antenna Archives - The Silicon Underground

How does MAC address filtering help to secure a wireless network?

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 11:00:27 +0000

Someone asked me the other day how does MAC address filtering help to secure a wireless network? If you’re in a position where it would help, I argue there are other things you need to do. But I’ll explain how it works,

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A DVR without a subscription or monthly fees

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:00:53 +0000

What if I told you that you could have a DVR without a subscription that worked with free over-the-air antenna-based TV, and it cost less than $35, saving those monthly subscription fees month after month? It’s called the Mediasonic Homeworx

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Why hiding your SSID makes your security worse

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 12:00:06 +0000

I got a couple of questions about my recommended DD-WRT settings, but I’m going to start with the question about why not to hide the SSID. It actually turns out that hiding your SSID is bad for you, and makes your

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How to connect a Commodore VIC-20 to a TV

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:00:51 +0000

Connecting old computers and consoles to not-as-old televisions is frequently a challenge. Sadly, the VIC-20, Commodore’s runaway bestseller from 1982, is no exception to that. Here’s how to connect a Commodore VIC-20 to a TV. Unfortunately, there are fewer options

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How to test whether your TV has a digital HDTV tuner in it

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:00:51 +0000

If you’re thinking about canceling your cable TV subscription to save money, you might be worried about buying an antenna, only to find your TV isn’t capable of receiving over-the-air broadcasts. If you live near a major metro area though,

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The difference between the TP-Link TL-WR841N and TL-WR841ND

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 13 May 2015 11:00:41 +0000

I see people asking about the difference between the TP-Link TL-WR841N and TL-WR841ND (sometimes they just ask TP-Link TL-WR841N vs TL-WR841ND). Since nobody else seems to have answered, I’ll take the question. Here’s how to decode TP-Link model numbers. This is true

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What to look for in a wireless access point

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:00:28 +0000

A good way to eliminate dead zones in your house where wifi doesn’t work is to add one or two wireless access points to your setup. Access points, thankfully, are no longer stupid expensive–they used to cost twice as much

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In the city, a $6 antenna is all you need

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:00:33 +0000

There are a lot of good plans for DIY antennas on the web that you can make for less than $10 worth of parts, which is good considering the flood of $50 antennas on the market that are little more

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Bringing back old HDTVs

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 11:00:16 +0000

Over Thanksgiving weekend I picked up a discarded 23-inch LCD HDTV, a Samsung LN-S2341W. The television’s biggest problem, it turned out, was that it didn’t have an ATSC tuner so it couldn’t pick up over the air broadcasts after analog

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Eliminate wifi dead spots using access points

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:00:19 +0000

I’ve said before how to eliminate wifi dead spots, but perhaps I didn’t give it the focus it deserves. I think almost everyone has wifi dead spots in their house that they would like to eliminate. It turns out you

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