182 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
182 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
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A Guide to the Chicago Cable System Part 1
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by Dr. Ripco
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Rather than starting things off with a desciption of what is
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really going on out there, here is a quick and easy way to start saving
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money off of your monthly cable bill. This of course only applies if you
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already have the basic service and your Cable company is Group W of Chicago.
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In future parts we will be discussing the Scientific Atlanta which
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is being used on the south and eastern parts of the city. For the first few
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parts most of the info contained applies to the Jerrold 450 system which
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Group W is using throughout tHe remainder of the city. It should be noted that in some areas Group W is using a decoder made by Pioneer which for all practical purposes is the same as the Jerrold 450. Why they are doing this will be covered in a future i
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stallment.
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now onto the good stuff......
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How to really get something for nothing (almost).
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Group W is no different than the other 1000 cable systems across
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the country. It, like them, are run by a bunch of money hungry bastard
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executives who do little else than come up with ways to charge you more for
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less service.
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One of the 'high level' services is the FM broadcast service which allows
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the consumer (sucker) to get simulcasted audio of the premium movie
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channels over his/her fm stereo.Along with them you get a handful of the
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local fm/am stations that unfortunetly there not where they are supposed to
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be. (see chart at end).
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To explain the simulcast theory, the best way to do it is to bring
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up other examples. If you go back awhile, one of the first proven attempts
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was the old ABC-TV series call "In Concert". You would tune your tv to
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channel 7,turn the sound off and tune your fm stereo to what was then WDAI
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(94.7). More recent examples are several specials shown on WTTW (ch.11) and
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the audio on WFMT, along with the first year of "Friday Night Videos" shown
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on WMAQ-TV and the audio over WLUP (97.9).
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Over the air simulcasting isn't done much anymore with the advent
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of the "MTS Stereo Decoder" but the pigs at Group W think differently. Why
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should they allow the sucker (consumer) to get free stereo with his stereo
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ready tv/vcr when they can charge extra for it? I mean whats the point in
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allowing someone who paid probably $200 extra for the feature get a free
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ride on the cable system? Bear in mind that only WMAQ and WTTW are full
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time stereo locally but almost all f the 'premium' station are.
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Well here is the bad news, Group W doesn't put in (or allow to pass) the
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MTS stereo signal needed for the stereo ready tv and vcr's to work. They
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have a 'better' alternative. (even though the jerrold 450 is capable of
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passing the signal).
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The Optional FM hookup is how they sell it. Its only $2.50 extra
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on installation ($30 if commercial) and $2 a month ($10 if commerical). Yes
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thats right, for only $24.00 extra a year you can kick yourself in the ass
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for paying for your cable ready stereo tv only to find out neither the
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cable tuner nor stereo decoder is worth squat.
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This mod won't help you fix a mistake, but at least in 10 years or so you
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can recover the expense. And for everyone else this might prevent you from
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spending money without good cause. To do this right, you will need the
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following items:
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1- 2 way 75 ohm cable coupler
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1- 75-300 ohm matching transformer
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2- pieces of coax cable with ends,one
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short (about 2 feet or so) the other
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long enough to run from the decoder
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atop your tv to your fm stereo.
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If you have no idea what any of the above items are, simply print this file
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out and bring it to your local Radio Shack dealer. I find they are most
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helpful when it comes to aiding cable consumers (suckers).
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All you have to do is follow the next diagram. In words all you
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are going to do is unscrew the cable coming from the wall to the 'cable in'
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jack on the back of the decoder, screw the cable into the input of the 2
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way coupler, run the short coax from one of the outs of the coupler back to
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the jack on the decoder where you unplugged it, then take the longer piece
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of coax and run it from the other output of the coupler to the 75-300
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transformer which in turn will go on the fm-ant screws on the back of your
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fm stereo radio.
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______ short cable --------------|
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| out|--- _______________ | cable in |
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--------------- _| |--- | |
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cable from wall--- |_in | | |(decoder)
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--------------- | |--- ______ | to tv |
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| out|--- \ |(leave alone) |
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------ | |---------------
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2 set coupler |
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| <--- longer coax cable
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___
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-----
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75-300 ohm matching ---> | |
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transformer | |
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-----
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/ \
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/ \
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/ \
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/ \
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^^^ ^^^
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\ /
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attach these to ends to the fm
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antenna screws on the back of
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your fm stereo. (300 ohm inputs)
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Thats about all there is to it. The total cost is about $3-$5
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depending on the lenghts of coax you get. The cost to Group W is about a
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dollar for the same stuff. Well worth the $2 a month they charge extra for.
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Now that you have things attached ere is a run down of the stations in case
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you don't have the offical list:
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standard radio stations-
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WIND 89.3 WTAQ 89.7 WCEV 90.3 WEDC 90.7
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WCRW 90.7 WSBC 90.7 WGN 91.3 WMAQ 91.7
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WBEZ 92.5 WXRT 93.7 WLAK 94.5 WLS 95.3
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WMET 96.1 WLS 96.5 WBBM 96.9 WNIB 97.7
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WLUP 98.5 WFMT 99.3 WUSN 100.5 WLOO 100.9
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WKQX 101.7 WCLR 102.5 WBMX 103.3 WFYR 104.1
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WJMK 104.9 WOJO 105.7 WCKG 106.9 WGCI 107.3
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Note that many of the stations are AM foreign language.
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stereo simulcast stations-
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VH-1 (video on 40) audio on 92.9
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Showtime (video on 18) audio on 93.3
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TMC (video on 46) audio on 94.1
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TNN (video on 37) audio on 94.9
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Bravo (video on 68) audio on 95.7
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SPN (video on 66) audio on 97.3
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MTV (video on 42) audio on 98.1
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HBO (video on 17) audio on 98.9
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Cinemax (video on 44) audio on 99.7
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Disney (video on 48) audio on 100.1
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HTN (video on 63) audio on 101.3
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Gala (video on 50) audio on 102.1
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BET (video on 52) audio on 105.3
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All ya have to do now is tune the decoder to the channel you want,
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turn the sound off, turn on your fm radio and tune it to the matching
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frequency for the audio. Of course if you are not paying for any of the
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'premium' channels you aren't going to get a picture, but that will be
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covered in one of the next parts. (hehehhehehe).
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A few notes... First off if you are already paying for the fm
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service, you can cancel it and do the above to re-attach it. They will
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explain to you that if they send one of their highly qualified techs out to
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disconnect it, it will cost you $25 or the service call. If you ask them if
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you can do it yourself, they will tell you yes and to disconnect the 75-300
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ohm transformer from the radio and bring it into the office on Milwaukee
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ave. Since you are leaving the 2 way coupler and coax cable, on the way
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back from the office drop by Radio Shack and pick up a new transformer. You
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won't need anything else.
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Another thing is don't lose any sleep about them catching you with
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an illegal tap on the line.Unless you are stupid enough to let them in to
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inspect the wiring there really is no other way for them to know. The
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system they installed so far is no setup for "line testing" so it is next
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to impossible for them to detect it from outside of the house. Also note
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that the fm-service cannot be cut-off like they do if ya have a non-
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authorized remote control.
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Well have loads of fun and enjoy.......
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Dr. Ripco
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