Sticking it to the man II

So I was shopping for outdoor TV antennas. Patrick got his RCA for $55 from Amazon, it was compact, stylish, nice. But I wanted something better. I have a 3 story building behind my house blocking my line of sight to San Francisco. Besides, I am ditching Comcast home for Comcast Business, saving a bunch. So I went for a slightly larger Channel Master from Fry's for just a teeny bit more.

I got the antenna, and from online I got a J mount, a 50' RG6 coax with ground wire, and a whole bunch of F-connectors. I am ready to roll. But where to start.

First question is, how do you get the cable from outside the house to the TV. There's the flat 3" adapter that allows you to run it through the window, but that's ugly! Out of the question. There's also the option of drilling through the wall, but the wall is thick and I don't want to damage the house! Decision: I will connect through the cable box, my house comes with the wiring anyway.

Second question is, where to mount the antenna. I am a fair distance from the towers, with a 3 story building blocking line of sight. I need as little obstacle as possible so it has to be high up, higher than my fence.

So on a sunny Saturday, I removed the bug screen of my laundry room and stuck my body out to survey for an antenna site. I realized the spot right by the window frame was just the best position with the least obstruction. So I went to Orchard Supply Hardware, bought myself 4 very big screws, and just screwed the J-mount on.

... and a bit of a close up

I attached the big roll of coax to the antenna, and brought it out of the window, but not before I fold the metal arms - the antenna is too big for the window when unfolded. There is a U-ring that snug fits the J-mount after I screw it tight.

Then I just sort of threw the roll of cable out like a mountaineer, and lined it around the house to the cable box. Now all I need to do is unfold the arm, point it to San Francisco, put the bug screen back on, and run my TV tuner, and enjoy!

Surprisingly, the whole thing only took a couple of hours, it was so easy. An how's the picture quality you ask? With close to 100% signal quality (and 60% signal strength), there's simply no difference from cable, except, it's free!

Oh folks, don't forget, if your land lord gives you heart ache about putting up a TV antenna, just tell them about FCC's OTARD act. Its specifically forbids landlords, including homeowners' associations, to even require you to apply for putting up any device for TV reception (there are some exceptions in dish size or how high you can put them up, or whether your building is considered to be of any historical significance, but the chance of that applying to your case is next to zero). Tell them it's law of the land and supersedes even state laws/county/city ordinances, so suck it with those dated HOA rules.

Sticking it to the man I

The best things in life is free, that's why TV is the best thing in life.

Well, yes and no. Turns out there's something worse than the prospect of the "Big One" (earthquake) in the valley, there's the hilly terrain that makes TV reception next to impossible where I live. I tried many rabbit ears + foils + metal structure combinations the first few years I moved out here to no avail. I finally broke down and paid for cable.

Fast forward many years, the Comcast rate has nearly doubled, but I didn't think any of it cause I thought I had no choice, besides, I get $10 knocked off my internet bill because I had Comcast internet too, until Patrick enrolled himself in Comcast business (which didn't allow him a home TV service anymore), braved the ascend to the roof of his one story new home and erected a fish bone antenna.

"It's never gonna work." I assured him. I tried, rabbit ears, even with the digital converter, reception was flaky at best.

"It does, it's digital broadcast, there's clear picture." he politely explained.

I doubted, but he whatsapp'ed me picture of his 63".

So the next night I doubtfully hooked up the V shaped dipoles that came with my 19 year old Sanyo, stuck it out of the window, and ran the scanner. To my surprise horror (that I have been paying Comcast for this), it worked! I got clear pictures from Fox to ABC to NBC to CBS. Sure there were occasional jitters and I couldn't stand hear the set up, but it was over the air and it was free! Patrick wasn't lying!

My search for the perfect HDTV antenna thus begins...