Shoutout to the landlord who accidentally taught me how to fix TV antenna reception

I was at my buddy's apartment on the 12th floor near downtown Denver last summer... his rabbit ears kept losing signal during Power Rangers. The landlord came by to fix the sink and just wrapped some aluminum foil around the base and told me to point the loops toward the building across the street. I swear to god it worked like magic after that. Has anyone else picked up weird maintenance tricks from old building superintendents?

3 comments

3 Comments

martin.jamie2mo ago

Funny you mention that, I actually read a thing online a while back about how aluminum foil can act as a sort of reflector for radio waves if you position it right. It makes sense though, old school rabbit ears are basically just long pieces of metal catching signals, so adding more metal helps the antenna pick up more. I remember my grandpa had this beat up pair of loops with foil wrapped all around them too, he swore by it for getting the local news channel. Something about the building across the street being like a big mirror for the signal, you just have to point the loops at it. It's one of those cheap fixes that actually works better than any expensive gadget my buddy bought off Amazon later.

sam_anderson1mo ago

Yeah @martin.jamie your grandpa knew what was up. I've done the same thing with a bent paperclip and some foil when my antenna broke - it's janky as hell but it works way better than you'd think. There's something satisfying about fixing stuff with garbage you got lying around instead of dropping cash on some fancy gadget that does the same thing.

the_thomas2mo ago

Did you ever try wrapping tin foil on a broken remote control?

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