There’s big news this week. Huge news. Gargantuan. It’s the new TV antenna, and it is … well … big. The whole thing started when Danita couldn’t record some of her favorite shows. It turns out they were all on MeTV (channel 2.2), which is also the NBC network on channel 2.1. I looked, there was no signal for channel 2. I looked at the signal levels for other channels. They were all surprisingly marginal. I did a new channel scan. Still no signal. Obviously, our reception dropped below the threshold. I bought a new antenna. It’s meant to be mounted outdoors, but our HoA won’t allow that. I decided this antenna was large enough to find the signal if it was available. That would at least be a starting point to solve the problem. If the antenna was overkill, I could send it back.

The antenna did the trick. The Baltimore stations went from marginal to excellent, except PBS, which went to OK. And except for 11, which still had no signal. A few more channel scans later, there was finally enough signal that the TV recognized channel 11, but just barely. Sometimes we could see a picture, sometimes we couldn’t. I finally called WBAL. They said they had changed frequencies on July 1 and were having trouble with their antenna, so they were broadcasting on a backup antenna. They’re working day and night to get this fixed as soon as possible. So far, it’s been 11 days and 11 nights, and it ain’t fixed yet.

So why did WBAL TV have to change their broadcast frequency? Because mobile phones are more popular than broadcast TV. The FCC took away some of the TV bandwidth, sold it to cell phone companies, and started a “repacking” process to get all the existing TV stations to fit in the remaining channel space. The deadline for repacking was July 1. One Baltimore station apparently went out of business. Three DC stations are still working on switching to their new frequency. All of this happened during COVID. Advertising revenues are down. Weak stations sharing transmitters and working with old equipment are struggling the most. Nobody will be surprised to note that the stations having the toughest time serve minority or overtly religious communities. One would think there would be an outcry from minority communities. But I haven’t heard a single peep. Probably I’m listening to the wrong crowd, but still I’m amazed at how quiet all this is.

Anyway, our new antenna is in and apparently it’s going to stay. To give you an idea of the scale, the mounting board is 20″ x 36″. We could decide to move it into the attic, but I can’t fit my big old body into our cramped attic. If we decide to move the antenna, we’ll have to hire somebody.

Danita had a minor medical problem. She got quite a rash on her skin. She went to our medical practice emergency care. They aren’t taking appointments during COVID. It’s first come / first served. After signing in, going back to the car, and waiting 2 hours, she called to see how much longer the wait will be. They said there were 30 people in front of her. She came home and took an antihistamine. That gave a pretty dramatic improvement. Our working theory is that it was the sun block she wore to the pool.

That’s all for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.