trying to ditch cable, but antenna is not cooperating

zembla3

I'm trying to save money by giving up cable TV. I bought an amplified HDTV antenna (receives HDTV, UHF, VHF and radio signals) and have been trying to use it with my Samsung LCD. Unfortunately, I'm only getting three channels - CBS, PBS and something called LivingWell. I live on the second floor of a four-story building in the South Slope and my apartment faces north (i.e., into other people's backyards.). Is crappy antenna reception common around here if you don't live on the upper floors of a high-rise? Are there any other options for getting live broadcast TV (either on a TV or on a PC) without paying for cable?

jeffrey

Hmm. Off the top of my head...

What kind of antenna did you get?

How many dB gain?

If it's a more directional one, did you point it at an angle slightly above the rooftops, not directly at the building behind you?

MOD

Your TV is new and doesn't need a converter box, right? (I assume so, as you are at least getting a few channels)

alvintostig

I'm in Prospect Heights and have basically the setup you described. I get all the networks and an assortment of other channels. My channels used to cut out pretty frequently but I checked http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx to see which way to aim my thing and it helped.

I recommend giving that shot.

whyfi

Hate to say it, but I've never met a powered antenna that I've liked - UHF, VHF, FM, AM, Digital, Analog, whatever - every powered antenna I've used (and I've had hands-on with literally dozens) has sucked. They seem to do a better job of amplifying noise than amplifying signal. I have an older version of this cheapie and it actually does a decent job - http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Technology-HDTVi-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B0001FV36E Your mileage will vary, as is always the case with antennas.

MOD

I have one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/VHF-UHF-HD-FM-amplifier/dp/B003AK331A/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1290432603&sr=1-4

Also a cheapo, but it gets the job done and I get basic channels. I've had it about 4 years, I may switch to something better.

Aside question: Antenna people out there, do you get channel 4 anymore? About 3 months ago that channel disappeared, there is no signal. No 4.2 (the NY1 channel) or 4.3 (the 'all sports, all day' channel) either. Anyone else notice this?

whyfi

I get 4.1, 4.2, 4.4 - never knew that I was missing 4.3.

sadarami

I have one of these: Winegard SS-3000 VHF UHF Amplified Indoor TV Antenna.

I'm on first floor but on corner so have pretty open view facing north west, the antenna usually works fine but is subject to interference from passing traffic.

Every now and then one channel or another will disappear, Channel 4 most frequently for some reason. I've tried to google around and see why this happens but never found anything. Lately we've had no problem with channel 4. Channel 5 and 11 also occasionally go out as well.

On my TV I have to rescan for all of the available channels and sometimes this works quickly and channel 4 pops back up, but other times it can go missing for a couple days. When I do the rescan (or whatever its called) sometimes I'll also pick up a lot more channels than other times - there are a number these obscure Spanish, religious and shopping channels you can as the numbers go higher, but usually the main channels are always there.

One other little thing, make sure all of your connections are tight, if they ever loosen up your reception will get worse.

MOD

Hallelujah! I auto scanned and found channel 4 again! I had done that last month and no dice, so happy!

Whyfi, turns out the sports channel I was talking about was 4.4 (now that I can see it)

jahverson

In addition to various issues with antenna type, direction, etc. I also discovered that tuner quality matters. The built in tuner on my TV was only pulling in a few channels, but I got an external tuner (some random Chinese made thing called DTV5000, there are a number of brands of the same tuner, just packaged in different cases) that was able to pull in stable reception of all the locals (except the RNN channels, which don't have anything of interest anyway).

I also found the best place for my antenna was on top of a closet in another room, I just got 50 ft of coax and ran it along the floorboard to my living room.

Then a month later I thought to plug in the coax that TW had running into my house (I was not a subscriber to their TV or internet), discovered it was live, and used that instead (all the locals in HD, and few other random ones, TBS (SD) being the most notable).

slopehead

I've also got the Winegard SS-3000 amplified antenna. I live in a garden apartment in the North Slope with big iron bars on the windows but somehow this thing pulls in all the networks and other channels just great. I had to experiment with ideal placement but eventually discovered the best spot for it. Between this and my new AppleTV and Netflix and don't miss cable one bit.

fafner

I have never had any luck with the commercial ones. However, I built one of these and have crystal clear picture.

http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

buffalobill

Also, if you just cancel your contract with Comcast and leave your TV plugged into the coaxial cable, you'll get plenty of digital and analog channels for free. You should get the networks, ION, Food, some other good stuff and a ton of weird, awesome public access. I even wasted an evening making a list of all the channels....I know....

alvintostig

buffalobill wrote:

Also, if you just cancel your contract with Comcast and leave your TV plugged into the coaxial cable, you'll get plenty of digital and analog channels for free. You should get the networks, ION, Food, some other good stuff and a ton of weird, awesome public access. I even wasted an evening making a list of all the channels....I know....

A ha. When I moved into this apt. I was getting super basic cable out of the coax coming out of my wall. I figured that was connected to an antenna on the roof or something. Then it quit and I didn't know why. So I switched to rabbit ears. And now I'm in the same boat as most who've chimed in on this thread.

I'm looking to have this story published if anyone here knows a good publishing house. For the right amount we could talk movie rights.

mantic

I've made a half a dozen "coat" hanger" antenna similar to the linked by fafner. They beat everything else I've run across hands down.

MOD

There's a new basic TV channel now 11.4

Seems like it is basically 70s TV shows: Good Times, Two Close for Comfort, 8 is Enough, Partridge Family, Three's Company... and some 80s like Married with Children

So bad, it's good!!

5x5

Mamacita, we just came across this channel this morning! I'll admit that I spent way too much time watching TV today.