# FROM DISH: Official L145 Fixes List



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Here's the list of the fixes from L142 through L145:


Fix a lockup condition in the terrestrial tuner (Fixes loss of OTA services when tuning to a weak channel) 
Fix to prevent terrestrial records from aborting if content is played back from the DVR menu 
Prevent PIP window obscuring pause icon 
Fix to remove white "dot" seen on some HD monitors 
View banner is now removed when cancelling browse banner 
Fix transparent background in solitaire game 
Aspect ratio handled correctly during PIP 
Fixes to the Viewapp to enable the changing of the channel during the Reminder Timer (pre timer period ) 
Fix to prevent box reboot when exiting the DVR menu to a local service 
Highlight and allow "SAVE" after a terrestrial scan 
Fix crash when changing from 1080i to 720p with PIP active 
Fix audio lockup on CD channels 
Changes to make box start installing new software if in standby and no timers are active 

After you take the download and L145 installs on your 921, you should do a smartcard reboot. This will allow digital OTA channel scanning, and generally cause your 921 to be more stable than if you didn't reboot.


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## guruka (Dec 27, 2003)

Thank you for posting this, Mark.

Now that's 13 "official" fixes and I seem to remember you mentioning the OTA tuner fix along with 23 other fixes. Either my memory fails me (a not uncommon occurance) or there are 11 other fixes you didn't mention. If so, can you share them?

.....G


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Nope. That's the list that I can share. There were other, more minor and more technical fixes, in addition to several things that were broken and fixed in L143 and L144 that you guys never saw.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Thank you. Good advice for any update.

After it is a Linux based computer with a real hard drive.

Computers sometimes need to be rebooted.

Thanks
scottct1 
New Member


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## ocnier (May 8, 2003)

what was a smart card reboot again?


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## tahoerob (Mar 22, 2003)

ocnier said:


> what was a smart card reboot again?


slide open front draw.
pull out smart card (partial is OK).
If youare tuned to a sat channel, you will get a insert smart card warning!

push card back in.

reboot will start with the round Dish HDTV icon splash screen showing, then acquiring satellite message.

Reboot will take literally 5-7 minutes. go get something to eat or drink!


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## cnacht (Dec 24, 2003)

Any word on when they will activate some discrete codes? I was doing some testing and it seems as though my discrete ON is working, but not my descrete OFF.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Right, discrete on does work now, but not the off. I don't know when they'll get added, although I suspect they're farther down the priority list of things to fix. Other things (like aspect ratios) are more important to more people.


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## alipka (Dec 11, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Right, discrete on does work now, but not the off. I don't know when they'll get added, although I suspect they're farther down the priority list of things to fix. Other things (like aspect ratios) are more important to more people.


Yes, please, please, please - aspect ratio discrete!

Also, don't forget, resolution discrete goes along with it. That is, I would switch from 1080i 16x9 to 480i 4x3. This allows me to use the stretch modes for SD, and the scaler for SD, that I own.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

_"Fix to prevent box reboot when exiting the DVR menu to a local service"_

Mark- This rebooted after attempt to exit DVR screen to return to live sat channel. I was in the help page to read about "Cleanup etc." just prior to that. Prior to Help page I had just deleted a recording that I watched. The reboot was preceeded by the gray screen with the black X in the center for about a minute.

This is a non repeating bug as I had tried this same operation twice before with no problem. Then the third time later this evening it rebooted. Sort of like your computer when you do so much stuff that you run out of RAM and not enough disk space either, the computer hangs and then crashes.

It is the second reboot in 22 hours of operation for any reason.

*DVR921:* DVI > Dwin TV3monitor All SAT and OTA DTV signals between 115 and 125; OTA channels manually entered. SW64 switch
Placed in service- Jan. 23, 2004
L145HECD-N
Boot V. 120B
Flash V. F051


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## sampatterson (Aug 27, 2002)

Thanks goodness they fixed that annoying Solataire background bug :lol:

On a good note, it is great to see they are getting fixes out for the 921.


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## tgerrish (Jan 20, 2004)

Mark,

Thanks again for posting this and spending so much time helping everyone with their 921's!

Any idea when the next software version will be released?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Honestly, I don't know. Haven't heard a thing about it yet.


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## SoCalStev1 (Jan 10, 2004)

Mark,

The last time you told me that the software updated happened about an hour later. Remember the second email you sent me??? Just out of curiousity, what happened to the thread you started after the L145 upgrade? Did it get too out of hand so you dumped it? It was a good staring off place until it got all weird with testostrone and chest thumping. Oh well. Maybe next time. 

Hey, who knows? Maybe the new s/w will come tonight while we all sleep cozy in our beds.

Dont know if this is the right forum for this, but..Here it goes anyway. You gotta fix the Stretch problem and the audio not syncing up with the video after you pause the picture. Both very annoying!

Ok, everyone have a great weekend! You people at E* as well!

Steve


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

It wasn't dumped - just unstickied and fallen to page 2.

Here it is: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=22780


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

Wow...this is my first standalone DVR (after working with the PC as a very stable DVR for more than a year). It surely has tons of nice features but it most likely the worst stability I have seen in a device so far. Are all Linux based DVR that bad? 

Scott wrote: After it is a Linux based computer with a real hard drive.
Computers sometimes need to be rebooted.

I am not sure where you get that from but I am runnign Windows CE devices for MONTH without booting ....and if I boot them it does not take longer then 20 seconds (if the design is really messed up!).

I do not see any reason why JVC had to save money and use Linux in such an imporant device. And do not come with costs...Linux is NOT cheaper than other embedded OSes. 

Well I guess we have to open that thing and see we can put some "sense" into the device....

Dont get me wrong...I really love the 921...I am just very frustrated that JVC did not hold up the quality of the software..

My bugs in L145 are:
+ Caller ID works....occationally (1 of 20 times)
+ If I go to a OTA channel with a weak signal and move away with Channel up I do not get any signal from the Satellite anymore.
+ I thought there were two tuners inside? Why can I not watch a different channel while I am (manually) recording one (this is also not consisten - sometimes it works and sometimes it does not)
+ If I am recording TWO programs I cannot switch between them.
+ The 921 never turn off... I am sure that is also a Linux problem (Because Linux takes forever to boot - 5-7 Minutes is just a joke!). Yes the green light turn off but inside nothing is off. This is not even a suspend mode rather a "fake the user by turning off on LED and mute the outputs".
+ The aspect ratios are not great but I can live with them. It would be nice if there would be one ratio that expands a 4:3 source to a 16:9 output. That way you could toggle to SD mode - zoom it and you would get a perfectly fine 4:3 picture on your SD device (without having to change the apect ration in the System Setup to 4:3).

Also, did you know that the Infrared receiver in the 921 does NOT work anymore if you switch the RF receiver away from its default (anything else the RF setting 0 - zero). This has been the same on the old JVC 100DU DVHS Receiver.

Well, I am desperately waiting for a new Software Version that fixes those things. It is pretty hard to justify 1100$ for a receiver to your wife if it reboots all the time (about once a day).

I will let you know if I find more interesting things...

Chris


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## BarryO (Dec 16, 2003)

'sounds like we're hearing from a Microsoft employee ...


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## kmcnamara (Jan 30, 2004)

muenchris said:


> Also, did you know that the Infrared receiver in the 921 does NOT work anymore if you switch the RF receiver away from its default (anything else the RF setting 0 - zero). This has been the same on the old JVC 100DU DVHS Receiver.


Can you explain this further? I don't get what you mean.


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## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

The choice to go with an embedded linux is because they are building on the previous software for the 721. Linux isn't inherently unstable - you can have stable software running on it or unstable software running.

JVC didn't do the software, it was done by Eldon tech (a division of echostar).

I'm sure that the decision to not shut down the machine when you turn it off is because of the slow boot time. Without doing diagnostic research, its hard to say what causes it to take so long. Linux can be made to boot quickly or slowly.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

bytre said:


> The choice to go with an embedded linux is because they are building on the previous software for the 721. Linux isn't inherently unstable - you can have stable software running on it or unstable software running.


Is this really an embedded linux?? It is not an embedded processor is it? I thought that review said the hardware was basically a PC with a 1.2GHz processor, and 5 or 6 PCI slots, firewire, USB, 250GB Hard Drive, and video that does 1920x1080. Doesn't sound like an embedded system to me! As far as cost goes, Linux is free, they charge for support. The caviat is that under the GPL license, you have to release source code if it is distributed with Linux. Under this agreement with the 721, parts of the source code were released by Dish.

As far as stability goes, Linux, and Unix are very stable animals. This does not mean that applications will be stable though. It takes time. I don't fault the engineers for this, they are doing their job. The product appears to have been released before its time. They were either under staffed, or the deadline was pushed to far forward.


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

kmcnamara said:


> Can you explain this further? I don't get what you mean.


Sure, if you look in the manual you will find a section "Optimzing your Remote Control - Page 33" where you can change the RF channel for the Remote. As soon as you do this, and save your settings (Record to 921), you will find out that your Universal Remote (or Radio Shack all-in-one) IR (!!) Remote control will not work anymore. I had the exact same problem with my JVC 100DU.

Try it out and you will see...


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

BarryO said:


> 'sounds like we're hearing from a Microsoft employee ...


Not really, I am an embedded Professional working mostly with Windows CE. 
(check out ISBN: 0201616424 at Amazon.com or bn.com).


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

bytre said:


> The choice to go with an embedded linux is because they are building on the previous software for the 721. Linux isn't inherently unstable - you can have stable software running on it or unstable software running.
> 
> JVC didn't do the software, it was done by Eldon tech (a division of echostar).
> 
> I'm sure that the decision to not shut down the machine when you turn it off is because of the slow boot time. Without doing diagnostic research, its hard to say what causes it to take so long. Linux can be made to boot quickly or slowly.


I would be VERY interested in seeing any Linux device that cold-boots faster than 1 minute. Can you point me to one? How long does the 721 take to boot (after you unplug the power-line).
You can accelerate the boot process by booting from battery buffered RAM or fast mask-rom but as soon as you go to flash or Harddrive....
Also there is no boot optimization (such as parallel driver loading or booting from Hibernation files) in Linux. 
In all instances I have encountered embedded Linux vs. Windows CE...Linux was always slower booting.

You might be right that Linux itself is not inherently instable - the same is true for Windows (yes, I mean Desktop Windows :lol: ) - its always the Apps and the drivers that crashes the system. I guess we deal with bad drivers and bad apps in this case, too...or are there Linux "experts" working on the system? All experts I know in Linux have specialized on one specific flavor of Linux (Red Hat, Suse, or whatever). Suddenly they have to deal with another flavor of Linux and your experts become "guessperts". A driver that works stable and excellent under Red hat might be the worst driver under Suse....and I have not even talked about versioning in Linux ...what is the current version of Red Hat? How old is the version in the 921? How often do you think they can upgrade to the latest version without having to restart all their testing?

I guess you know by now why I rather go with one source (CE) where I "only" have the versioning problem (9-12 month for a new CE version vs. weekly builds of Linux are not too bad odds).


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

jsanders said:


> As far as stability goes, Linux, and Unix are very stable animals. This does not mean that applications will be stable though. It takes time. I don't fault the engineers for this, they are doing their job. The product appears to have been released before its time. They were either under staffed, or the deadline was pushed to far forward.


What Linux are you talking of? There are good Linuxes (or whatever the plural is) and there are bad ones - or shall I say bad versions of Linux (since it even varies from build to build).

I agree, if the engineers where pushed to ship early, I have to tell you that they did a great job. The device could be much worse (although I got my 921 with L145 installed).

Regarding the hardware of the 921 I have not opened it, yet (and if my wife stays patient and accepts the daily reboot, I will not do so). I will wait for the next software upgrade and see how it does.

All in all I do like the receiver. It is a milestone in technology for Set-top boxes and I have been waiting for such a device for over a year (about the time I started my HTPC project with the MyHD card).


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

Oh, and one more word to Mark Lamutt: YOU DO A SUPER GREAT JOB! 
Your review (and most likely all the other positive posts here) did convince me to buy the 921 as soon as I could


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

muenchris said:


> Sure, if you look in the manual you will find a section "Optimzing your Remote Control - Page 33" where you can change the RF channel for the Remote. As soon as you do this, and save your settings (Record to 921), you will find out that your Universal Remote (or Radio Shack all-in-one) IR (!!) Remote control will not work anymore. I had the exact same problem with my JVC 100DU.
> 
> Try it out and you will see...


Standard, non-learning IR universal remotes usually have Dish Remote Address 1 pre-programmed, but none of the other addresses. The only way to use another remote address with a universal remote is to get a one that is capable of learning IR codes from other remotes, and has enough memory to hold all of the buttons.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

muenchris said:


> Oh, and one more word to Mark Lamutt: YOU DO A SUPER GREAT JOB!
> Your review (and most likely all the other positive posts here) did convince me to buy the 921 as soon as I could


Thanks. Despite what some people have said, I try very hard to call things the way I see them, whether they are good or bad. You don't see me posting a lot of the smaller bugs in this forum (although you guys are doing a remarkable job getting most of them posted) because as a beta tester I'm sending my reports through the beta process. If and when I come across something big concerning release software, I do post it here in addition to sending it through the beta process and directly to the lead developer at Eldon.

I am mostly positive about the 921 because that's the way I really do feel about it. The OTA issues don't bug me as much as they do some of you because I have other solutions to record OTA HD available to me. That's not to say that I don't discount those problems, because believe me I don't. You should see some of the emails that I've sent off about it...much nastier than most of what's been posted here so far.


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Standard, non-learning IR universal remotes usually have Dish Remote Address 1 pre-programmed, but none of the other addresses. The only way to use another remote address with a universal remote is to get a one that is capable of learning IR codes from other remotes, and has enough memory to hold all of the buttons.


What may not be clear not be clear in the manual is that changing the remote code effects both RF and IR. IR is certainly not as critical, but it's nice if you ever have two boxes in the same room (like an 811 and 50x).

The JP1 programmable remotes let you enter the remote code as part of the configuration (http://www.hifi-remote.com/jp1/index.shtml).


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Definitely, and for me, IR is more critical than UHF. I currently have 4 dish receivers in the same room.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

muenchris said:


> What Linux are you talking of? There are good Linuxes (or whatever the plural is) and there are bad ones - or shall I say bad versions of Linux (since it even varies from build to build).
> 
> Regarding the hardware of the 921 I have not opened it, yet (and if my wife stays patient and accepts the daily reboot, I will not do so). I will wait for the next software upgrade and see how it does.


If you have seen bad versions of Linux, which ones were they? As far as builds go, there are nightly/weekly development builds, final candidate builds, and release builds. This is going to be true whether the OS is from Linux, Mac OS, or even the people in Redmond that work at Microsoft. The difference is that Apple and Microsoft only let you see the release builds. Anyway, a release for Linux is most likely going to be a stable release.

Regarding the hardware, you don't have to open it! That is because Tahoerob, who doesn't live in Tahoe anymore already did the deed for us!

I thought he posted his findings here, but I haven't seen them, so I apologize for the cross posting.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=4057

TahoeRob, if you haven't posted here, I'm sure a lot of people would be interested.


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## tahoerob (Mar 22, 2003)

jsanders said:


> ......................
> 
> Regarding the hardware, you don't have to open it! That is because Tahoerob, who doesn't live in Tahoe anymore already did the deed for us!
> 
> ...


I did a cross reference post here to the above site to reduce the cumbersome upload process. If I get time I can try to do a post directly for here later this week.


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

jsanders said:


> Regarding the hardware, you don't have to open it! That is because Tahoerob, who doesn't live in Tahoe anymore already did the deed for us!
> 
> I thought he posted his findings here, but I haven't seen them, so I apologize for the cross posting.
> 
> ...


Cool! I will check it out and draw my conclusions
Regarding Linux vs. any other OS - it becomes a religious issue very fast and I guess we should stop here.


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## muenchris (Jan 16, 2004)

jsanders said:


> I thought he posted his findings here, but I haven't seen them, so I apologize for the cross posting.
> 
> http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=4057
> 
> TahoeRob, if you haven't posted here, I'm sure a lot of people would be interested.


I checked it out. Quite nice design (and perfect for XP Embedded ).
Looking at the design I am pretty sure the the noice does NOT come from the Maxtor Harddrive. 5400 RPM UDMA133 is one of the quietest HDs on the market. But you can see two fans (one in the back on in the front). If they are not from Papst than they are the source of the noice.
The CPU is cooled passively - that is nice and with that much space in the 921 I am pretty sure the fan could even be throttled to a lower speed (just to circulate the air out of the device.

Since its a x86 design with no apparent co-processor for Timer wake-up - no wonder that they cannot turn the device off - something has to trigger a timer even if the device is turned "off". There are options to do this but it costs money (such as a USB timer device that is battery buffered and wakes-up the device if its time to record).

I am still curious what graphics chip they are using. It seams to be on the motherboard and cannot be exchanged.

250GB for the harddrive was good thinking from Dish. That will probably hold for a couple of month. I am wondering if they boot the OS from the HD. If so we probably never can change the harddrive without killing the system. BUt if they have a Flash drive or similar and the HD is just for recording we might be able to put the Terrabyte -)) HDs in as soon as they will be on the market.

Well,if I had a second 921 I would try to work a little with it...


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

tahoerob said:


> slide open front draw.
> pull out smart card (partial is OK).
> If youare tuned to a sat channel, you will get a insert smart card warning!
> 
> ...


I couldn't get the drawer open. How do you open the drawer on the 921 to get to the smart card?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

It's the little sliding drawer below the rectangular plate that looks like it's the cover for an expansion slot. It just slides open from right to left.


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

For those asking about chipsets used in these devices:

"Broadcom Corporation, a leading provider of silicon solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced that EchoStar Communications Corp. is using Broadcom's 8PSK (Phase Shift Keying) turbo code technology across EchoStar's newest line of DISH Network satellite TV receivers, including the DISH 111, DISH 311, DISH 322, Dish Player-DVR 522, DISH 811 and Dish Player-DVR 921 products."

"The BCM4500 is a highly integrated, all-digital satellite receiver that supports BPSK, QPSK, and 8PSK modulation, operating with both advanced modulation satellite systems and legacy QPSK systems. The advanced modulation turbo-code forward error correction (FEC) decoder delivers extremely high performance, approaching theoretical capacity limits, with no requirement for external RAM.

This versatile receiver provides full variable rate operation from 1-30 Mbaud, providing multiple operating points for optimal system deployment. Other features include an integrated microcontroller for configuration, acquisition and performance monitoring, and a host interface that operates via a high-level application programmers' interface to reduce host software development time and simplify system integration.

The BCM3440 Direct Conversion Satellite Tuner delivers superior performance for the direct broadcast satellite market, and offers all the advantages of standard logic CMOS process. The fact that the BCM3440 is fabricated in CMOS technology is significant because it is a widely available, cost-effective technology and provides a path for integration with other Broadcom satellite products."

(...)

"[re: the 921] The Echostar set top box on display features the VIA PRO133A/686B chipset and VIA C3 Samuel II Processor."


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## Mike Richardson (Jun 12, 2003)

How good is BPSK in relation to QPSK and 8PSK?


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

Mike Richardson said:


> How good is BPSK in relation to QPSK and 8PSK?


It depends on what you are after. BPSK (Bi-Phase Shift Keying) has more noise immunity than QPSK, and 8PSK by definition. You can pack more data into 8PSK and QPSK than BPSK, which is what satellite providers are after. If you want to communicate with Mars, you want BPSK with a huge chipping sequence to get a receivable signal at the sacrifice of a low data rate.


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

Mike Richardson said:


> How good is BPSK in relation to QPSK and 8PSK?


The names are a bit confusing but BPSK is Bi or 2 phase shift keys per symbol, i.e. the signal can be in one of 2 phases representing a 0 or a 1. QPSK or quad is 4 states representing 2 bits (a 0 and a 1 for each bit makes 4). 8PSK is 8 states representing 3 bits.

It gets harder and harder to see the small changes in the signal as you increase the number of possible states it could be in. This means that you have to have more transmitter power and/or increase the error correction (FEC/Forward error correction) to let the reciever get a clear signal.


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## mcowher (Jan 27, 2003)

Can we please get this thread back on topic?


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