Ever since I moved into this house, I’ve had problems receiving TV channels and the FM radio reception in my tuner amplifier is almost non-existent. (TV and FM radio share the same part of the EM spectrum, so the antenna feed for the TV is also used for the tuner amplifier). Same for DAB+ digital radio. Very poor reception with terrible fading. As shown in the previous post, I’m in an outer fringe reception area.

Most of the time the TV reception is OK, but it’s weather dependent and sometimes I can’t get ABC channels. I’ve looked outside for a TV antenna but there is none. I assumed it might be in the roof space.

Well, my good friend Keith came here yesterday and got up in the roof space to have a look. Result? There is no bloody TV antenna anywhere! The signal I’m getting is purely stray pickup by the cables in the roof space. Bloody hell. No wonder I’m having trouble.

The good thing is that the house is properly cabled, with splitters sending cables off to the various sockets in the bedrooms. So if I get an antenna installed, I should have a good result.

I wonder what happened to the original antenna? Was there ever one installed? I’m the third owner of this house. I’m still in touch with the owners before me and I’m sure they wouldn’t have taken the antenna with them when they moved out. I’m inclined to think that there was never any antenna from the start. It’s quite possible. The builder would have installed the cabling in the roof but it would have been up to the owner to have an antenna installed. Maybe they did what I’ve done – plugged their TV in, saw that it worked and left it at that. Amazing.

Anyway, I’ve contacted a TV antenna installation company and I’ve just got to say Go.

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I recorded the new TV program The Politician’s Husband on ABC1 on Sunday but I haven’t watched it yet. I edited the start and finish and noticed that at the very end, where it shows the BBC logo with the production year in roman numerals, this – MMXXIII. Huh?? I looked closely. That’s what it says – MM XX III — that’s 2023. Maybe the show should be called The Time Traveller’s Husband!

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I still haven’t made a serious move to buy that Mercedes that’s sitting there waiting for me. But the latest housing price report has made me hesitate even more. Perth’s median house price fell about 2.6% in the past twelve months. My suburb is smack on the average, so it means the value of my house has fallen.

I’m not thinking of selling, but I’ve always regarded the house as my nest egg to be raided in a reverse mortgage at some stage. Buying a $40,000 car is just using that amount of my $500,000 equity in my house.

But a reverse mortgage depends, to work safely, on the house value rising at or above the interest cost on the mortgage. If the house is falling in value, then a reverse mortgage, where you don’t make any repayments to the bank, is a slightly riskier proposition. Although I’m eligible to do a reverse mortgage (over 65), I haven’t done it because I still have savings. But using those up, when the value of my house is falling, makes me nervous. Therefore, I think I’ll wait before making any rash moves. It wouldn’t be a rash move, but I don’t need a new car – it can wait.

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So Bronny “Chopper” Bishop has gone. HOORAY! What a travesty she made of the Speaker’s position in the federal parliament. She ejected or suspended members from the House on 400 occasions, and 390 of them were Labor members. Totally biased. Question Time became a waste of time. This is the Liberal Party way.

What a bloody disgrace. A Liberal Party member. Yeah. It seems to me that even though she’s apologised and repaid her doubtful travel expenses, that shouldn’t let her off the hook. I think she should still be investigated for fraudulent claims on her signature.

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I’ve often thought that I’m pretty lucky in having no problems with arthritis or joint pains. I’m 68 and many, many people have these troubles at this age. I’ve been free of anything except an occasional sharp pain in my knees.

But my right arm has started aching pretty constantly, and now, from a few days ago, I’m getting sharp pains in my right hip area. Uuurrrgh. I hope I’m not heading for hip replacement. The right arm is my mouse arm, of course.

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My new Sony Xperia SP phone has arrived and is now working. This the replacement for the one I lost a couple of weeks ago. The lost phone was an HTC Desire, a relative cheapie that I never liked very much. Very hard to use.

This new Sony is still an Android phone but it seems easier to use (I can work out how to answer and make calls!). It’s also smaller, so I’m more inclined to carry it in my pocket. I could never find the old one, so I often missed answering calls.

But losing my phone means I lost all my numbers that were stored, so I’ve got to rebuild the Contacts list. Very tedious work. I think I had a backup, but I don’t know where it is. Not much of a computer guru am I?