# Does anyone have an over the air antenna?



## Protect this House (Aug 12, 2013)

I want an alternative to paying for cable or dish. My two big concerns are my wife and the reception I'll receive in Ohio. If any one has any feedback on these please respond.


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## machinejjh (Nov 13, 2012)

I bought a digital antenna after not wanting to give the cable company any more money. We get around 7 channels, and for as little as we watch tv that is fine. Reception is good unless it storms, and then the picture pixelates. I'm in Ohio as well btw. Should be fine.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

What is an over the air antenna?

Sorry for my ignorance. We do not have cable or dish, mainly because we do not watch TV.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

I am in the hills and with a good antenna (old school big monster channelmaster) and a booster I get 24 stations crystal clear. That is not counting duplicate stations or things that come in once in a while.

To hell with cable/satellite bills


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## Protect this House (Aug 12, 2013)

Its a high powered antenna that receives reception from satellites. Only costs about $100 to get the antenna and receiver and I've heard they pick up as many as 70 channels. I have seen one in California and it was picking up about 50.


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## Protect this House (Aug 12, 2013)

Machine are you in a rural area or close to a city. I'll be in the Youngstown area.


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## Broncosfan (Mar 2, 2014)

We have used an over the air antenna for over 2 years. We get 18+ channels. We live in southeastern, Ohio and there isn't alot around. We get all of the Columbus stations and two different PBS. I'm about 60 miles from Columbus. Most major stations have more than one channel like 6.1, 6.2. Older shows are one the .2 usually. I can move it around because it has a rotor that comes with it. It was only about $60 if I remember correctly. The one we have is a LAVA HD not sure if its model 2605 or 2805. You can find in on the internet. It does mount outside. I have never had much luck with the indoor ones. It looks weird but it works. I took a chance on it and we're very pleased.


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## machinejjh (Nov 13, 2012)

Protect this House said:


> Machine are you in a rural area or close to a city. I'll be in the Youngstown area.


Same as you.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

If you have an old analog antenna, use it. These new "digital" antennas are mostly just marketing hype. I have done just fine with a home made wire antenna.


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## Broncosfan (Mar 2, 2014)

Boss Dog said:


> If you have an old analog antenna, use it. These new "digital" antennas are mostly just marketing hype. I have done just fine with a home made wire antenna.


Some are a joke. We purchase a new analog antenna and was only able to get one channel. I decided to gamble on a HD antenna that mounts outside and it was amazing how many channels that I got. I mounted both anntenns at the same height about 10 feet above my roof line ad no matter where I turned the analog antenna we still only got one channel. Best $60 I ever spent. I lose some signals once in a while and I live were its real windy so I do have to adjust it once in awhile but it come with a rotor so its fairly easy.


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## bad (Feb 22, 2014)

We use an old bow-tie antenna on our computer monitor/TV. I wouldn't watch it ever but my spouse does. We get 3 stations, all broadcast from the same tower. No other stations are within 80+ miles.

In the early 90s I had a C-Band dish about 8' across. Had to aim it at maybe 20 different geosynchronous satellites. Each satellite had a max of 24 stations or feeds on it. Nothing was encrypted.

I can't imagine that there would be simple loophole in the system that would let you see television via satellites for free. I would like to see the hack.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

My mom doesn't have cable so I was helping her with getting a few stations with an hd antenna. She purchased a stealthtenna from her sister. 0 channels. I purchased a lcd hd portable tv. 0 channels. After several attempts a converter box and a hd antenna on a wire next to the window finally worked. After being screwed out of $250 shes got three channels.


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## spokes (Feb 22, 2014)

Where we live, three channels is a treat.

Granted I am not a big TV watcher like a lot of folks, but as Bad says, I do enjoy sitting down at night and watching evening TV to relax. Cable/satellite is a waste of money, IMHO. Especially when you only watch it in the evenings. We do have satellite Internet out of necessity, the necessity being that if we didn't have it we wouldn't have Internet that was worth even trying to use, so I am happy with our television set up.

The only thing I dislike about it is having to go outside when it is raining to adjust the antennae direction so I can get a clear picture.....honey, are you reading this....hint hint...


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I didn't have cable for a while myself but then I ordered the 15 channels from my cable probider then I hot cable internet and upgraded to the 80 channels.
There is an option to order 15 channels with cable. 
I only watch the news anyway.


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## bad (Feb 22, 2014)

James for an antenna to work best you need one that is directional and mounted as high as you can get it outdoors.

At our previous house we had the same antenna mounted on a swivel hung from the ceiling in the TV room. We got probably 20 stations.

Our bow tie is commercially made with 4 bow ties and a grid reflector behind.

Here is a homemade unit with one bow tie and no specific reflector.

Solid Signal Blog - The Standard Bow Tie Antenna


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

We recently kicked the $90 a month Satellite habit.
We spent about $300 to upgrade our cable modem, wireless hub and a few other techy-gadgets to make this easier - that included an over the air antenna like this one.
Amazon.com: RCA ANT751 Durable Compact Outdoor Antenna: Electronics








I've put a link below to help you find the one that is right for you.

Now we spend:
Internet - $35/mo (that we were already spending before the switch)
Netflix - $9/mo
Amazon Prime - $9/mo (for the recrod you pay this as a one time annual fee of about $90)
We may add in Hulu+ for another $9/mo Maybe not...

So right now my increase in cost is $300 in one time charges, $90 annually, and $9 a month.
At that rate My first 6 months costs me (factoring in all charges) $450 bucks. That same time costs me $550 on satellite.
First year sat free = $500. One year of satellite = $1100
Second year sat free = $200 (no upgrades to equipment needed). And the next year of sat service would be another $1100 plus what ever they want to raise rates by.

Over the air I get crisp digital signals for about 80 channels. Truth is, I only care about 20 of them. The rest are home shopping (weird - over the air), religious, or are in Spanish.

Go here to see what kind of antenna you need:
AntennaWeb - Home

Then go get one on Amazon.

I will tell you this - when I called Dish-Network to cancel they asked why. I told them about my cost savings and they transferred me to Customer Retention. I had already made the investment so I wasn't going back, but I thought I'd see how low they could go. After some haggling and negotiating they offered me $22 a month for what I use to pay $90. If they had discounted me to even $40 a month I would have *NEVER STARTED LOOKING TO REPLACE THEM. * Satellite providers and Cable Companies are going to price themselves out of business at this rate. If they can keep me for $22 and I was willing to pay $40 then you know there is profit to be made. Call your provider and see what they can do for you.

If you want some specific help, feel free to hit me off line with your ph# and I'll walk you through what we did. Jumping off the satellite teat is a leap of faith but I don't regret it one bit. Feels kinda like getting flushed out of the cozy womb of the Matrix at first, but you adapt.


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## pastornator (Apr 5, 2013)

I went off cable/dish, etc., about 2 years ago and never looked back.

The antennaweb site is good. I used it to make my determinations. I get over 40 on-air chanels in my location, which is deep in a valley about mid-point between Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

I use an omni-directional antenna because I would be constantly fiddling around with a rotor. I might get better reception with a rotor for individual stations, but that would mean adjustment every time I switched chanels. Also using a booster with the antenna (came with it as a package). I mounted the antenna on a 10 foot piece of conduit on the top of my home roof (made a mast that extends it 10 feet higher than the roof line). It has withstood 50+ mph winds so far, so it is good. It is about 35 feet from the ground, which helps me in the valley that is our home. If I could get it another 10 feet higher I would pick up about 6 more stations, but not sure it is worth it as many are just repeats anyway.

Amazon.com: Winegard MS-2002 HDTV Antenna without Cable: Electronics

On top of that we use ROKU (and the new Amazon Fire TV looks really nice!) plus Amazon Prime (yes, there is a fee, but we do most of our shopping on Amazon as well), Hulu ($8 a month, but lets us watch network programming about an hour after a program broadcasts), and all the other great chanels that come via Roku (more than cable!).

We use a cable modem, which we were already paying for anyway as that is the only way to get the web unless one goes to a much slower DSL over the phone lines, and we don't even HAVE phone lines as we use cell only. I get 20 mb speeds on the net and that works well with the Roku and of course, with the web via computer.

I LOVE no big monthly bills and shedding cable television has saved us roughly $100 a month for the past two years. We have used that money to pay down debt and we can now see the ABSOLUTE LAST BILL WE OWE! We will be debt free by June!

The broadcast quality of local programming on-air is often better than we saw with either cable or dish (we used both at one time or another) and no extra fees for hi-def. Only time I miss cable at all is at times when sporting events are broadcast only via cable chanels like the recent NCAA basketball tourney. Had to miss watching Wisconsin play because it wasn't on anything we recieved without spending a ludicrious amount of money to get an ESPN feed. Oh well, it is just a game...


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

We got rid of Dish, even the lowest tier plus local channels was almost $60 a month. We went with a little flat indoor antenna thin and about the size of a sheet of notebook paper. We can get one channel from the city, if conditions are optimal. It's an independant and we just watch news and weather.
The one shown above by GTGallop might not be quite enough, the specs say a 40 mile range. We really need 60+ miles.
All I really would like is to get the local Fox and ABC stations so I can watch half of the NASCAR season (the rest is on ESPN and TBS). PBS would be a bonus.
Around here most locals use a Deep Fringe rated antenna and the Ace Hardware in town has a Channel Master Deep Fringe for $125. Supposedly good for 75 miles. The pole and and motor rotator would be extra.
I would like to go cheaper.
Anyone got any ideas?

Edited to add: I was typing at the same time as pastornator.
Pastornator, how far will your antenna pick up?


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## bushrat (Oct 21, 2013)

Haven't watched TV in 30 years. Most of what your saying about equipment I don't even understand.


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