the details of his problem. (a link to the TV Signal Analysis Report is at the end, as well as what I found on the LPTV Station Search Tool results)
He has a very small RCA “digital” TV, that normally connects via a cable into a “cable outlet” in the wall (and no, they don’t get premium “cable channels” like HBO or Showtime – just “basic”/local TV stations like NBC, Fox, CBS, etc.). Now, I know he’s only had this “digital-ready” TV for a year or two, and I don’t know if this “cable outlet in the wall” is how he used to always connect his “analog” TV and get reception, too, or what. In other words, I don’t know if having “cable wall outlets” is something relatively new in the prison – like, something they’ve had to start using because of “digital-ready” TVs (and how that’s the only kind available for the inmates to buy, now) – or if they’ve always used them (because of the very poor, or complete lack of, reception in that geographic location). The topic of how his TV “connects” has never come up before! But he recently got moved to another building in that prison, and he said there’s no “cable wall outlet” in the cell, to plug his TV into. He uses the word “our” and the plural form of “outlet” and “cable” (as in “there’s no cable outletS to plug OUR TV cableS in to, over here”), and I’m not sure if that means “that section” of the building he is in doesn’t have them, or the entire building doesn’t.
This is what he wrote to me: “
There are no cable outlets to plug our TV cables into, over here .. So we have to rip our cable to the TV and make a circle, then hang it in the cell to find reception. I found 2 channels, only … I’ve been moving the cable all around the cell trying to get better reception and more channels, but nothing yet. The cable is about 5 feet long .. I’m going to try 2 cables together as soon as I buy another cable from store.” So he asked me to do a little Internet research to see if I could find any “tips or tricks” for getting reception (or better reception) on a digital TV, when you only have a “cable” to use as “makeshift antenna.”
So I did a TV Signal Analysis Report on your site (geez, what a great site, too! So much info – I learned a lot!). I had also tried to find out what 2 stations he might be getting in – I looked his zip code up on the Low Power TV Station locator
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eb/zipsrch/ (because I had also discovered and read about LPTV) as well as a few surrounding zip codes, and they showed K36FO (channel 36) coming from Calexico, CA, and K56GC (channel 56) coming from El Centro/Holtville, CA. But in looking at the TV Signal Analysis Report on your site, I can’t seem to locate those stations .. So, can anyone read this report and tell me what you think ? Is it going to be “possible” for him to get any other channels in, without a “good, normal” antenna (like “rabbit ears” or “loop/bow tie” types)?? If yes, what can he do? (for instance, will tin foil help?) When I look at the report, even though I can’t “read” it or understand what each table is, from the first colored circle graph, it doesn’t look like he is within reception of anything. And that was my first thought when I read his questions – that since he’s basically out in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, with at least one “forest” that appears to be on one side of the perimeter, and probably mountainous terrain on others, that are between him and any towns/cities that might have towers, that chances were remote that he was going to pick up any stations without being attached to some VERY STRONG antenna OUTSIDE, or a cable …. So, here’s the report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1349333b9d89a7
And thanks for anyone and everyone who can help!
Reception in a Calif. Prison??
Great Idea!! Thank you!!
... it's truly amazing)
