Cutting the cable! TV cable that is

Mailman's antennae farm is LOS (line-of-sight), 18 miles away. He can see them in the out yonder. Very powerful signal strength.

My 80-mile-away Austin and San Antonio stations are mostly tropospheric ducting, and come in quite strong, except on those rare, wierd, changing weather, heat inversion days. But, only for a couple hours. Kinda like signal loss with satellite on rainy days.

Then, there's the ion-layer skip conditions. When I get those, usually in the mornings, it really reaches out. Sometimes get Louisiana, Florida, and Cleveland. Confused me at first. Was getting weather reports that didn't make sense, from funny-sounding places, like *something* Bayou...
 
This is all very interesting stuff. I did a lot of online research before selecting my antenna.
I really was tempted to make my own. I watched a bunch of YouTube how to videos and there were some guys living in very rural areas getting very good reception with home made bow tie antennas mounted on 20’ poles.
Any they really are a Sunday afternoon project.
 
One more thought about signal strength and direction. I was watching a professional installer putting up an antenna in a remote mountain cabin. He pointed the antenna in the direction where he knew the towers were, but he found he got a stronger signal if he turned it 180 degrees the other way and pointed it at the mountain BEHIND this guys cabin. The signal bouncing off the mountain was stronger.
Weird stuff!
 
yupper if line of site isn't possible finding a natural reflector can work.
barely related; on a backpack trip many years ago I accidentally wandered into a natural audio amplifier, buds at the campsite a 100 yards distant were easily heard and vica versa at whisper levels. each end was backed by roughly parabolic reflector rock walls. Also very early in cell phone use, think bag phone. I could get signal to the tower I wanted and block a roaming tower if I placed the phone about a foot from a pizza pan placed vertically atop the refrigerator and aimed. LOL
 
We cut the cord about two years ago. Kept the hi speed internet. I bought an Amazon fire and three fire sticks. You can download a butt load of Apps. for free and I buy a couple of premium channels ala cart. Once I got thru withdrawal, I find that I can't stand to watch network TV.
 
Post script: The antenna pulls in all the network channels in crystal clear HD, the other channels, not so much and frankly I was missing some of the programs that I loved watching on cable. I always liked River Monsters, Forged in Fire, The Food Channel and my wife was missing her HGTV channel, so We made one final addition. A couple days ago we added basic HULU commercial free for $12 a month.
With that addition we got all our old cable channels back, entire seasons , some of them have every show ever made. We also get an absolutely huge library of movies, plus original programming. It was a snap to set up with our ROKU box and the picture quality for all channels are superb.
Even with the addition of HULU we are still saving $88 per month over what we were paying for cable TV and we are getting WAY more viewing options.
So with that , I’m calling this little project done and a complete success!
3AC3ED23-CDEC-49AC-B450-57350BD2A51B.gif
 
We did the same about a year ago. Just have Wifi internet with Roku boxes and Netflix. Also something to keep in mind, if you have an Amazon Prime account not only do you get all that free shipping, but you also get access to Amazon TV on your Roku. In that app you can rent or buy movies, but they also have a Prime section that all is free. So many options its not even funny. Lots of old movies in there too.
 
We did the same about a year ago. Just have Wifi internet with Roku boxes and Netflix. Also something to keep in mind, if you have an Amazon Prime account not only do you get all that free shipping, but you also get access to Amazon TV on your Roku. In that app you can rent or buy movies, but they also have a Prime section that all is free. So many options its not even funny. Lots of old movies in there too.

This whole thing has been an education for me, and very eye opening. My adult kids have been doing this for some time now, but they were born into the tech age and this stuff comes easy for them. It isn't hard to do once you understand how it all works, it's just a matter of taking the time to educate yourself. As we become older there is a tendency to get set in our ways and be reluctant to change. That was certainly my case. I had to push myself to learn and understand. The funny thing is it is both less expensive AND has way more content.
 
If I had time to watch TV I would instead walk to the public library every Saturday and borrow a book.
 
If I had time to watch TV I would instead walk to the public library every Saturday and borrow a book.

Yeah but the library doesn't have River Monsters! Haha! I love this guy! He goes all over the world, to some TRULY dangerous places just to fish for huge exotic fish that can bite your arm off! Just yesterday I was watching him fish the cooling ponds at Chernobyl nuclear power plant for giant mutant catfish. Great stuff, just seeing all the political hoops he had to jump through just to get NEAR that place was amazing, not to mention th radiation exposure he subjected himself to.
image.jpeg
 
This new way of viewing has sounded the death knell for some channels. No longer will they be paid to exist as a mandatory carry on, they'll have to produce content that wants to be seen.
Toward the end of my cable career I'd try to enlighten as many as possible to the advantages of video streaming through the Internet, and the savings. Many that could least afford it were being sold all the bells and whistles.
It does take a bit of personal drive to pull it off but it's in your power.
" Cable tv is dead. It just doesn't know it yet. "
 
Post script: The antenna pulls in all the network channels in crystal clear HD, the other channels, not so much and frankly I was missing some of the programs that I loved watching on cable. I always liked River Monsters, Forged in Fire, The Food Channel and my wife was missing her HGTV channel, so We made one final addition. A couple days ago we added basic HULU commercial free for $12 a month.
With that addition we got all our old cable channels back, entire seasons , some of them have every show ever made. We also get an absolutely huge library of movies, plus original programming. It was a snap to set up with our ROKU box and the picture quality for all channels are superb.
Even with the addition of HULU we are still saving $88 per month over what we were paying for cable TV and we are getting WAY more viewing options.
So with that , I’m calling this little project done and a complete success!
View attachment 113960

Bob, been watching your thread since day 1...can you get Velocity, FoxSports1,2, and golf channel? I am one of the
customers that cable/satellite companies like to have....:banghead:
 
Boy Bob, what's a fish like that eat? Mutated livestock?

Haha! Isn't that the meanest looking fish you've ever seen? I didn't know that freshwater fish like that even existed!
He goes to a lot of really remote, primitive places, the Amazon River is a favorite of his, also a lot of Asia. He usually is tracking down reports of a local being maimed or killed by something in a river.

Bob, been watching your thread since day 1...can you get Velocity, FoxSports1,2, and golf channel? I am one of the
customers that cable/satellite companies like to have....:banghead:

I checked all those for you and unfortunately the answer is no. They have mostly TV series and movies.
 
Back
Top