Embracing low-tech TV

On a windy ridge high on Cow Mountain, five men work on antiquated electronic equipment and antennas, toiling to keep television access free for residents between Ukiah and Redwood Valley who can't or won't pay for service.

"The airwaves are supposed to be free," said Carl Sassenrath, chairman of the Ukiah Television Improvement Association, which has managed television receiving and transmitting stations on two Cow Mountain ridgetops since 1956.

The nonprofit, volunteer-run Television Improvement Association is the only means for area residents to get TV reception without hooking up to cable or satellite.

There are several hundred translator stations like TIA across the country, Sassenrath said. They collect and retransmit major TV stations, providing simple, inexpensive and sometimes fuzzy reception on shoestring budgets that rely primarily on volunteer payments from customers. There are similar stations in the Potter and Anderson valleys in Mendocino County.

Most have been around for decades, first providing service in places too far from cities to get reception with regular rooftop antennas.

They survived the advent of cable and satellite dishes but are now facing a new hurdle as the TV channels they capture and retransmit go digital, a move that must be completed by February 2009.

TIA will need a financial boost, either from grants or its customers to pay for upgrades to collect, and eventually send, digital transmissions.

The cost of that change currently is unknown, Sassenrath said. He said TIA will be applying for federal grants available to make the transition, but they may not cover the cost.

Once the change to digital transmission is made, antenna users will receive much clearer pictures, but they'll then need to buy converter boxes if their televisions aren't already equipped for digital, Sassenrath said.

TIA asks users to pay $35 a year, but the service, which currently provides six channels on a good day, is available for anyone who invests in a small TV-top antenna.

TIA estimates that about 2,000 people tune in using its antennas. But fewer than 1,000 pay for the service, said longtime TIA board member Jerry Duvall.

If it weren't for the technical expertise of some of its volunteer members, TIA would not be able to run on its current, $10,000-a-year budget, which includes $600 a month for utilities alone, Sassenrath said.

"It's always been run by people who know what they're doing," said Sassenrath, a former Silicon Valley leader with a background in electrical engineering.

TIA was founded by a cable technician and supported by AT&T and PG&E workers in Ukiah, who volunteered their time to help lay wire for the translator station, Duvall said.

Before TIA started transmitting, Ukiah Valley residents erected antennas of up to 60 feet to capture what often was fuzzy and sporadic reception. Similar antennas in Redwood Valley yielded even poorer results.

A fledging cable company had just come to town, but the service was limited and had a pricey hookup fee, said Duvall, who at the time owned Jerry's TVs on South State Street.

So when a former cable employee, Bill Parker, decided to start TIA, he had no problem finding contributors.

"There was a lot of donations," Duvall recalled.

The new service even benefitted the people who chose cable over TIA. Because of the competition, the now-defunct cable company reduced its hookup fee from $162 to $9.95, Duvall said.

Since that time, cable and satellite television providers have become dominant, leaving TIA to serve only a few. Many Ukiah residents don't even know it exists.

But that doesn't stop its users from staying devoted. When the service was knocked out by storms last month, the calls poured in, Duvall said.

"So many people are concerned about it because many people can't afford cable or satellites," he said.

Others simply prefer it.

"There are a lot of people who think you don't need 350 channels and a lot of people who believe the money can be better spent," Sassenrath said.

"I try not to have technology rule me," he said.

Ukiah physician Robert Werra said he doesn't want the huge number of channel choices available through cable and satellite.

"I don't want to get addicted and waste time watching television," he said.

Werra and his wife primarily watch public television, which has been coming in clearer than ever since TIA repaired damage and upgraded some equipment after the recent storms.

Geoff Heinecken, a Ukiah furniture maker, said he prefers to limit his time in front of a TV.

"It's like a constant bombardment of propaganda. It's so weird that not only you have to subject yourself to this advertising, now they want you to pay for the privilege," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson

@pressdemocrat.com.