Anyone lose any outdoor antennas recently?

I stayed home for 2 days during this past storm, knowing I had to dig out twice (no "emergencies" at work to be dealt with) and my usual "scrape the roof down at the edges" to prevent ice dams, but I never expected to have to remove my FM\TV antenna!

My TV reception last night was flaky, and no amount of rotater jiggling would fix the problem, FM was also strangely less than its norm.:sigh:

When I went to clear the snow from the lower portions of my roof, I happened to see my antennas upside down, the mast had kinked just above the rotater
(ever see a paper drinking straw after a 3 year old was done drinking milk with it?):tears:

I got on a ladder (no roof climbing here, it was mounted at the side of the roof, NO power lines nearby!) and loosened the hardware on the mast and rotater, having previously cut all the cables (signal\rotater) and slipped the mast down slowly down to release the rotater\antenna to a controlled release, falling to the ground, away from me (all the hardware was slightly above eye level), yes, I was taking a chance, but to have it come down on someone else, No Way!

My solution?

I found a "new" VHF\UHF TV antenna on the curb this summer and kept it (judging by how new it was despite having wire attached to it, it may have been used indoors like I just now did on the second floor.

Having tested it "on site" with 17" HDTV, signals looked good, using the existing house TV\FM wiring, I then fed the signal back downstairs (no TV's on that floor just now) to the basement, and connected it to the input of my distribution amplifier and all is good to go for now!:yes:

My neighbor calls me MagIver(sp?) and I take it as a compliment!

Mark T.

Damn, Son, PUH-LEEZ be careful !! Foolin' w/antennas is about one of the singularly most dangerous things you can do...The power line thing is just one of the eleventy-seven ways you can get big-time boogered up w/an antenna...

I built a bow-tie antenna for OTA HDTV, and was putting it up in the attic for the big game... and I stepped through the ceiling on Sunday. Does that count?

I bent the prongs pretty good when I fell down, but they were made from coat hangers, and easy to fix. I'm proud to say the antenna works really, really, good, pulling in "purple" stations without careful aiming. (They are supposed to need a large, amplified antenna).

The room I fell through was a small bathroom, and I've been wanting to take the texture of the ceiling, so I'm gonna re-hang the ceiling this weekend.

BE CAREFUL WITH ANTENNAS... even if you aren't going on a ladder.

Thank God no! I never want to have to climb my 40 foot tower again to replace an antenna.

There's a tower near me that I would give my EYETEETH to "Hook Up" to-the old WBIR antenna in Blaine, Tennessee...It was the tallest structure on earth for awhile in the early '60s...I don't know if its even being used now...But, man, oh man...To hook up one o' my R-390s to it...Hell's Bells, I bet I could pick up stuff from PLUTO on it....(grin)