My buddy the electrician swore tin foil on antennae works. He was right.

So I'm trying to watch the local news on my old Samsung TV in the garage, and the picture is all static. I live out near Springfield, about 15 miles from the tower, and my little indoor antenna just wasn't cutting it. My buddy Mike, who rewired his whole house himself, told me to just tape a sheet of aluminum foil to the back of the antenna and point it out the window. I laughed at him, called him a hillbilly, but I was desperate. I grabbed a piece from the kitchen, taped it on, and I'll be darned if I didn't get crystal clear channels for the first time in a year. It looked stupid, like a weird art project, but it worked for three months until I finally broke down and put an attic antenna up. Has anyone else gotten a dumb hack like this to actually work when you were sure it was junk science?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason11223d ago

Wait, did you use regular kitchen foil or the heavy duty stuff? I kid, but that's hilarious it worked so well. I had a similar thing with an old FM radio in my basement picking up static from the furnace motor, and I wrapped the antenna wire around a soup can just for the heck of it. Clear as a bell for six months, no idea why, but I never questioned it. My grandpa used to swear by hanging a wire hanger out the window for TV reception, and come to think of it, he never missed a Cardinals game. I think half these fixes work because they just add more surface area for the signal, but you'll never convince me it's not a little bit magic.

hill.hugo22d ago

Huh. You know, I used to roll my eyes at stuff like that. Maybe I gotta test this soup can thing.