No cable bill

So I've been sticking my nose into the land of our house hold bills, an area usually
monitored by my wife, and realized we have been spending WAY too much money
every month on cable (Approx. $176/month)!

I then came to the realization that out of the 300+ channels we were receiving we
only watched a dozen or so.

I started looking into other options and found that there are almost 100 channels
that broadcast 100% pure HD in an OTA (Over The Air) stream and with
a simple pair of old-fashioned rabbit ears antenna you can pick these broadcasts
up (of course you need a digital converter if your TV isn't digital ready)!

My first attempt was a simple dipole made out of 2 6.5" 14ga copper wires
taped to a shoebox 3/4" apart and spliced into a piece of coax and to my
surprise, I was able to pick up 4-5 channels!  I then added a cookie sheet behind
the shoebox to act as a deflector and upped that to 7 channels!

So began my quest for the ultimate home-made antenna!  I decided on a
Whisker-design I found on youtube:

Here it is, built on my kitchen floor, lol, out of a 3' piece of 2x4, 1" pvc (To act as

standoffs), and some 14ga wire.  All of which I had laying around in my garage.

I attached it to my television and viola, 24 channels in pure HD! Buh-Bye Cable bill!

(Well not 100%, had to keep the internet but dropped that down too and took

it from $176/month to $30/month!)

Here is a pic of the image from my tv with my homemade antenna (Superbowl 2011):

More to come one this later...  I've added so much more "free entertainment" to our home...