More on the New Television

I think the last time I relied on over-the-air broadcast for TV was in 1985. I was living in St. Louis, and we did have cable, but not for every TV. I remember using a little plastic tube to turn the knob to get the VHF stations at the top of the dial, and watching Benny Hill and Doctor in the House and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. I remember the jokes, how in 1984, Ronald Reagan would be President, ha-ha-hah. 

I don't remember even trying to get a TV signal in North Carolina. In Arizona, we had cable and the only broadcast channel I remember watching is KTLA from Los Angeles. In South Dakota, the day rooms in the residence halls had cable, and I never had my own TV, so I never tried. And here, in Indiana, in a city served by one television station, we didn't get great reception from a station with a broadcast tower three miles away, so I stopped trying.

Until now.

I've just moved, and we have one of two cable boxes. I had bought an antenna for the TV tuner card but had kept the cable plugged in, wanting the wider selection of the cable, even if it was a low-resolution analog signal. Right now, rather than dig through boxes and find coax cable, I tried the antenna. Two takeaways: Of course nothing came in but the local station (now about seven miles away), and man, digital looks so much better than analog. Will have to A/B some screen shots from my recorded shows, but trust me, big difference.

Which is what they've been saying forever, I'm sure.