Many cutting the cord on cable/satellite

Pete

Pete

Repete
Dakota said:
You can get your antenna positioned correctly with an app and even if it doesn't work for you, you have a fricken ANTENNA so if ever tv goes out with crappy metrocast soon to be even crappier with the purchasing company or DTV or Dish, you have an antenna. Typically satellite picks up in a different directions as OTA.

I think having an OTA antenna is a must have. I put ours into our xbox which allowed me to pause and stuff. I posted in here somewhere that I have the 4 bow tie system, forgot the name and I get 4, 5, 7, 9, 20, 50 and a bunch of other stuff.

Sometimes I can sit and watch the home shopping club and suddenly feel the need to buy some random product I wasn't even thinking I needed until I saw it on TV.

If you do not have active gamers in the house, you won't hit 1TB. My house has come close and even over but everyone has grown up and gotten busy. Metrocast doesn't enforce the overage but who knows what the new guys will do.

Last night Game of Thrones caused a major outage with DTV.
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We do not have gamers. Just people who turn on Fox News or HGTV at 9am then leave to come back 3 hours later and say "Yea I am watching" sit down and then get up and leave again for 3 hours. I am going to become the idle Nazi and if it is on with no one watching it (This includes the TV on with someone glued to their phone not looking at it) I am going to turn it off. Like I said before the kids and the SO are all used to having unlimited TV so I have to change the mindset. They will turn it on when they wake up, and it wont get turned off until 11PM.

I have the AP and know which way to point it, distance is a concern as I got the 50+ mile indoor-outdoor antenna and am mounting it outside. My 5th wheel has an antenna and I get a few channels with that in the yard and it is cheap. I suspect on top of the house it should get the 3 networks + more
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
Pete said:
I have the AP and know which way to point it, distance is a concern as I got the 50+ mile indoor-outdoor antenna and am mounting it outside. My 5th wheel has an antenna and I get a few channels with that in the yard and it is cheap. I suspect on top of the house it should get the 3 networks + more
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If it's a bit sketchy reception (mine is poor when pointed to DC or Baltimore) point towards Salisbury on the eastern shore. You'll get a pretty decent signal for CBS and FOX on 16.1 and 21.2, and ABC and CW on 47.1 and 47.2.
 
Dakota

Dakota

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Pete,

You have a few more miles than me but I picked up very good signal and since I have a terrible fear of heights, it only went to the lowest edge of our roof, not the peak.

I put on a Channel Master booster and used that to filter the signal from the OTA to the wiring already in the house. I had great improvement in signal and got many channels I wasn't expecting. Thankfully I had a outlet in the attic to plug it in.

It has been some time ago I did all this and currently use the antenna in spare rooms sometimes for noise. The quality of OTA is simply amazing and some of my TV's pick up better signal than others.

My children only stream content and haven't had a cable/satelitte box in years.

Keep us posted on how it all works out. I totally geek over this sort of stuff.
 
Dakota

Dakota

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GWguy said:
If it's a bit sketchy reception (mine is poor when pointed to DC or Baltimore) point towards Salisbury on the eastern shore. You'll get a pretty decent signal for CBS and FOX on 16.1 and 21.2, and ABC and CW on 47.1 and 47.2.
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I went for the gusto and tried going in that direction for a minute but was determined to go towards DC. for more. At one point, I had the directional between DC and Baltimore and picked up stations each way but I had to turn it to get my beloved crime tv on 14.3 or 14.4 so I ditched Baltimore.

I find reception is so much better the colder it gets.
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
Dakota said:
I went for the gusto and tried going in that direction for a minute but was determined to go towards DC. for more. At one point, I had the directional between DC and Baltimore and picked up stations each way but I had to turn it to get my beloved crime tv on 14.3 or 14.4 so I ditched Baltimore.

I find reception is so much better the colder it gets.
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I have a rotor, so I swing the antenna for optimum signal in any direction.

And yes, the heat changes the layers of the atmosphere which provide a "mirror" to bounce signals back. In winter conditions are better.
 
Dakota

Dakota

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GWguy said:
I have a rotor, so I swing the antenna for optimum signal in any direction.

And yes, the heat changes the layers of the atmosphere which provide a "mirror" to bounce signals back. In winter conditions are better.
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I had a rotor and broke it on my 1st one so mine stays put now. I am in Mechanicsville so perhaps that helps.
 
Pete

Pete

Repete
So and update:

Its been 2 weeks since we cut the cord and started using Hulu live and antenna.

I mounted a Clearstream 2V (60+ mile) antenna on the peak of the roof and pointed it first at 360 which is the heading to Baltimore. Got 26 channels but not the ones the SO liked out of DC. Went back up and pointed it at 326 which is the heading to DC and got only a few but not the ones I was looking for. This was on a 52 inch which is nearing 10 years old. On a hunch I went and programmed a brand new 42 inch TV on the same antenna and got 36 channels including the ones she was wanting out od DC.

So I believe that due to the age of the big TV it is not capable of detecting the channels the new one is.

I went direct antenna to big tv, then disconnected and went direct into smaller tv, no splitter.
 
Dakota

Dakota

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Wishbone said:
What area of SOMD?

Did you use a contractor for the antenna or DIY?
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I'm in Mechanicsville and I have the 4V Clearstream w/a Channel Master amp and pick up 47-52 channels depending on the season.

D.I.Y.'er here

Originally I had another antenna and did rather well until I couldn't stop messing with it and broke the rotor.
 
Pete

Pete

Repete
Wishbone said:
What area of SOMD?

Did you use a contractor for the antenna or DIY?
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I did it myself. The antenna comes with a base and 4 lag screws. I mounted it to the peak next to the old Direct TV dish and used the cable from that to go into the distribution box in the house and then to the Tv
 
TWL

TWL

Kernel panic: Aiee.......
Pete said:
No booster. I really only want the broadcast network channels, Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC. Anything extra is just a bonus.
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Pete, that antenna is mainly a UHF antenna with just two elements for VHF. I believe ABC and CBS from D.C. Broadcast on VHF (ch 7 and 9). I bet you get FOX and NBC but not ABC nor CBS, correct? You'll probably need a different antenna for those.

I can say, though, that the Clearstream v2 is a great UHF antenna. I am about 90 miles north of El Paso, TX and pick up all the channels from there.
 
Pete

Pete

Repete
TWL said:
Pete, that antenna is mainly a UHF antenna with just two elements for VHF. I believe ABC and CBS from D.C. Broadcast on VHF (ch 7 and 9). I bet you get FOX and NBC but not ABC nor CBS, correct? You'll probably need a different antenna for those.

I can say, though, that the Clearstream v2 is a great UHF antenna. I am about 90 miles north of El Paso, TX and pick up all the channels from there.
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You are correct, I get Fox 5 and NBC 4 but not ABC 7 or CBS 9. What antenna would you recommend?
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
FYI, I get CBS on 16.1 WBOC and ABC on 47.1 ABC47, both in the UHF range, but they are from Salisbury on the Eastern Shore. The rotor really helps in getting the best signal.
 
RoseRed

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
TWL said:
Pete, that antenna is mainly a UHF antenna with just two elements for VHF. I believe ABC and CBS from D.C. Broadcast on VHF (ch 7 and 9). I bet you get FOX and NBC but not ABC nor CBS, correct? You'll probably need a different antenna for those.

I can say, though, that the Clearstream v2 is a great UHF antenna. I am about 90 miles north of El Paso, TX and pick up all the channels from there.
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Did you move?
 
Ken King

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Pete said:
So and update:

Its been 2 weeks since we cut the cord and started using Hulu live and antenna.

I mounted a Clearstream 2V (60+ mile) antenna on the peak of the roof and pointed it first at 360 which is the heading to Baltimore. Got 26 channels but not the ones the SO liked out of DC. Went back up and pointed it at 326 which is the heading to DC and got only a few but not the ones I was looking for. This was on a 52 inch which is nearing 10 years old. On a hunch I went and programmed a brand new 42 inch TV on the same antenna and got 36 channels including the ones she was wanting out od DC.

So I believe that due to the age of the big TV it is not capable of detecting the channels the new one is.

I went direct antenna to big tv, then disconnected and went direct into smaller tv, no splitter.
Click to expand...
Pete, for your heading did you add 11 degrees to convert magnetic north to true north? Might help you get stronger signal by getting a better direction setting.
 
Dakota

Dakota

~~~~~~~
TWL said:
Sorry, I can't say I do.
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With the 4V we pick up, 4, 5, 7 , 9, 20 and 50 (plus) and as the crow flies, we are not all that much closer to the towers. :shrug:


Actually, I am very surprised we pick up as well as we do being so far from the towers.


My husband about tripped over the clearstream 4V at best buy as an open box special. We opened it up, made sure everything was in the box and hoped for the best. After we checked out, we ran to the car like we stole it; it was that good of a deal.

There is a Facebook page called "Cord Cutting Tech Support" that I have found very helpful with over 20K + people as members.
 
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