Cable transient or something? This is bizarre.

[W1GUH]

Wonder what happened last night. Was sitting here with the cable on & surfing the 'net, when there was what sounded like a gunshot down under the tv and behind something. Made a flash of light.

Total WTF!!! The lights went out (I think) momentarily, or maybe just the TV. Happened so fast -- hard to know. Before I could even think almost everything came back and was perfectly normal. Everything but the cable -- had a dark screen for a while.

So I got up to look for maybe a wall wart that failed or at least something that looked fried and didn't see anything out of the oridnary, and today, the cable is fine. Everything's fine.

WTF? That "gunshot" or "explosion" was just plain scary, and now, everythings been fixed. About all I can think of is that somebody fu'd and somehow got HV on the cable shield? And that blew a CONED breaker somewhere that got reset quickly? And that blew some line amp somewhere that got fixed, too?

Nothing on the news or the TW website. Probably should call them later.

[KC2UGV]

Sounds crazy, but was it a tube TV? If so, maybe a plasma discharge?

[W1GUH]

What's a tube TV?

[W3WN]

What's a tube TV?

It's an older set with all these glass thingies in the back that get warm and glow in the dark. I think they used to call them "thermionic valves."

[K7SGJ]

The cable company was trying to disable all the pirated units and sent a bullet down the cable. A .44 cal

You don't, by chance, live next to the redneck in the other thread that shot up his kids LT, do you?

[W3WN]

The cable company was trying to disable all the pirated units and sent a bullet down the cable. A .44 cal

You don't, by chance, live next to the redneck in the other thread that shot up his kids LT, do you?

When we still had DirecTV, about once or twice a month our receivers would reset. Then it got to be more often, and then more often, so I finally called them up and kvetched.

Support assured me that they don't send out "bullets" & never did. [No, I didn't believe her then, and I don't now] But she'd contact the techs for me and have someone give me a call, a call which never came.

Funny how the problem stopped right after that call, though.

[W1GUH]

The cable company was trying to disable all the pirated units and sent a bullet down the cable. A .44 cal

You don't, by chance, live next to the redneck in the other thread that shot up his kids LT, do you?

I DID wonder it it was an errant shot from the street, but if it was, it achieved an extra dimension & came through the wall or window without damage!

Will call Time-Warner later to see if they know anything.

Through it all, RR internet stayed solid. I was reading an article about OWS at the super-PAC convention at the time. Maybe a warning about that?

Looked more closely at all the wall warts and stuff down by where the flash and "boom" were...still found nothing. There's a TV/RR splitter there...but it shows no signs of anything. Strange -- a spark as loud and bright as that one MUST have left some evidence?

Go figure!

[KG4CGC]

Ever hear code over the cable? On the TV, on the computer. Sounds like an ID transmission.
Heard it at a friend's house several years ago the first time. Said it had been happening often.
Heard it here last year av few times. Traced it down to the cellphone.

[ki4itv]

The only time I hear code on the Tv anymore is during one of those "let us market your invention" commercials late at night. Gets my attention every time...

Think they're marketing to hams?

[W1GUH]

Talking to TW right now....they have no info...I'm rebooting now. Re-boot brought the cable back just fine.

BTW....gave bad information before....cable wasn't OK this morning; I'd switched over to On-the-air TV!

If my cable hadn't gone out as evidence of something I"d think I dreamt it all!


Was there come kind of EMP from the sun last night? Seems like just the thing it would cause -- large potential where it shouldn't be.

And, maybe most perplexing of all -- there's lots of hi-tech stuff in that area and none of it was affected in any way.

What the hell was that?