Friday, June 12, 2009

Free TV 101 - Part 8: Attic Hijinx

Now that I had a longer cable I moved the antenna to the outside on my fence. After a quick rescan of the TV, I found the reception was not as good as when I had the antenna inside. I went off to the attic and find a high spot.

We have cathedral ceilings so the attic goes pretty high. I put the antenna on top of the insulation at one of the highest points and reconnected it to the TV. I was able to find a hole to run the cable back inside. Another quick scan and now I got 26 channels. Wow! Now that’s a lot of free TV.

I found many of the stations that had already gone digital tended to have multiple channels. For example, 27.1, 27.2, 27.3. However, most of these had different broadcasts on each channel. Looked like I now had a lot of choices which included all the major networks, multiple weather channels, several independents, and of course, my ION Life and regular ION. Got to be able to watch MASH and Hogans Heroes.

I repositioned and rotated the antenna on the insulation to see if it would make a difference and it didn’t. There’s still about seven feet of space between the insulation and the peak of the roof. I bolted the antenna to a board and secured it between the rafters as close to the roof as I could. Man, is it hot up there, even at 7AM! Oh wait. I’m out of shape.

It was tough to get between the rafters and find something to stand on while trying to get this thing mounted with screws. Another quick scan and now I got 31 channels. It just kept getting better and better. After looking at my list from the antenna web site, I did’t think I would get much more than those. I had several channels that weren't even on the list.

Today, we will see what happens after the Digital Transition. Stay tuned for Digital Monday.

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