CUT THE CORD - LIving Without Cable TV

[T-Rigger]

Tired of paying COX, AT&T, etc. for watching TV? Me too. Most of the forum members are way ahead of this info - this is a starting point for the still-trying-to-learn dudes like me.

Researched how to build several types of TV antennas. Built one from Popular Mechanics' very rudimentary instructions - it worked pretty well. Discovered Danny S. Hodges on YouTube, watched several of his antenna build vids - very similar in design to the PM model. Built one based on DSH Ultimate TV Antenna Upgrade. With new dimensions, add-ons & modifications, it picks almost all of the over-the-air TV channels very clearly - (orientation has to be changed depending on the channel). There are occasional, momentary blips pixellating the image, but we still get TV reception when the cable goes out.

Bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for each TV - $40 ea on Amazon. Cut the cable! Use the saved $ for things that go bang. Fire TV Stick requires an internet connection, but you have that already if you're on this forum. I checked out many guru's of video streaming, and settled on who I consider the best, most knowledgeable & practical source - troypoint.com - free subcription. Many, many tutorial videos & site recommendations. Subscribed to his recommended VPN - IP Vanish - $40 first year, $100 thereafter, also has monthly plans. No tracking while online! I was told bytech-savvy people that free VPN's are worth just what you pay for them.

I had an Amazon Prime membership -$100 annual fee - better deals & free shipping- it also includes free movies and TV shows. With the antenna, FireStick & Prime, the only things I miss are ESPN and the History Channel. There are some sport-specific apps on troypoint & Prime. Best antenna rececption is high outdoor without close up tree or structure blocking in the direction of the tower. Works well in attic. Mine is still sitting on a two drawer file cabinet, on the second floor, facing the general direction of a majority of the towers - a windowless exterior sheetrock wall. Haven't felt the need to relocate it after 4 months of continuous service. I've made several less modified antennas for friends with camps - nothing but positive feedback.

A friend of mine, in our same neighborhood, just bought an indoor- GE UltraPro OptimaHD Antenna - for about $40. Supposed to have a 60 mile range. Much more compact than mine, about -10"x14"x5"- and far more attractive. Our tower are in the 9 to 18 mile range. It works fine. If I had not wanted an outdoor antenna (will need a remote rotator for best reception), I'd be happy with the GE. With either of them, you'll need a 75-300 ohm matching transformer and probably a length of RG-6 quad-shield coax cable.

DSH videos listed below - be patient - he talks a lot off subject - A LOT! Don't be fooled by his good ole boy twang - he knows antennas.

[FONT=&quot]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_axtsSJNCaQ[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mv9pnpNap0[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrRiBomPih8[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcAgWuHdwA

Tower Locators: [/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]https://otadtv.com/tvtower/

[FONT=&quot][URL]https://otatv.com[/FONT][FONT=&quot] .[/FONT][/URL]




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[/FONT]Troypoint
https://troypoint.com

 

[sandman7925]

There is a promo to bundle Disney plus, Hulu and ESPN plus together for I think $15 a month. Or maybe 10. Can’t remember the wife signed us up.

 

[sandman7925]

And yes, most of us did this years ago. Think I cut the cord back around 2009 or something.

 

[mforsta]

This discussion could not have come at a better time. I was searching for an alternative to DirectTV last night. I have looked at Hulu, Pluto, Amazon and Youtube TV. Haven't decided which way to go yet. How do ya'll handle multiple TV's with the HD antenna?

 

[ozarkpugs]

We don't have cable in the sticks but I was paying a lot for satilite . We went to free antenna tv and have not Missed 250 channels of garbage .


Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

 

[AndyG]

Can't speak to antenna TV, but found a surprising amount of free content is available on Samsung Smart TVs. Samsung TV Plus content started off kinda crappy but they've expanded their content offerings to include a few different news channels, yahoo finance, a movie channel or two, plenty of cartoon stuff for kids, etc etc.

If you've got a smart TV, free tv/movie apps like PlutoTV, Crackle, etc can be a decent place to find a decent free movie if you're willing to put up with the occasional advertisement. If you've got kids, Disney+ is well worth the money. If you or your wife shops online, Amazon Prime comes with decent benefits including a boat load of better-than-average content you can stream on your Smart TV using the Prime app.

 

[shrxfn]

We don't have cable in the sticks but I was paying a lot for satilite . We went to free antenna tv and have not Missed 250 channels of garbage .


Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

Check out StarLink they should be out of beta soon and it is designed for people in the sticks.

 

[thperez1972]

Check out StarLink they should be out of beta soon and it is designed for people in the sticks.

Hopefully they are better than Viasat and Hughesnet. Both of those are slow, expensive, and unreliable. But when I lived outside the range of DSL and cable internet, the only alternative was dialup. There were about 25 houses in that area and if just wasn't financially viable for them to upgrade their lines.

 

[Riverc]

Dropped Dish Network after nearly 15 yrs. Imo it's a ripoff.Didn't watch a quarter of the channels.Another reason most crap they play is trash not worth watching.

 

[sandman7925]

Hopefully they are better than Viasat and Hughesnet. Both of those are slow, expensive, and unreliable. But when I lived outside the range of DSL and cable internet, the only alternative was dialup. There were about 25 houses in that area and if just wasn't financially viable for them to upgrade their lines.

Every review I’ve seen of people in the beta is insane in terms of speed. Not sure about adverse weather affecting it though.

 

[shrxfn]

Should be way better with sub 30ms latency mostly and pretty good speeds for upload/download. haven't heard anything about the weather yet but it is an active antenna with a phased array so maybe it will be better than the passive DirecTV ones. Although I have heard that obstructions will really ruin your day.

 

[DAVE_M]

I’m going on 10 years without cable/satellite.

Streaming is the way to go. Live television? I still stream it.

Altogether I believe we have four streaming services, but three are bundled.

 

[mforsta]

I’m going on 10 years without cable/satellite.

Streaming is the way to go. Live television? I still stream it.

Altogether I believe we have four streaming services, but three are bundled.

What three do you have bundlled?

 

[DAVE_M]

What three do you have bundlled?

Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.

There is a ton of content between Disney+ and Hulu. ESPN provides me with access for all of my sportsball stuff.

Then we have Netflix. I suppose you could consider Amazon to be a streaming service although it's included with Prime.

Netflix is $18/mo
Disney+ Bundle is $14/mo

So $32/mo for streaming on four services as compared to $100+ per month for satellite.

 

[Metryshooter]

I got Slingtv when I first cut the cord. For $30/month I think it's a fair deal.

 

[paddle007]

I'm on the Northshore and my $100.00 Chanel Master antenna with a booster delivers Southshore broadcasted signals just fine. I recently purchased a Samsung smart tv and am enjoying the included internet included bonus channels. And don't forget you get Fox and News Max bundled in with Samsung. I watched the crazy Aussies racing semi's around a track today.

 

[LACamper]

I had cut down to basic cable but hadn't totally cut the cord yet. What do I need for local TV channels (ABC/CBS/NBC, etc.)?

 

[paddle007]

I have no experience with receiving a signal that close to the source. I see some put the antenna in their attic and others use a flat indoor unit. I have been happy with Channel Master products. I'm would imagine there are competitors equal and maybe better but they are the only one I'm familiar with.

 

[T-Rigger]

Multiple TV's on one antenna

Install a high quality splitter. Be sure to cap the unused outputs. You may need a signal pre-amplifier if the coax runs are numerous or long and/or signal is weak. Below are DSH's recommendations for the pre-amp and a VHF/UHF splitter-if you choose to add the VHF component to his design. Remember, if you have degradation of your reception in the future, check the splitter first - they sometimes go bad.

All the components are available on Amazon.
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Signal Pre-Amplifier:
RCA TVPRAMP RE Digital Signal Pre-amp
Winegarde & Channel Master make more powerful, more expensive Pre-Amps .
See listed DSH videos for his comments.

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[FONT=&amp] UHF/VHF Combiner for two component antenna:
Antennas Direct EU385CF-IS
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[T-Rigger]

I had cut down to basic cable but hadn't totally cut the cord yet. What do I need for local TV channels (ABC/CBS/NBC, etc.)?

They are received by the antenna. Find the tower locations in your area using the links in original post and orient the face of the antenna toward the tower.