Jul. 3--You're not going to believe this. For months, I wrote about expected reception horrors related to the digital television conversion. My advice was always to go to hometown hero RadioShack and ask for help. The clerks should know what antenna is best for your neighborhood.

But when D-Day finally arrived in June and I hooked a TV set to one of those dorky converter boxes, Channels 8 and 11 were gone.

So I followed my own advice and went to the Shack. The clerk recommended a better quality indoor antenna. Cost? $50. But they were sold out. When I returned, they were still sold out.

This week, my wife, Karen, put a sheet of aluminum foil around the indoor antenna's rabbit ears. Reception for most channels turned perfect.

I'm changing my advice. Before you go to the store, try the foil.

Paying for Oncor's error

Oncor wants its customers to pay $93 million to help cover the cost of smart meters it installed several years ago. Turns out these meters aren't smart enough.

Oncor, the Energy Future Holdings company that maintains the power lines that deliver electricity, bought the smart meters before the Public Utility Commission changed the specs on what kind of meters they want us to have.

About 250,000 of these early meters were installed, but they don't allow remote automatic disconnects and reconnects. They also don't monitor electricity usage at 15-minute intervals. Both are state requirements for the next generation of meters.

Two administrative law judges recently ruled that Oncor should pay some of the costs because the initial purchases were "imprudent."

But Oncor spokeswoman Carol Peters says: "You really can't go back and rethink history. Those were the standards at the time."

The extra charge that Oncor wants us to pay is unrelated to the new $2.21 monthly surcharge that we began paying this year. That surcharge will be collected for the next 11 years and pay the cost of future meters that are coming to your home and business.

Consumer groups are fighting Oncor's request. They say the for-profit company should make up its own losses. The PUC is expected to rule later this year.

'Constable Alert'

Tarrant County Constable Clint Burgess of Mansfield has issued a "Constable Alert" e-mail about an Arlington company that sells ads to area chambers, schools and police departments for calendars and other promotional items.

I reported in May that salespeople for Universal AdCom and its affiliated companies say they are working with civic and government organizations and agencies when they aren't.