  Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3274 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have noticed a greater preponderance of satellite dishes in new immigrant neighborhoods such as in SW Detroit, Detroit E of Hamtramck and areas of Dearborn. I am guessing that choices for receiving programming in Spanish, Arabic and other languages is better provided via satellite vs. cable. Right or Wrong? Here is an example, the lovely Barbara Apartments in the Latino neighborhood at 512 West Grand Blvd. near Vernor.   | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1107 Registered: 12-2004 |
As a Hamtramck resident, I second your assertion. | ||
Bussey Member Username: Bussey Post Number: 319 Registered: 12-2003 |
i think it isnt an immigrant thing as it is an apartment thing. In most non-immigrant areas you have the dishes in a less dense arrangement and also on rooftops. My Woodbridge Condo association has Direct TV and not the Monopolistic ComAss yet we have our dishes on or roof so they are out of sight. This is just a matter of either no roof top access or lazy Direct TV installers. (Message edited by bussey on November 09, 2006) | ||
A_franklins_son Member Username: A_franklins_son Post Number: 52 Registered: 11-2003 |
The Burger King is looking out of one of the windows. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7102 Registered: 12-2003 |
Dish Network has more overseas programming available than DirecTV, but both provide it. Those antenna really ugly up the front of that building...and that could've been avoided. FCC ruling is that no landlord OR subdivision/condo board can restrict their tenants and residents from mounting ANY antenna smaller than 39 inches. (size might be off, I don't have that in front of me for reference) Silly landlords could have ONE dish each serving the entire building for service, DirecTV and Dish Network...but due to their idiocy and lack of foresight they end up with this cluster. Even MY developer ignored my repeated instructions to make one central place for cable, Over-the-air, and both satellite services to come into the loft...but he thought he was a badass and was going to make firm rules against mounting anything to the historic structure. He went cheap by letting Comcast wire the whole place with their stuff for 'free'. Silly boy. The very first tenant was an NFL addict, and she needed DirecTV for her fix. He said NO. I provided him with the FCC ruling, which trumped the historic property jurisdiction. I had to protect MY future ability to add dishes for my studio work. So now everyone has dishes on the roof above their unit...and that could've been avoided...along with providing us with future camera distribution. As it is, I'm the only one with closed-circuit cameras...I see y'all when you pull your car into Sala Thai's lot! Even when the advice is GIVEN...it is wasted...might as well talk to the wall. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 2921 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yeah Lowell there are various old country satellite dish programming packages targetted at immigrant groups --- the post-space age equivalent of the old foreign language chicken scratch newspapers some of us can remember our grandparents reading ... | ||
Yupislyr Member Username: Yupislyr Post Number: 173 Registered: 07-2004 |
There's also lots of ethnic free-to-air satellite channels. | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7096 Registered: 10-2003 |
Actually, a landlord can prohibit dishes. Dish companies provide their customers with letters that distort the FCC rules and rather than question it (and face a lawsuit) the landlord just gives in. But here's the rules: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/ot ard.html | ||
Salvadordelmundo Member Username: Salvadordelmundo Post Number: 61 Registered: 04-2006 |
Landlords CAN prohibit dishes, but considering the clientele, that would probably hurt business more than it helps in many areas. Some people actually mount TWO dishes - one of which is a Dish Network or other company device, and the other of which receives over-the-air open signal transmissions from satellites. You can pick up interesting and sometimes bizarre stuff that way. Anything from Turkish music videos to French-language comedies from west Africa to newscasts from Trinidad. | ||
Wolverine Member Username: Wolverine Post Number: 239 Registered: 04-2004 |
This is the same as running cable wires on the exterior of a building which is common. In my case, they are dangling in the breeze outside my window. | ||
Polaar Member Username: Polaar Post Number: 11 Registered: 10-2006 |
Using these dishes is the same thing as the immigrants in the earlier part of the 20th century (like my great grandparents) who bought shortwave radios to hear news and music from their countries of origin. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 1570 Registered: 12-2003 |
Running the Dishes on the roof of a large apartment complex would cause a problem as no line can be longer than 100 feet in a straight run. Also after switching the signal so many times the signal would be pretty weak at the bottom. One Small dish for all in a large apartment building would not really be feasible. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2208 Registered: 02-2005 |
That looks kind of like the rehabbed loft building on Jos. Campau near the river. There are a bunch of dishes on the SW face of the building overlooking the street, and I'm not so sure it looks good. However, its a sign that the building is heavily occupied so I'm happy. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2006 |
A couple of years ago the Hamtramck Planning Commission was trying to get an ordinance to prohibit the dishes from being installed on the front of buildings as most cities do. Then they figured out as with most ideas in Hamtramck they would have no one to enforce it. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 367 Registered: 04-2006 |
These are all over Warrendale as well. Often times they are pointed to a different part of the sky. | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2741 Registered: 10-2003 |
legend in the neighborhood is that a wealthy eccentric occupies much of the top floor of that building. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2316 Registered: 10-2003 |
SJ, there are special directv/dish systems designed for Apartment buildings and condos. One dish with a special amplifier system. This works well for the dish network and used to work well for DirecTv. Unfortunately DirecTv recently went from 3 to 5 satellites. This was done to allow them to carry more HDTV content. Directv hadn't solved this problem last time I looked about 5 months ago. I need to go back and see if this was solved. I'm planning on putting one on the Vinton buildings roof to give our co-owners a choice between comcast and a dish company. A landlord can stop a renter from putting a dish on the building. It's his building, the fcc ruling only applies to the government, condo and homeowner associations. Renters have no rights in this case. Condos can also be restricted if the owner doesn't have exclusive use rights to the surface the dish is to be mounted to and the space it occupies. Historic building designations also trump the FCC. (Message edited by ndavies on November 16, 2006) | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5201 Registered: 02-2004 |
In Dearborn, Hamtramck, parts of Detroit, Warren, Dearborn Heights and other suburbs. Most Ethnic Arabs' homes and businesses have gigantic size satellite dishes so that they could receive middle-eastern international media from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Libya, Morocco, Kuwait and Yemen provided by Arab Television and Radio. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 1584 Registered: 12-2003 |
I was not aware of this. I still do not see how a the signal could be split that many times over a switch without numerous amplifiers down the lines. But you would have more experience than I would. Also the New 5 dish can not be mounted on the side of building according to DirecTV due to the weight. It must be mounted on rooftops. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2318 Registered: 10-2003 |
Actually the signal off a regular dish/directv antenna cannot be split at all. Each box needs it's own feed from the dish. It's due to the way the satellite signal is transmitted. To have more than 4 boxes connected to a dish you either need a switch or you need to stack the signals. Everything you ever wanted to know about Satellite TV and then some: http://www.dbsforums.com/ | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3306 Registered: 10-2003 |
from "EastHam" Miller / Dwyer predominantly middle-eastern immigrant neighborhood.  | ||
Fortress_warren Member Username: Fortress_warren Post Number: 195 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ndavies, thanks for the link. I need to "ax" some questions about my sat system. | ||
Steelworker Member Username: Steelworker Post Number: 791 Registered: 02-2004 |
yep the discreet sat. dish with no logo on it easy to spot wether its an immigrant home. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7141 Registered: 12-2003 |
There really is NO limit to how many tuners can be run from one dish...if you have the right parts and engineering...and budget. That FCC rule indeed applies to renters that have an 'exclusive use area, such as a patio or balcony'...NDavies, did your attorney give you the data on Historic Commission trump, or is that from your reading of the FCC directive?! | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 3661 Registered: 10-2003 |
Want to see a lot of them? Drive down 16 Mile, Ryan, and Dequindre roads. I am not joking when I say that every other house has two of them. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 1587 Registered: 12-2003 |
The signal can be split into a multiple switches to provide more lines. It can not be split into the receiver as you will only get half the transponders. BTW, News Corp is going to Lose its 37% stake in DirecTV due to a deal currently being worked on. Not sure of all the details. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7142 Registered: 12-2003 |
You cannot use regular RF splitters...there is feedback voltage transmitted on the same lines to energize the LNB and provide switching. You must use special signal dividers designed to cut one of the feedback voltages (at least) or spend more on an active multiswitch. Same with amplifiers and such, this is a different beast than cable or OTA antenna. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4476 Registered: 11-2003 |
Detroit is being compared to Amsterdam, London, Paris, where the housing blocks of apartments are known as "Satellite Cities." The French really hate it, as do the Dutch. It isolates the community, they never learn the French language, and don't know what's happening locally. They take their cues from the Imams who walk around like Pashas in Palestine. Thanks Lowell. Sign of the times in Detroit. 1920s English Gothic "Barbara" with dishes. Oy veyesmere. jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4477 Registered: 11-2003 |
A little bit of dish, a little bit of dat. Detroit, ever evolving, I can tell you that. jjaba. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2319 Registered: 10-2003 |
Sj, That's what I said.
Gannon, Unfortunately the Spaun stuff does not yet support Directv's 5 satellite system. They can do 4 but not 5. The historic designation is specifically stated in the ruling. See question 3 in the following doc. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/ot ard.html
Also the historic benefits are voluntary. You could lose all the benefits that were provided by certifying it a historic building. So you have to ask if the dish is worth the benefits you lose. This could include paying back money you received from tax credits. Remember any changes to a historic structure have to be approved, no approval no tax benefits. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2006 |
I have to agree with the French in Jjaba's post about not learning the language. I have a cousin who came to live in the US from Poland and he essentially learned english from watching TV | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 642 Registered: 02-2006 |
Hit24sqft, that picture was taken in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. So yes, the signs will be in "Spanish". | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2742 Registered: 10-2003 |
Aca en SWD, hablamos varios idiomas...Aun hay los que hablan puro polaco, y otros hablan puro arabe. We don't really care what monolingual dolts in West Texas do. Even the former governor of Texas tries to speak Spanish once in a while (though it's almost as bad as his English!) | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4711 Registered: 10-2003 |
Funny. I'd always wondered this, myself. The immigrant hoods here in Lansing as packed with them, as well. Sometimes the contrast with the housing is kind of ironically amusing. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4483 Registered: 11-2003 |
Norwalk, welcome to the Forum. You tell it like it tis. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Docmo Member Username: Docmo Post Number: 165 Registered: 10-2005 |
Ndavies, As a long time DirecTV customer and a recent forced Comcast convert, there is no comparison for you and the other Vintonites. Comcast Digital Cable with HDTV/DVR is way more expensive than comparable DirecTV services. For $200 you can buy a dual tuner TIVO DirecTV HD DVR that is a phenomenal piece of electronics. The piece of crap Comcast provides is a joke. TIVO does sell a new HDTV DVR that works with cable. It, unfortunately, costs $799. DirecTV gives you a great deal on TIVO services also. The Comcast cable guy did a crap job of installation. The DVR didn't get turned on, leaving me having to schedule another appt. DirecTV is rated #1 in customer service for good reason. Why did I get Comcast? Very unfortunately, the abandoned Metropolitan Building blocks my satellite signal. I'm all for building preservation, but, I'd vote for a Metropolitan demolition just to get a satellite signal (just kidding) Major DirecTV withdrawal going on here. |
