Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Shack

So I stop by Radio Shack today because I wanted to see how cheaply I could buy an FM antenna for a radio we have so it can catch the signal our satellite radio puts out from the other room. It's got a spot to plug an external antenna into it but it's sans antenna. Anyway, the chubby yet surprisingly creepy associate showed me a fancy one that was like $39 or something way more than I wanted to pay but had I needed to I could pick up Good Morning Greenland. Then he offers this bit of info:

Chub E. Associate: The best thing to do though is to connect your FM input to the wiring of your house, thereby turning your entire electrical system into a big antenna.

Phollower: Impressed and intrigued by this seemingly brilliant idea: Wow, what do I need to do that?

Chub E. Associate: You're on your own on that one. You could totally blow out your radio.

Phollower: halfway to the door: Ummm, thanks.

You see, I know nothing about electronics. I'm thinking there's like a little adapter or something. Silly me.

2 comments:

Frank said...

"Chubby yet surprisingly creepy" -- what an amazingly evocative description. I can totally imagine they guy.

And, given that, I'm surprised he didn't suggest incorporating a little kryptonite, or using some special tools from your bat belt, to make the super-mega-whole-house world-dominating antenna...

Phollower said...

frank: Is there an adapter to do that? Because if it requires any actual electrical work (or know-how) you can count me out.