Comcast Update

Not only have I been IM'ing with Comcast I have also tried to call and get answers. Additionally, I have posted in some online forums to receive more answers. On the phone I have had no less then five different stories from five different individuals. Most recently, I was told I was entitled to a free cable box which would perform the function I am after. I left work early and went to the Oak Ridge office where Joseph told me I couldn't have anything, and that even if he gave it to me nothing would change. I was not happy when he said to get ANY HD OR DIGITAL service it would cost $55.75/mo + $6.95/mo for the box/service upgrad and a $29.99 fee for the technician. Forget it, as stated previously I DON"T WANT MORE CHANNELS!

I called the customer service number one more time and got a youg man who took the time to learn the problem and seek out an answer FINALLY! He cam back and informed me his sales friend that used to sell the HD packages said I should have the channels now and told me the number the channel should be. I agreed that I should have it now but stated nothing was there. He then went his supervisor after I asked him to find someone who understood the clear QAM channels. HE came back stating his supervisor said the QAM tuner is for over-the-air broadcasts. I told him that is what the ATSC tuner is for and QAM is for digital cable not airwaves. Again, the young man was eager to learn and solve the problem. He wrote down the FCC reference I gave him, 76.630 and CFR title 47, 76.901(a), and sent "the boss" a detailed email with the promise to call me back. Since I won't hold my breath for that phone call, I decided to do some experimenting.

The cable feed for my home is in my front yard and the box is unlocked. I went and removed the cover and located my cable. This is fairly easy in my instance because I have three large cable traps, or filters, on my line. They are labeled DDR-CA/HA 045, DDR8-24/58, and DDR8-66(A)/76 in that order. These block the 50 some odd channels most folk are used to when they say "basic" cable and give you the "limited basic" package. My suspicion was that one of these traps was interfering with the HD broadcast of the local affiliates. Sure enough, I now have the local affiliates in HD. I dislike people who don't know their own job.

Unfortunately, I also have a ton more channels I don't want and I don't know what to do. If anyone out there knows which traps will effectively limit the superfluous channels yet allow the local HD I would be grateful for the information. I would do trial and error, but the channel scan takes and hour each time.