Loyd Installs Antenna—Hilarity Ensues

Thinking about installing a HDTV antenna of your own? You might want to rethink that strategy. Well, at the very least you might want to take a look at this article before you decide to take on the challenge.

I can’t honestly say that finding an HDTV antenna under our Christmas tree was a big surprise. After all, I’d asked for one, and was even in the house when the UPS guy dropped it off. What I’d gotten was an Antennas Direct DB4, a medium-range bowtie antenna suitable for receiving UHF signals. Perhaps the coolest feature that came with the DB4 was the installation assistance from my brother-in-law, Richard, who had been a contractor in a previous life.

So we got together around noon on Sunday to install the antenna. The weather had gone from sunny on Christmas day to cloudy, cold and drizzly on the 26th. (Sorry all you folks in the Midwest, but we’re talking about Northern California here.) I already had a hundred feet of coax cable, but madness overcame my good sense. I decided I’d rather use 50 feet of cable, to minimize the need for adding a signal preamp to the antenna.

Had I had the good sense to think about this for a moment, we would have gone to the local Home Depot, picked up a crimping tool and a couple of end connectors, and the rest of the day would have gone much more smoothly. We could have used the existing 100 feet of cable and cut it to the right length. Cutting off an end connector would also have helped when we had to replace the waterproof grommet in the stucco, and when we fed it through the wall plate. However, I am sometimes overcome by the fever of having something new, and wanting to get it running, that good sense just flies right out of my head.

So off we headed to Home Depot. That part, at least, was smart. Fry’s Electronics is a three-ring circus the day after Christmas, but Home Depot was open, and nearly empty. Most guys who would be at Home Depot on any weekend were at home watching bowl games and recovering from Christmas dinner. We found a 50-foot length of coax cable, some bolts to mount the antenna mount and a wall plate for passing through the coax cable.