At our new house, we have DirecTV. Unfortunately we're part of that 10% of the U.S. that can receive locals. The cable company we receive our Internet and locals from is a complete ripoff ($80/month for the slowest Internet and BASIC cable). The charge for basic cable is $45/month and if you do not have it then your Internet charge goes up about $10/month so I would be paying that for Internet per/month. My friend has an antenna and is able to get channels from as far away as Memphis (60-70 miles) and he pays nothing for them per month. The only thing is, he does not know how it was setup because it was in his house when he moved in. How can one go about setting something like this up? Is it difficult? Expensive?
Does your friend live in MEMPHIS? Why would you want MEMPHIS' channels? Aren't they just the same, but the local news change? And what if it is the same channel in San Antone as in Houston (channel 2 is NBC here, what if there is also a channel 2 in SA, etc.)? It's probably one of them high-frequency high-DB roof or external antennae.
No, he lives in the same town. It's not that I want Memphis channels but that is where all of our locals except ABC come in from. We have two CBS stations, two NBC stations, 1 of FOX and CW. We have a CBS and NBC that also come out of Little Rock. I'm just trying to save some money. I was paying $58/month prior to this but that cable company does not offer service in my new area.
depending on how the land is surrounding your place, and how far away you are from the towers will determine what type of antenna you need. if there are many hills or tall trees or you may need a larger antenna. is your friend's antenna mounted on his roof?
Back when I was growing up we had a telephone pole next to the house with a big antenna on top of it so we could get all three channels. http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/index.php
Is your friend's antenna in the attic or outside? Take a picture of it so we can get an idea of what he has. There are some videos on <i>Youtube</i> of people making HDTV antennas from various things such as copper wire and coat hangers, but they aren't always very stylish. In you attic, looks wouldn't matter. Give the minimal amount of information necessary and opt out of marketing materials. Locator
Ive tried some of the more popular diy ones before I got Directv a few months ago. First, antennae you plug in (amplified) are a lot stronger than any diy one, and there is a difference between television sets as well. I switched from an Olevia to a Bravia at the start of 2009, and on the Bravia I only recieved half of the local network digital broadcasts using the same antenna, because the Bravia's ATSC tuner was not as strong as the Olevia. You'll learn a lot if you check out the stickies in here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=25
Have you tried just getting a 25 dollar antenna from walmart with a built in amplifer and see what you get? There are no more analog signals. You either get a signal or you don't get it. Analog was like a long slope. Digital signals are like cliffs. They are pretty good or great or there is nothing at all.
I'll try to get some pics this weekend. His is on the roof with a booster in the attic. I went to that website and it said I could get up to 10 different stations or as little as 4.
If you are within 20 miles of transmitter towers and have built-in HD tuner simple rabbit ears or $15 Radio Shack indoor antenna will pull more than you think. Go here: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx Edit: did not see that Mango already provided site. Don't be fooled by thinking you need a "HD" antenna. They are no different than regular antennas. I pull in over 20 digital channels from as far away as 20-40 miles from the Austin/Waco/Killeen transmitters.
i would personally start with an amplified $25-30 indoor antenna (basic rabbit ears) and see what you get. if you're not satisfied with the number of channels you're able to receive, try on of the big rooftop kind. generally you can mount them in your attic not notice much difference from being mounted on the roof. by 'booster' your friend probably is referring to a signal booster, similar to this:
I'd get one put in the attic if I were you. I decided to live without cable for a while after I bought my house (lasted until basketball season really got fired up), and watched football on rabbit ears. The quality was poor, and I live about 15 miles from the towers. With rabbit ears, you'll be able to pick up stations in Jonesboro, but not from Memphis or anything.
There are some that you can add in the attic and all you would have to do is drop a coaxial cable to the TV from the attic. TERK and Philips make some good ones: http://www.digital-tv-converter.info/digital-tv-antennas/best-outdoor-hdtv-antennas/ . Unfortunately, I am about 20-30 miles away from most of the major broadcasters in the area, so those wouldn't benefit me.
Thanks. I do have quite a bit of tall trees surrounding my area so I don't know if I'd be able to pull in Memphis stations even with an attic/roof mount.
the trees will certainly affect your reception, but you may still be able to pull in memphis stations. 60-70 miles is on the outer ranges but with an antenna, and a signal booster you may be able to get them. you may have to spend 150-200 for the antenna, but a higher end channel master antenna should do it. keep in mind: the higher you can mount it, generally the better. bigger is usually better. check with your home owners association and city to see if there are any restrictions on the type of antenna you can mount. they're not extremely difficult to mount/install it just takes time. buy from somewhere you can return/exchange an opened box, start small/cheap and work your way from there.
I've used a cheap, broken down indoor antenna that might have been manufactured in the 80s and was able to get most of the OTA channels I'm supposed to - NBC, CBS, ABC, myTV, CW, FOX and a few others. (I live in NW Houston/Spring Branch area) The only big one I was missing was PBS and that started coming in sometime after the digital changeover so maybe they started sending out a stronger signal or something. I started using a cheap indoor hdtv antenna ($15) a couple weeks ago and the picture may be a bit better though I really haven't played with it much. The last scan showed maybe 16-18 channels.
I have this antenna from Monoprice.com. It's small and works like a champ. I mounted it in a southern-facing window frame inside my apt. Can't miss for $20. You can also mount it outside on a pole. Also, don't rule out internet TV. Check out Boxee. You can get all sorts of fun content on the internet, including Hulu, Netflix and Comedy Central through Boxee. And it's free- you just have to set up the hardware. It can be Mac, Windows, Linux...whatever works for you.