As advanced technology surrounds us, we sometimes forget about simpler forms of technology.  For example, television antennas.  We don’t get cable television, Dish or satellite television.  We just have basic TV.  Most people don’t realize that with just an outdoor antennae we receive lots of channels…31 in fact.  A friend of mine insists that we can’t..but truly we can.
For my hubby’s birthday we bought him a new television antennae that goes on the outside of the house.  Hubby and our son put the new antennae up one weekend when he was home.
Here is my son in the skid loader bucket holding a HUGE ladder.  They leaned the ladder against the house and up went my son with the antennae.  I don’t have a picture of that.  These two tried to get the job done without me seeing them.  Apparently they thought I would panic…me panic…never…well maybe…just a little.
Somehow I feel like that antennae on top of the house is a symbol of us cheating the system.  We have great entertainment from the channels we get all for the price of the antennae…  $60.  If you’re wondering what type of antenna we got, this one is it, CLEARSTREAM2 Antenna
We don’t have cable, Dish or satellite anymore either. Tried them but they weren’t any better than what we could get over the air. We get a ton of stations with our regular antennae, it does not act up when it snows or rains or the wind blows. It works great and you can’t beat the ($0) price! That leaves me lots of money to buy more fabric and fun stuff each month if I want!
That’s a little less than one month of what we’ve got! We had an antenna for years before finally breaking down and getting a satellite and never got anywhere near that many channels. I think the absolute best we ever managed was four or five, when we lived in town. At this house, we can’t get any reception with an antenna at all. (And believe me, my husband got up on the roof with the antenna and tried everything he could!)
My husband takes a ribbing at work because we have “just an antenna that only gets 3 channels” (we actually get a lot more than that). But he was the one laughing when the Indy 500 was blacked out on satellite here and we got to watch it live! I figure if I can’t find something to watch with the antenna that we have, then I need to find something else to do…like sew :-)
It depends on where you live as to your antenna reception. In my rural, mountainous, sparsely populated area there is no antenna reception. None whatsoever. Not one channel. But my daughter living in the Los Angeles area has several channels with an antenna only. And they have to have internet at home due to work so they can watch TV that way as well.
We had just an antenna for years, then, during the change to digital, ditched the tv entirely. I get SIGNIFICANTLY more sewing done!
Oh, and my family knows to do something like put my son (or husband or employee) in the bucket of a backhoe with a huge unwieldy ladder I had better not be home! It totally freaks me out when they go on the roof of our house. Or even the deck which is only 12-15 feet off the ground. When they replaced the roof a few years ago I left every morning and returned at dinner time. I just don’t deal well with heights! No problems in airplanes tho’.
Smart choice, and makes money sense! We have had antenna only for years and still get HD. We get high speed internet from our phone service for our landline. We have prepaid phones. Our cell phone bill for 4 phones is appro $200 per year. This option made sense for our family since we use the phone for emergency and family messages, not texting.
Probably not the best idea to climb up a ladder sitting on a skid loader bucket. I’m really glad you guys got those channels. I’d probably have a heart attack if he had to go back up.
I’ve been thinking along this line, but didn’t know where/how to start – thanks for suggestions. He pay $100/mo. for really BAD TV programs and Internet. I bought a TV for myself and use it just for DVDs – no cable, no antenna, but the antenna is starting to sound tempting.
I’d like to edit “He pay” for “We pay” Jeesh 8-(