Author Topic: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company  (Read 11154 times)

Offline old head

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Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« on: January 29, 2015, 07:24:58 AM »
After Cox raised my cable rates again, and moved  some the TV stations I used to watch to the next tier, costing me more money, I have begun looking at antennas.

There is a lot of hype about antennas it seems.  anyone have real life experience with this issue.  I bought a converter for an old tv and run rabbit ears through it, I can pick up 8-10 channels, most are very good.  I live between two large cites, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, so I would imagine there are lots of stations to choose from.

I just don't know the details to make a good decision about HD tv antennas, other than higher above the horizon is better.  Do they make antennas that are omi-directional, or are they directional only.

Just starting my research, but I am really tired of Cox and their constant rate increases, mediocre quality, and tired pricing programs.

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Offline swmckinley54

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2015, 07:33:07 AM »
I went to RadioShack and purchased a powered HD antenna. Cost about $40.00.
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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2015, 07:38:55 AM »
Depending on where you are in relation to the stations an amplified non directional antenna should work fine.  They only cast between 10 and $40.  If it doesn't work you can always return it.
This site will tell you what antenna you need based on zipcode:
http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

If you are all in the green an amplified non directional should be all you need.  And you may not need the amplification.

Also the HD through the antenna is actually more clear than the HD through cable.

Offline blackcat

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2015, 07:50:50 AM »

Just starting my research, but I am really tired of Cox and their constant rate increases, mediocre quality, and tired pricing programs.

Old Head

Haggle with Cox. Find out what the monthly cost is of their competition and see if they can match it, and if they can't tell them you want to terminate service. This usually gets a response. Won't help with the programs you cannot see but at least the price will be in line.

I can hardly wait for HBO,Showtime,etc. to start offering their programs on a pay per each option, because only then will the Cable provider's start lowering their prices.   
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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2015, 07:50:50 AM »

Offline PeteS

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2015, 08:01:37 AM »
No such thing as an HD antenna. Just get one with longest range plus an amplifier. I used to have a Winegard that lasted me 25 years before the weather blew the elements off one by one. Then I got on from Radio Shack about the same size, the biggest one they sold. Stay away from Radio Shack. The elements are held in place with plastic clips vs metal and in a few years the plastic gets brittle, break, and the elements fold in.
Both antennas were good for 100 miles in the analog days when new. Now 75 miles is typical with digital which is either on or off. In the analog days programs were still viewable if with a little snow.
Check out Solid Signal for good deals.
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BTW the best antennas are directional so get a rotor. The whole package might set you back two months of cable payments.

Pete
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 08:09:50 AM by PeteS »

smartin108

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2015, 08:16:12 AM »
I have done exactly what you are contemplating and no regrets.  The only problem is if you are a big sports fan your choices will be extremely limited on broadcast tv.  The link below should help you decide on what you need.  You can enter your zip code and it will show stations in your area. I bought an omni directional from them since in Indianapolis I have access to 26 channels in the local area.  The antenna you need will depend on the available broadcast stations in your area and where they are from your location.  I was able to get by with an attic mounted one which simplified the process for me.
http://www.solidsignal.com/cview_antennas.asp?mc=03&d=over-the-air-tv-antennas-supplies&c=TV%20Antennas&cea=LD

Offline Triple Jim

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2015, 08:18:19 AM »
After you've used the map in the link above to see how your signal strength will be for the stations you want to receive, if you find the need more than an omnidirectional antenna, I can tell you what I'm using.  I'm about 50-75 miles from the stations we get.

It's true that there's no special antenna for digital TV, but it's essentially all UHF now, so old antennas like the ones with long VHF elements, and rabbit ears, are not going to help.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 08:19:06 AM by Triple Jim »
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Offline PeteS

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2015, 08:34:32 AM »
After you've used the map in the link above to see how your signal strength will be for the stations you want to receive, if you find the need more than an omnidirectional antenna, I can tell you what I'm using.  I'm about 50-75 miles from the stations we get.

It's true that there's no special antenna for digital TV, but it's essentially all UHF now, so old antennas like the ones with long VHF elements, and rabbit ears, are not going to help.

Not quite Jim. Channels 2.1-13.1 are still VHF and an old style antenna will work best for these. Most of the added channels like 2.2, 4.2, etc  plus everything above Ch 13 are on the UHF band.

Pete
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 08:35:29 AM by PeteS »

Offline screamday

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2015, 08:36:16 AM »
I did the same thing about 2 years ago. Don't miss cable except for the occasional sports program. Check out this site. More information then you will probably need....or want.

http://dennysantennaservice.com//
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Offline Lannis

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2015, 08:42:56 AM »
Depending on where you are in relation to the stations an amplified non directional antenna should work fine.  They only cast between 10 and $40.  If it doesn't work you can always return it.
This site will tell you what antenna you need based on zipcode:
http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

If you are all in the green an amplified non directional should be all you need.  And you may not need the amplification.

Also the HD through the antenna is actually more clear than the HD through cable.

That's pretty interesting!   I can move the pointer around and if I go uphill about 100 feet it shows I would get reception.

But as it is, none at my house.   Makes sense, because there's no cell signal either.   And no cable nor DSL available.

Can't hide the satellite, so that's what I use to break through.   But the lack of TV or phone signal is no loss for us!

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Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2015, 08:50:14 AM »
No such thing as an HD antenna. Just get one with longest range plus an amplifier.

What Pete said.

Radio waves are radio waves. It doesn't matter if it is carrying an HD TV signal or some VHF radio signal. Radio is radio.
So get an antenna/amplifier that covers the band you want. Directional antennas will typically have more gain, but may not work for you since you want to access signals from two directions.
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Offline StuCorpe

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2015, 08:55:50 AM »
I have never had cable or satellite TV. Use an antenna in the rafters of my garage that I put up there 35 years ago.  Works fine, last a long time.  Cheap!

Offline GearheadGrrrl

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2015, 09:19:54 AM »
No cable or wired internet available at my place in Minnesota and I'm 40 miles from the PBS station's transmitter and 60 miles from ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates. House is on a ridge and the PBS station maintains their transmitter and antenna well, so I can pick them up with a couple feet of wire sticking out of the antenna jack. To get the stations 60 miles away I got the biggest consumer available RCA brand antenna, about $100 at rural farm stores, etc.. Picks up all of the above stations well, plus when the nearby PBS transmitter is down for maintenance, I can swing the antenna 'round and pick up their other transmitter 80 miles away in the other direction. Also pick up another NBC affiliate 60 miles away and an independent 150 miles away, but can't reliably pick up the 4 network affiliates in MSP 150 miles away. Down here in Naples, Florida all the TV broadcasters are on the same towers 50 miles away, I tried a small inconspicuous antenna on the trailer roof and couldn't get them. Trailer park owners here have banned antennas as they want to sell their sat TV service, so no point in trying the rather conspicuous big antenna I've got in MN.

As far as the amplifiers go, in urban areas with a lot of competing signals they tend to get overwhelmed and just make matters worse, in rural areas they might help.
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Offline Triple Jim

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2015, 09:25:30 AM »
Not quite Jim. Channels 2.1-13.1 are still VHF and an old style antenna will work best for these. Most of the added channels like 2.2, 4.2, etc  plus everything above Ch 13 are on the UHF band.

Pete

Interesting.  After your post I did some reading.  Just after the digital changeover was made, what I said was true in my area, and in the DC area, where there was no digital VHF that I could find.  Of course that doesn't mean it wasn't there somewhere.  But some stations have chosen to revert to their VHF assignments, hoping to reduce their power usage.  From what I read, some have been successful, and some have found their coverage area is much smaller than when they were broadcasting analog signals.  I may put a VHF antenna back up and see what I can receive.

Old head, another option is streaming video from the Internet.  A Roku is one way to do this, and there are many others.  Some programming is free, and some requires a subscription, but the subscription stuff is generally not expensive, at least for what we watch.  We have a meager 3 Mb/sec Internet connection and streaming video works well.

Edit:  I've run into confusion about this VHF-UHF thing.  Here at my house, 11.1 and its subchannels are high-band VHF.  But WRAL channel 5 and its subchannels are UHF, on the actual UHF channel 48.  It seems that the displayed channel number and frequency are unrelated now.  The really odd thing is that I didn't realize our channel 11 is high-band VHF, and amazingly we get a good signal with a UHF specific antenna.  Good thing it's not low-band VHF I guess.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 09:57:20 AM by Triple Jim »
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Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #14 on: January 29, 2015, 09:26:17 AM »
As far as the amplifiers go, in urban areas with a lot of competing signals they tend to get overwhelmed and just make matters worse, in rural areas they might help.

Particularly by FM. If you have an FM station nearby, the amplifier will need a good FM trap.
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Offline mgfan

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #15 on: January 29, 2015, 11:38:35 AM »
I cancelled all mine when the last kid moved out, and now watch my 3 or 4 favorite shows on my laptop. Another $1,000 a year to spend on motorcycles!  :BEER:
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Offline LowRyter

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #16 on: January 29, 2015, 11:43:16 AM »
I live in town but cheap rabbit ears work fine.

One thing I learned from my RV travels, cheap TVs have cheap tuners and won't pull a station from across the street (literally true).  :beat_horse
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Offline old head

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #17 on: January 29, 2015, 03:48:36 PM »
thanks for the info, I know lot more now.

It seems I have 5 channels that in the strong signal, 15 in the weak, and about 6 in the no signal area.

I guess it doesn't go by miles anymore, signal strength.

another site says 8 in the red color, and 7 in the violet color.

good thing is they are all coming from the west to west by north direction, so directional should work.

I really like that Denny's antenna site.  Looks like I need one of the upper end antennas to be able to receive those weak signals.

More internet time to better understand I suppose.
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Offline DucatiSSsp

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #18 on: January 29, 2015, 06:28:14 PM »
Got rid of cable about 5 years ago.  Tried HD rabbit ears inside and didn't work so well, then tried the rabbit ears up in the attic.....better!  Then decided to put a antenna where my dish was with a $80-90 HD antenna.....very good!  Get some loss of picture sometimes during windstorms, but will not go back to dish or cable...spend most of my time changing channels and get nothing accomplished! ::)
Now I spend more time on the internet getting nothing accomplished....acc ept saving $50 per month!
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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #19 on: January 29, 2015, 08:33:34 PM »
I dumped Comcast about five years ago for all the same reasons.  I'm surrounded by mountains but the towers are only about 15 miles away. I bought a Terk amplified antenna, mounted it outside, and can pull in everything I need. If there's a game that I absolutely have to watch, I run down to the sports bar a mile away and watch it there.

Offline rbm

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #20 on: January 29, 2015, 09:04:54 PM »
You can stack antennas to increase the overall gain of the system and get those weaker signals.  That's what I've done, using a 8-bay Channel Master CM4228 and 4-bay Channel Master CM4224.  Most of my stations are south of my house so I've pointed the antenna almost directly at the source of the weaker signals.    The antennas are mounted on the roof, on a mast bolted to the chimney.  I mounted the 8-bay low down and the 4-bay on top of it.  Together, they give me the amplification of a 12-bay antenna.  I don't have 100% clear view to the south due to neighbour's trees but I can still receive signals 90 miles away with no dropout even in bad weather.  The stronger signals to the south west are close enough that the mispointing of the antenna does not cause problems.

The Channel Masters are UHF antennas but I still manage to drag VHF Channel 9 in, because the signal is so strong.  Before stacking the antennas, I had 7 channels (sometimes 9 on certain days); now I get 15 channels.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 09:14:32 PM by rbm »
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Offline Monza-jockey

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #21 on: January 29, 2015, 09:15:45 PM »
I live in urban setting and receive 70+ channels on a Radio Shack 15-1634 Omni-Directional disc. I have it mounted on ABS pipe stuck into a patio umbrella stand on my balcony. I also have a Winegard Flatwave taped onto a North facing window. I can switch the coax with an A-B-C box.

I've built a Log Periodic, Gray-Hoverman, Fractal and Quad bowtie antennas. If you want more information check this forum     

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=5e2908391a8f369847c6c6dcdcafe651&f=186

If I were to buy an antenna I'd go for a ClearStream 2V for my location.

« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 09:18:06 PM by Monza-jockey »
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Penderic

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #22 on: January 29, 2015, 10:05:58 PM »
I may order this cheap antenna from Amazon to try out - I can make one from coat hangers, fasteners and a 2x4 with plans but at that price ($24.), I will save some time and money. (its the misc stuff like fasteners, clips and terminals that can nickel and dime the budget.

Digiwave ANT2084 UHF Outdoor TV Digital Antenna



http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002HEQEFC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB
Should be even cheaper in the USA.



« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 10:06:59 PM by Penderic »

Offline rodekyll

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #23 on: January 30, 2015, 12:35:28 AM »
I grounded one antenna lead to actual earth and connected the other to the edge of my metal roof.  It works.

Offline rboe

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2015, 08:02:13 AM »
Maybe I should try that. Once we put a metal roof on the house we had to go cable. Tried several antennas on the roof but could not more than two channels (used to get four). Tried an Omni directional one, meh, sucked. Would be nice to ditch cable (except for internet).
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Offline zedXmick

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #25 on: January 30, 2015, 09:23:48 AM »
I ditched cable when TV switched to digital signals,back in 2009. I have been saving $100.00 a month for 6 years now. Me and a friend built our own bow tie antenna,that we researched off the net. It has been working great for six years now,and looks like this.  I have it mounted on a ten foot pole,at the peak of my roof.



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Offline gearman

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Re: Antenna's for HD, trying to drop my cable company
« Reply #26 on: January 30, 2015, 12:14:28 PM »
I ditched cable when TV switched to digital signals,back in 2009. I have been saving $100.00 a month for 6 years now. Me and a friend built our own bow tie antenna,that we researched off the net. It has been working great for six years now,and looks like this.  I have it mounted on a ten foot pole,at the peak of my roof.




   Picture?


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