OT: Is TV Antenna Ancient Tech?

RalphM wrote on 2/6/2009, 6:50 PM
Last week our church took our turn housing homeless guests (multi-church effort to prevent hypothermia deaths).

Since we do not have cable in the building, i bought a small TV antenna and ran it to a VCR for the tuner, then fed a video projector so our guests could watch the news and other programs.

At least four church members asked how I was getting the TV into the building. I pointed out the antenna. The responses were
Well, is that for a satellite? No. Well how does that work? I explained that it just picks up the signals from the TV stations - blank stares.

Well, does it hook to a cable? No, the signals are broadcast through the air to the antenna - blank stares.... Well does it use a digital converter? No - doesn't need one yet.

These are not dumb people and most of them are in their 40's to 60's. Fascinating, or maybe I'm just too much in the previous century.

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 2/6/2009, 7:00 PM
This is how it works:

Food comes from styrofoam packages, and TV comes from the cable box.

At least they know where kids come from...

Sigh.

RalphM wrote on 2/6/2009, 7:37 PM
"At least they know where kids come from..."

I'm not so sure about that either.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/6/2009, 7:47 PM
some people ask me how I can survive w/o a TV. Seriously, they want to know how I can live w/o one, like I will actually die if I don't have one.

I've also been accused of child abuse because I made my kids shovel the small front deck+steps, animal abuse because I have a dog guarding my barn, chastised for not buying my kids the latest fashions, raising animals for food (not even by vegetarians/animal rights people), etc.

Some people just have absolutely no clue how many basic things in life actually work (why they get TV, where food comes from, clothes, etc). But that's what keeps people in jobs: if they all knew you could get free TV they might not want to buy cable/satellite! I'm sure there's stuff I don't know, but if I have to deal with it on a daily basis I at least try to know a little of how it works.
autopilot wrote on 2/6/2009, 8:59 PM
Yeah, I get blank stares too, when I tell people I don't have a TV, and then I tell them I haven't had one for almost 20 years. They wonder how I could still be alive.
blink3times wrote on 2/7/2009, 5:03 AM
I don't know about the USA but here in Canada we have a regulatory bureau called the CRTC that regulates how broadcasting works (Its' done mostly to protect the consumer.... and to protect Canada by enforcing a minimum Canadian content in broadcasting). It's mandatory that all our local Canadian channels go out over the air as well as cable. It's done this way so that people who can't afford cable can still watch TV..... and for emergency purposes so that broadcasting can continue in the event that cable goes out.

The Antenna will always work here.
richard-courtney wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:06 AM
What is Cable?
rs170a wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:16 AM
The Antenna will always work here.

Until 2011 (or is it 2012?) when we go all digital in Canada.
Hopefully we'll have learned something from the converter box fiasco the U.S.is currently facing by then.
My guess is that, if the CRTC is involved with it in any way, shape or form, the answer will be a resounding no :-(

Mike
richard-amirault wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:46 AM
Going digital .. does *not* mean antennas won't work anymore.
blink3times wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:53 AM
"What is Cable?"

I agree. I don't have a cable in the house. My TV, internet, telephone.... all goes through the phone line.
blink3times wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:57 AM
"Until 2011 (or is it 2012?) when we go all digital in Canada."

As Brighterside points out... digital tv will not change antenna usage. We're already getting HDTV over the air... that's all digital. Your cell phone is digital. It can also operate on analogue too. My cell phone works on digital signals in the city and automatically shifts to analogue mode out at the cottage where the technology isn't as advanced

Not sure why you're so hard on the crtc? Sure... it's yet another layer of Bureaucracy to slow things down.... but then without that control we'd have the cable companies running the show (like in the States) and our Canadian television content would get swallowed up by the likes of Jerry Springer and others.
I think we NEED that protection.