Appreciation post: that old-timer in Quartzsite who laughed at my satellite internet setup

Drove out to Quartzsite last March with a $400 Starlink dish thinking I'd cracked the nomad code, and this guy in a 1988 RV showed me a $50 antenna booster that worked way better. Can anyone else relate to tech snobs who are dead wrong about what actually works remote?

3 comments

3 Comments

drews558d ago

The $50 antenna booster story hits hard because I once spent $300 on a fancy "long range" antenna that barely picked up AM radio in my hometown. Meanwhile, my buddy's dad had a 1987 coat hanger wrapped in foil that got crystal clear reception from 80 miles away. Learned that lesson the hard way - sometimes the simple setup is the best setup. That old timer probably knew more about radio waves before you were even born than we'll learn in a lifetime of reading Reddit threads. Nothing humbles you quite like getting outperformed by technology from the Reagan administration.

kevinw948d ago

Had a buddy in college who dropped like $200 on a "premium" antenna setup for his dorm... meanwhile my other friend just tacked a paperclip to the wall and pulled in every station clear as day. Made the first guy pretty mad honestly.

charlieh748d ago

Ha! Yeah that's pretty much exactly what happened to me with @drews55's story... I used to think throwing money at the latest gear was always the answer, but that old timer in Quartzsite definitely changed my mind. Sometimes the cheap stuff just works better because it's been figured out over decades, ya know?