I was on a certain news website reading about our fantastic winter storm when an item on the sidebar caught my eye. It turns out our satellite company has been in negotiations with our local channel 2 about some money issues they were having. Apparently our provider is not paying channel 2 enough, or maybe it's the other way around, either way we no longer get that channel until they can come to some sort of deal.
I didn't think anything of it until I realized what shows I would be missing - Pu.shing Da.isies and Lo.st were at the top of the list. I know that they are just shows and it's not THAT big of a deal but seriously, why now?
I lamented to Ben about how awful this was and, of course, he agreed. I thought it was a lost cause and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait patiently for the CEOs to finish their little squabble.
Last night, while we were at my parent's for our traditional Sunday dinner he was working on something that he wouldn't really tell me about. Once he got home and pulled out some wood, screws and wire I knew it was something serious but I was not expecting what he created. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe, especially after he told me he still needed to add the tin-foil.
Well the joke is on me because it totally works! I don't exactly know how, you'll have to ask Ben for that. I don't think there is anything that he can't do and I will be especially grateful while I'm watching my shows in HD, instead of on the computer. Thanks Ben, you're the best, and I'm sorry if I ever doubted you :)
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For anyone who cares, I just can't help explaining. TV stations send out TV signals for free. In the 70's, there were big metal kite-like antennas on rooftops, and in the 80's there were rabbit ears. Then came cable, and most people ditched their antennas. But with the advent of HD, stations now send out a normal TV signal, and a separate HD signal for free. It is know as Over the Air High Definition, or OTA HD. Anyone can get it for free, as long as your TV will take an HD TV signal and has a tuner (which is usally in the TV or your TiVo.)
So, you can go to radio shack and spen $100 on a really nice 'Yagi' antenna, or you can just build your own, and it will work better. I got my plans off the internet and built a DB8 anteanna. As Nicki said, I haven't built the foil reflector, since our station's towers aren't too far away. I haven't seen her laugh as hard as she did when I walked up with this board with cut-up hangers on it and told her I hadn't added on the aluminum foil yet. I am such a nerd.
You can build your own, to get free local HD channels, which is especially nice if you have a TiVO, and just really need to be able to record on 3 channels at once, which you can do with an antenna. You can stick it in your attic, or behind your TV, or you can look up your local market and actually point it at the towers you want reception from. There are plans for building one here: http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/
Nicki/Ben - Please come help my husband!!! We are going to lose our signal in Feb because all we have are lame little rabbit ears and we need a BenDavis DB8 right away. How much do you charge for shipping? Can a non-fix-it saavy husband make/install one of these beauties? Why don't you guys live upstairs from us anymore? We need you!!! (and not just for your wicked antenna skills, we need friends with kids that aren't worried about hanging out after 7pm!)
It's warm and sunny down here right now, you really should come see us.
I am totally going to make this thing. I am terrible with these types of things, but it is definitely worth the effort. Just the other day Denise and I were talking about what we were going to do in February when we lose all of our channels. We have an HD converter box that sucks big time because apparently our antenna cannot get a signal past our gigantic roof. Denise doubts me, but that's just the motivation I need to get this done.
I am not sure I understand all of that, even with Ben's explanation, but I am, nonetheless, seriously impressed just knowing that Ben's homemade antenna actually got your channels back. Wow. Does that work with HBO? Because we want that channel but not the bill.
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