Slinky

Hi, this is my first post so be gentle!
Me and my family will be moving to Arkansas soon,is there any one who lives there that can give me some advice on schooling,areas to live,etc?
Also what do you take with you from your home when you leave the UK, do you take the kitchen appliances or not?
This may sound silly but i am really worried that it will not all go according to plan,so please help us
I look forward to your replies.
Kind regards
Slinky

paul1968mcr

most the stuff we brought from home is gathering dust in the basement in boxes.

use it as an excuse to get rid of all your old gear and buy new, considerably cheaper new!! Plus your electrical gear is useless over here.

Hurry up and book your flight, you'll just be in time for the interesting weather season!

Slinky

Hi,what do you mean by interesting weather?
Will our tv and computer not work in US?

Rete

Not without modification. Interesting weather = tornado season coming up.

hobbes79

Unlikely on the TV.

The computer has a hope. Look on the back near the power supply - many have a switch that allows you to change the voltage. The last couple I've had did, and I used them on both sides of the Atlantic. Less likely on the monitor, but just look on the back... if it says "110V-240V", you're in luck.

Slinky

Thanks to everyone who replied.

meauxna

What city do you need to be near? What IS the plan? A little more info would help.

Dan725

Yes, Arkansas covers 53,000 square miles - thats a pretty big area, where exactly are you going to be?

basementwaj

i quite like Conway Arkansas, about 25 miles north of Little Rock. Low crime, nice houses, nice people etc

Bob

Need to be a bit specific on where in the State you'll be.

Also, do a search on stuff to bring, there's been a lot of threads and also info on the wiki....but generally, ditch everything unless someone else is paying the shipping or it holds sentimental value.

Computers are fine, just get a new power cable and flick the red tab at the back from 220-110V, if there isn't one, a new PSU doesn't cost much and ain't much hassle to put in.

Slinky

Yes, the area we are looking at is Fayetteville,work will be in Springdale.
I was hoping that we would not need to spend too much money once we arrived hence taking what we could from here
All comments are appreciated!

Bob

cheaper to buy new than to ship it, unless someone else is paying...sell stuff on ebay and craigslist...

oldskool

The TV is totally possible, but the worth of it is something you'll need to consider.

If you wish to use your TV in the US with your UK DVD, VCR and game consoles then you need a step up voltage converter. These are available from Radio Shack online. I can dig out a link for the one I have if you wish, it'll be over $100 by now for these. A few years back I paid $50.

If you wish to use your UK TV to view US TV or use with a US DVD, VCR and so on then in addition to the voltage conversion you need a signal converter. Which type depends on what exactly you want to plug into it and what type of connector those units use. Price would be $100 for most simple, but you could pay much more and probably should do so in order to get good quality and flexibility on connections.

At that point however, its not worth it. Add the costs of voltage and signal conversion together then add the shipping of the TV and you might as well sell the TV in the UK and use the proceeds to get a new one.

Me...I have a lot of older electronic hardware I need for my job so the voltage conversion was worth it for me. I never needed the signal conversion but did look into it.

I did originally plug a UK VCR into the TV when I first got here, but no more as I just don't even use video cassettes now. I relied on the PC to watch my UK DVD's with a region free hack and in time I managed to get a region free DVD player that also converted the signal and played UK DVD's on a US TV. Actually it played any region DVD on either a US or UK TV so it was pretty good. For $40 it was cool, even though it only lasted two years. Now I have less need for it and haven't even replaced it.

However, if you have a lot of UK DVD's to view then I'd consider this as a worthy purchase.

As for the PC, if your power supply unit doesn't have a voltage switch on it then you can have a new power supply put in that either does or is 110v anyway. You can of course swap it for a switchable one while you are still in the UK, or wait until you get to the US. It's easy to do yourself, nor is it a big job for a PC upgrade shop - 10 minutes or so of work.

Bob

You can get a cheap $30 dvd player and hack it with a remote to make it regionless...plenty of threads all over the place with recommendations.

Patrick Hasler

I have travelled all over this wonderful land

Northern Arkansas was the most poverty stricken area I have ever seen


I drove through town after town of run down streets with boarded up houses and stores, people living in trailers so bad they make 'Trailer parks' look like beverley hiils

One particular high street will stay on my mind for years !... As I left the shit hole a sign said 'Super auto plaza' .. there were about 5 cars for sale with the highest priced at $750