Cutting the cable! TV cable that is

Mailman

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Well I was mulling this over in my thread about technology and I have decided to move forward with it.
Years ago when cable TV first came in, it seemed pretty wonderful. We went from six channels to over fifty channels overnight, and back in cables infancy they advertised commercial free content, "Thats what you get with pay TV " they said. Back then cable TV cost about $30, little by little the cost crept up, so slowly you hardly noticed it.

Well, we noticed when the cost finally tipped over $100 per mo.

I decided I needed to educate myself about TV antenna options and what I might expect. I didn't realize what a big movement this is. All you have to do is Google "cutting the cord" and then be prepared to read all you want on the subject. There are numerous websites that allow you to type in your address and see what broadcast signals are available in your area, the direction they come from and the signal strength. Such as this one.

http://www.receptionmaps.com/Advanced-TV-Maps.html

This information will also help you to decide what type of antenna would be most useful.
Trying to decide what type of antenna to buy is an education. The types available are pretty amazing, all have pros and cons.
I looked at omnidirectional , probably the easiest to set up and use, but limited range.
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Flat panel, the cleanest most unobtrusive antenna, but not great range.
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4 bay bow tie , very good long range antenna
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I even gave serious thought to making my own antenna. There are tons of tutorials on how you can make very good home made antennas for practically nothing. It would be a fun project, but they are rather homely.
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In the end , for me it came down to two models. One was a an amplified directional. This one gets very good reviews as far as performance goes, and is sold everywhere. But the build quality is a little flimsy.
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And the one I chose is made by RCA, manufactured in the USA and has an extremely high rating. It is a directional compact Yagi design with a range of up to 150 miles. My broadcast towers are not very far and the signal is strong.
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I picked it because it is a simple and rugged design. ( And it's the miniature version of 2M's mighty max)
Other considerations for me, are, I live in a planned community with association rules, and any antennas cannot be visible from the front of the house. This works out ok for me because I can mount it on the back of the house and have a clear aim towards the towers. I also will need to make sure it is adequately grounded in case of a lightening strike.
So....here is my plan. I just ordered an antenna and 30 feet of coax cable. For the cost of two weeks worth of cable. I intend to mount this on the eve of the backside of my house, maybe 12' up. I will disconnect the cable and see what I get, and try living with it for one month. If we like it, then the cable gets the axe!
I'm really hoping we like it. That would be $100 a month back in my pocket every month!
I should have the antenna in about a week and I will post my results here. The worst that can happen is I'm out out $50, and I'll sell it on Craigslist! Haha!
Stay tuned!
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Thanks for the tutorial Mailman - very helpful indeed.

I do have a couple of questions:

- can you connect the antenna to more than one TV set (say with a splitter) and watch two different shows simultaneously?

- my house has cable wired throughout - could I simply plug the antenna into the central “hub” and feed my house “network”?

Cheers,

Pete
 
That receptionmaps website is cool. I'm getting all the listed 28 digital stations, plus more.

I plugged in your coordinates, and got a massive listing of stations about 20 miles, all generally southeast from you. Aim your antennae about 120°, and you should be in for a treat.

Long ago TVs included specs for selectivity and sensitiviy. Not anymore. Easy to get bit on a budget TV with poor reception. I chose an uprated model of Samsung, not one of their lower-cost models, because of their undocumented improved ATSC receiver.

The signals on your map look to be quite strong, but you'll experience a bit of loss with 30ft coax. If necessary, an antennae amp, will recover that. A good amp is the kind that has the amp mounted at the antennae, power box with isolator near the TV. The cheap amps are single units, mounted near the TV, and will amplify the noise with the signal. The better amps amplify at the antennae, drive the signal down to the box, eliminating most of the line noise. The antennae you selected is a good one, induces minimal noise, good with a powered amp.

With the number of stations listed in your map, along with their sub-channels, you'll probably be in overload mode.

And, we may not hear from you for awhile...
 
- can you connect the antenna to more than one TV set (say with a splitter) and watch two different shows simultaneously?

Absolutely! Make sure you guys use the low-loss coax, speced for DTV. The splitter(s) also should be the better, higher-freq types. Splitters have an inherent signal loss, and if it's a problem, the powered amp will solve that.

- my house has cable wired throughout - could I simply plug the antenna into the central “hub” and feed my house “network”?

Yes, if it's dedicated to the DTV signal. Best if the coax is the DTV spec. You'll need a splitter at each branch...
 
I'd love to "cut the cable". SWMBO would be pissed though....Oh well...As Bruce Springsteen sung "57 channels and nothing on".....
 
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Thanks for the tutorial Mailman - very helpful indeed.

I do have a couple of questions:

- can you connect the antenna to more than one TV set (say with a splitter) and watch two different shows simultaneously?

- my house has cable wired throughout - could I simply plug the antenna into the central “hub” and feed my house “network”?

Cheers,

Pete

That is what I did with mine. I have the antenna in the attic above my garage and just unplugged the cable coming from outside on the splitter and attached the antenna. Works great.
 
The digital broadcasts now include channel guide info, anywhere from a few hours to a couple days of program listings. The better TVs load up this stuff and give you the ability to review and preprogram the day's entertainment.

As Jerry Seinfeld once said, "Guys aren't interested in what's on TV, they're only interested in what ELSE is on TV."

This kinda cuts down on the channel surfing...
 
That receptionmaps website is cool. I'm getting all the listed 28 digital stations, plus more.

I plugged in your coordinates, and got a massive listing of stations about 20 miles, all generally southeast from you. Aim your antennae about 120°, and you should be in for a treat.

Long ago TVs included specs for selectivity and sensitiviy. Not anymore. Easy to get bit on a budget TV with poor reception. I chose an uprated model of Samsung, not one of their lower-cost models, because of their undocumented improved ATSC receiver.

The signals on your map look to be quite strong, but you'll experience a bit of loss with 30ft coax. If necessary, an antennae amp, will recover that. A good amp is the kind that has the amp mounted at the antennae, power box with isolator near the TV. The cheap amps are single units, mounted near the TV, and will amplify the noise with the signal. The better amps amplify at the antennae, drive the signal down to the box, eliminating most of the line noise. The antennae you selected is a good one, induces minimal noise, good with a powered amp.

With the number of stations listed in your map, along with their sub-channels, you'll probably be in overload mode.

And, we may not hear from you for awhile...

Hey 2M, yeah you're way ahead of me on this. I'm still in the figuring it out mode. I had already ordered the cable before you replied. Not sure what kind it is. I won't ground it until I decide if I'm going to keep it, our thunderstorms don't happen until well into the summer. At that point I will have to order a grounding block and insert it into the cable run.
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I almost bought an inline surge protector, but I read that they only add interference to your signal and as long as you ground your system it's unnecessary.
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I know that if I were to follow code recommendations I should run a solid copper ground wire all the way to my breaker box and find the ground for the house and tie it in, but that is a long distance all the way around the house, so I'm more inclined to run a copper wire as straight down to the ground as possible and drive a 2 foot steel stake into the ground to clamp it to. Again, I believe a copper rod is code, but that would be expensive and I believe overkill.

The right way.
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My way.
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Oh, yeah I forgot to mention, by my count the number of Over the Air stations that SHOULD be available to me are a little over forty. I figure that of those, if I can find fifteen that I actually like to watch, then as Pete likes to say " I've got myself a ballgame!"
 
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Same in this house, Marty--no tube and it isn't missed. The medium itself makes for idiocy and self absorption. Back in the day entertainment was delivered in a way that drew a clean line between imagination and reality: you went to the theater. the lights went down, the stage play or film began and ended, the lights came up, and people returned to their lives in the real world--no confusion as to which was which. TV brought the imaginary into the living room with an implicit message:" This is the way your life should be." The advent of so-called reality TV is another step in the same direction.
 
Same in this house, Marty--no tube and it isn't missed. The medium itself makes for idiocy and self absorption. Back in the day entertainment was delivered in a way that drew a clean line between imagination and reality: you went to the theater. the lights went down, the stage play or film began and ended, the lights came up, and people returned to their lives in the real world--no confusion as to which was which. TV brought the imaginary into the living room with an implicit message:" This is the way your life should be." The advent of so-called reality TV is another step in the same direction.

Here here! Bring back the Duke!
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My cable bill is close to $200 a month and I was looking at getting rid of cable too. I use a my box T95 and it gives me everything plus movies but over air channels are not in real time. There is also a APPLE device that gives you live off the air too. Cost around $30.00 month and Sling which is getting big using the dark fiber in big cities and you pick and choose channels. Cable is just dieing because the internet has just as much on there .Good Job
 
I got rid of cable almost 10 years ago! I have some crappy bunny ears if i want to see something, but i have never looked back.

I def need to upgrade my antenna game tho! Ive been doing some research as my girlfriend likes to watch 1 or 2 shows on reg tv...
 
The old standard t.v. antennaes will work with the digital signal. I have a duel setup that I've been using for years. One pointed towards Loisville and one pointing toward Cincinnati. These are combined at the masthead using a splitter as a combiner (reversed). The coax isn't grounded, it goes to an amp, which offers protection in itself, and the tv is plugged into a surge protector. 26 years of this setup and I've lost one television due to a power surge on the ac, thus the surge protector for the tv.
The newer antennaes aren't as obtrusive and they offer multidirection, however, a 360 degree stationary antennae would be the ideal......program the tv once and be done.
These days you can go a la carte on the fancy cable type channels using the smart tv's or accessories like Roku and blue-Ray players, you just need decent Internet.

In this world you can live in the country or have cable. If you have access to cable you don't live in the country....lol
 
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