TV Antenna Adventures: Part 2

This "bow-tie" antenna is the one I've been trying to get to work with my TV. I think it's the one that came with it. Had to go to Radio Shack to get an adapter so I could plug it into the cable port. The adapter cost more than the antenna would have.

The sales dude at Radio Shack first told me I'd need a digital converter box to use the antenna. I insisted our TV was relatively new and that we bought it maybe 2 years ago and I was sure it's digital. We shouldn't need a converter. After a minute or so he agreed I was right and I left with just the antenna/cable port adapter.

After I got home, hooked up the antenna and got nothing but snow on all the channels but 9 (could barely see the show on 9- mostly snow), I wondered if the sales guy was right and maybe I did need a digital converter box.

Nah. I shouldn't need one of those, I don't think.

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I was just reading the FAQ on the AntennaWeb page. They were saying I might need to rescan my channels to lock in channels I can receive. I'll try that in a little while. Maybe that will work, but I'm not all that confident in it.

I'm mostly thinking it's a matter of location although, according to that AntennaWeb map, I should be able to get at least one channel that's broadcast from the south and slightly west. That should be right in line with the window by the TV, but that's not even the one channel I did get a picture on. I need to try siting the antenna in different locations.

So, I'm wondering how much it would cost for dozens of feet of antenna wire, the idea being splicing a longer wire to the antenna and moving the antenna all around the house to see if I can get a decent signal from any direction. I really don't want to spend the money for that, though, especially since it might not work.

Then, silly me, I got up this morning and realized I don't necessarily need to re-site the antenna, I can just re- site the TV! After all, it's one of the newer ones that's relatively slim and very light weight.

After I rescan the channels, assuming that doesn't get me a channel or two, I'll move the TV next to the south window in the living room. Probably won't even have to unplug it for that. If that doesn't work, I may just go for broke and take it upstairs and set it up by the southeast window. That should be pretty well exposed to the direction that most the signals come from, according to the AntennaWeb map.

If I don't get any better reception upstairs than I do down in the living room, I'm guessing that means I'm sunk. Or maybe I just need a different antenna? Problem is, I don't want to buy another antenna unless I know I can get enough channels that it will allow us to drop cable service.

We'll see how this works. No pun intended but, stay tuned!