I have been here in the St. Marys boatyard for six weeks or more and have relied on library books and an occasional DVD for entertainment. I have had no TV as there is no cable here, and have been too busy to miss it. However, work has slowed during the holiday season and a few days ago I realized I would not be able to see any college bowl games on New Years Day. Bummer!
Almost no one used TV antennas in Brunswick. The nearest stations were located far away in Jacksonville and Savannah. But it occurred to me that here in St. Marys, some thirty miles closer, one might be able to pick up the Jacksonville stations. With the idea percolating in my mind, I had Xmas eve dinner on friends' boat here and they had a TV. Hey, look at that! The TV was several years old, and the picture a bit grainy, but it served to prove to me that I should get a marine antenna like theirs and test it on Simba.
Christmas day I itched to get shopping, but obviously couldn't but planned out where I would locate the antenna and got West Marine's number to call the next day, which I did. It was Sunday but they were open. The West Marine store I called didn't have what I needed, but another store in the city did. I drove down and bought it, woofing down a hot dog, soda and sundae at the nearby Costco to make this a truly worthwhile trip, and returned to the boat.
Although the wind was up and so cold I had to wear gloves, I climbed up on top of the aluminum bimini with a drill tools and installed the antenna base on the radar arch, some 40-50 feet off the ground. Thirty feet of wire came with the antenna but it was four feet short of reaching the TV in my saloon, so I drove eight miles to Lowes to get more. It's a good thing I did, because Lowe's no longer carries the R59 wire as it has been found inferior for digital TV. (About a year ago the FCC suspended analog broadcasting so it's now all digital.) I bought plenty of approved R6 wire and returned. I installed connectors on the wire ends.
It was now dark out, and the wind even higher, but of course I had to test out the antenna and see if I had any kind of picture on my glorious wide panel TV. With a small LED flashlight I climbed up on the bimini again and attached the new wire to the antenna disk. Warning myself not to fall at this point, so close to a possibly successful conclusion, I carefully climbed down to the "promenade deck".
Inside I hooked the antenna wire up to a pre amp and turned on the TV. I went through the steps required to change the TV input from cable to antenna. I used the clicker to move up the channels. From 2 to 6 I got nothing but grainy grey. But at 7 the screen came alive with color. I had TV! More than that, I had a magnificent picture. I was astonished. The picture was better than the cable in Brunswick. It was as good, perhaps somehow even better, than the cable HDTV at my sons. Wow!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, SIMBA!
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