Armed Polite Society

Grounding the antenna will fix that problem.  You're probably getting some atmospheric static charge, even in the attic.

From decent reception to bupkis.  Yes, an external antenna is in our future.

I'll likely dis-assemble the in-attic antenna and remove it.  Until I get around to a big, honking external, I'll suffice with a cheapy Radio Shack set-top model.

Try an amplifier.  When I had an attic antenna, I didn't get jack (stations are all 30 miles away), but adding a powered amp from radio shack immediately gave me 8-10 stations.

Chris

What the heck is tin foil radiant barrier?

->    <- that, but family sized.

DD

Articles on the subject:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/ees/etsd/btric/RadiantBarrier/rb2.shtml
More info (first has zones for use, second has a graph of savings):
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/ees/etsd/btric/RadiantBarrier/index.shtml
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/ees/etsd/btric/RadiantBarrier/rb3.shtml

"Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."

The contractor who converted my parents' attic to a bedroom was very "tech savvy" and ahead of the curve. He convinced my father that this new-fangled aluminum foil insulation was THE answer, so that's what was installed. It became my bedroom, and it was sweltering hot in Summer, even at night, and in Winter the temperature never got higher than 55 degrees even at mid-day when the rest of the house was at 70.

When I took over the house 15 years ago, after my mother passed away, the first thing I did was replace all that tinfoil with fiberglass batts in the walls and styrofoam in the roof rafters. In other words, REAL insulation. It made a huge difference - even keeping the house thermostat set several degrees lower than my parents ran it, the upstairs bedroom is now quite livable.

That was in 1955. The stuff was in vogue for a couple/few years, then disappeared from the market. Why? Because it didn't work. So here we are, 55 years later, and we have new hucksters selling the same old junk all over again.

What the heck is tin foil radiant barrier?

Sounds like the junk that was installed as "insulation" when my parents converted the attic of our house into a bedroom when my little sister was born, back in the 1950s. It's efficacy can be summed up in one simple word: "junk."

Maybe so.

OTOH, many folks around here (DFW) have had good results.  Given adequate top & bottom ventilation, an attic in the summer goes from, "Heat stroke after 10 minutes" to "Close to outside temperature and can work up there."

For my own part, radiant barrier is Step #2. 

Step #1 was tear out old soffit vents under vinyl soffit vents & clear the way.  Step #3 is replace the old, non-working attic fan.  Step #4 will be prep for blown insulation (plates on top of junction boxes & flagged with 24"+ flags, 24" tall, 12" diam sheet metal cylinders around light fixture boxes, etc.).  Step #5 will be R60 blown insulation (fiberglass or most likely cellulose) in the attic, which is 19"-22" deep, depending on the insulation.  Current attic insulation consists of ~2.5" of blown fiberglass.

Back in 2003/2004, I made the mistake in going from the yellow shingles that matched the brick to the dark gray that is most popular.  The house has never been as comfy in the summer since, and the attic became unbearable.  Next time I shingle, I am buying WHITE shingles, thanks.