A friend of mine who works for an `up-scale' Audio Video store down in Denver had his boss pick up several samples, from different makers, of those `converter' boxes and was sending them home with different employees to try. Since my friend has cable into his house he brought them, the 3 he had been given, up to me to try because we don't have cable or Sat. reception here on the farm. The first attempts with just plain old `rabbit ears' was a very dismal flop. He then brought up several examples of supposed `HD' `indoor' antennas to try. Of all of them only the "Terk" one that looks like something from "StarTrek" was the only one that even barely brought in a slight resembalance of a signal and *that* was still not enough to watch anything on anything except the good old analog `UFO' channels. (We actually were finally able to *clearly* receive all of the `local' UHF channels instead of just ¼ of them like we've been getting.) We finally put up a `push up' mast and started trying different `outside' antennas. Of the dozen and a half or so of the ones we tried only the top three made by Winnegarde were able to bring in acceptable signals though the lesser of the three was basically *just* acceptable. After all the hassles and such we packed up everything, except the last antenna we'd tested, and I returned that stuff planning that we'd take down the mast and antenna the coming weekend when it would be more than just 2 people available. (We had the mast mounted with brackets to the side of our house and also had it guyed with some steel cable that the owner of the shop had claimed would be "more than sufficient" to do the `job'.) Unfortunately that Friday night before we were going to finish getting everything back we had wind gusts of 50+mph and the next morning I found the mast and antenna on the ground with the antenna badly mangled.
Now... We are not all *that* far from the transmitter site, *max* 50miles `as the crow flies', and, to say the least, we weren't all that impressed at what we were able to receive `picture quality-wise' even with an approximately $100+ antenna! (For those of you who are wondering why we don't have `Sat' it's because *none* of the various `providers' have been able to install a `system' and get better than basically `so-so' reception no matter how hard they have tried. One company even went as far as trying to tell us that if we were to cut down several of the 50 - 60 year old trees we have they *might* be able to get a `better' signal. (The only way a tree around here gets cut down is *if* that tree has `terminal' problems! Even though this is a farm finding and getting trees that will grow and thrive is very hard and when we have found one(s) that are able to do so we cherish them. [We finally had to cut down one that had been planted here when the place was *homesteaded*, it was planted in 1899, and it was actually a traumatic affair. We now only have *one* left and, unfortunately, it appears that it may not see another summer.] Now I will admit that the rest of our tree are *not* that old and that those two are definitely exceptions. However, even if a tree was only even 20 - 30 years old cutting it down just to be able to watch what they try to pass off as `entertainment' is not worth it. We'll just go back and re-read some of the books we already have in our library and start buying more to read and add to the library. We *may* also start buying more DVDs, too.) As for possibly getting our TV via, lessay, TPC and DSL/ADSL/Fibre or whatever... I've been fighting with TPC for *years* now just to be able to connect a better than 26.4! We are too far from the CO and even though there *is* a fibre `trunk' running up alongside the paved County road less than ½ mile to the East of us they refuse to hook us up. (I'd *gladly* pay to get a fibre connection as it would most likely actually be a lot cheaper than what I already am paying, approximately *$400/month*, for our existing phone lines and would also allow us to get rid of the 2 FX lines we have to have to call only a couple miles South of us! [We are almost exactly on the boundary of 2 area codes and while we can get by with a `normal?' POTS line to call Northward using that same line to call slightly South of us means that we have to pay `in-state' LD charges. And because a lot of the places and people we regularly call are to the South, or Southwest, of us the FX line option is actually cheaper in the long run. (A call to just Longmont, approximately 15miles due West of us, is LD! A call to Fort Lupton, which is also about the same distance but slightly South and East of us, is LD! They are both area code 303 and we are area code 970.)]) Amazingly even with all the dreck that TPC shovels up they are *a lot* cheaper than any of the cable companies. (The last time I checked, a year or so ago, the cable company who's `end of line' point is only a tad bit over ½ mile away wanted just under $12K to run a line! The excuse was that there wasn't enough `density' for it to be feasible for us to do so at this time. [Yet, we are slowly being surrounded on three sides by towns wanting to annex the land so they can increase their powers and tax bases! On two of those sides there is already development being planned and we expect that, unless we can sell out and `get the flock outa here' before then, there will be around 400 houses to our West and around 200 more houses to our South before too long *even with* the `housing slowdown'! The closest houses will be less that 250yds from our back door!])
Oh, well... Just an `Olde Fart's', *very cynical*, 2¢ worth. At least, for now, we'll still have our assorted radios to listen to. But, I am not going to hold my breath hoping that they don't screw that up, too.
