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What is it about these specific stations that you like so much?
We have been OTA for over 4 years picking up local stations in the area and compensating with Hulu+, Amazon on demand, and occasionally Crackle all on the Roku.
What is it about these specific stations that you like so much?
We have been OTA for over 4 years picking up local stations in the area and compensating with Hulu+, Amazon on demand, and occasionally Crackle all on the Roku.
There are several reasons, but the biggest being that (as my username indicates) I'm a big Washington Redskins fan. It kills me not being able to catch each and every game on TV. Down here, the locals might televise 4 to 6 Redskins game per season. I was accustomed to being able to catch each and every game, week in and week out. I am such a diehard fan that I can't imagine not being able to watch them play knowing there's a game on. The only time I have been OK with that was this year, because my infant son was born premature and we spent most Sundays at the hospital with him. But, at the same time, I DVR'd the game and usually watched it when I got home. Oh yeah, I had to take out a subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket in order to watch all the games.
The other reasons? Well, I have a friend who works for WSLS Channel 10, and have always supported that station. I enjoyed watching their news broadcast and have really missed it since I moved to NC. And honestly, I just really enjoy keeping up with the Roanoke area. I love that area and if my wife ever decided she wanted to move there, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Don't get me wrong, I love the Greensboro area as well, but have always felt Roanoke was more home to me (even though I grew up in Martinsville.)
But, anyways, those are the biggest reasons - and the biggest being able to catch the Redskins games. Honestly, as long as I can see the 'skins play, that's all I care about. I want to ditch DirecTV, because they are charging me $150 a month and I have no premium movie channel packages.
There are several reasons, but the biggest being that (as my username indicates) I'm a big Washington Redskins fan. It kills me not being able to catch each and every game on TV. Down here, the locals might televise 4 to 6 Redskins game per season. I was accustomed to being able to catch each and every game, week in and week out. I am such a diehard fan that I can't imagine not being able to watch them play knowing there's a game on. The only time I have been OK with that was this year, because my infant son was born premature and we spent most Sundays at the hospital with him. But, at the same time, I DVR'd the game and usually watched it when I got home. Oh yeah, I had to take out a subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket in order to watch all the games.
The other reasons? Well, I have a friend who works for WSLS Channel 10, and have always supported that station. I enjoyed watching their news broadcast and have really missed it since I moved to NC. And honestly, I just really enjoy keeping up with the Roanoke area. I love that area and if my wife ever decided she wanted to move there, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Don't get me wrong, I love the Greensboro area as well, but have always felt Roanoke was more home to me (even though I grew up in Martinsville.)
But, anyways, those are the biggest reasons - and the biggest being able to catch the Redskins games. Honestly, as long as I can see the 'skins play, that's all I care about. I want to ditch DirecTV, because they are charging me $150 a month and I have no premium movie channel packages.
You can drop down to a lower tier, can't you? If you threaten to leave, I'm sure they'll offer a better deal, unless you're still under a contract. I signed up for Dish at $20/month for their lowest tier, which will go to $35/month after a year.
You can drop down to a lower tier, can't you? If you threaten to leave, I'm sure they'll offer a better deal, unless you're still under a contract. I signed up for Dish at $20/month for their lowest tier, which will go to $35/month after a year.
Sure I can drop down a tier, but it's really not going to save me much money. I've spoken to DirecTV three or four times over the course of this past year, and each time, the sentiment was that I have an expired, outdated package that is a better deal than anything they can give me that is current. And giving up that promotion to downgrade the package actually winds up costing me more. So, that's why I never changed the package.
The one thing I have learned while dealing with these companies is that you should not believe a thing that is on their website. Just because Dish Network's website says the regular cost of your package is $35 a month, doesn't mean that's the price you're going to pay once your promotion is over with. Just like DirecTV, Dish goes up on their package rates every year. The best thing to do is to not simply accept whatever promotion they are offering. Even before signing up with these companies, you should negotiate a deal that is not a promotional cost, it's a locked in cost that you pay over the life of your contract. Or either, you negotiate no two year contract. You are a customer as long as you want to be. But, I've learned that simply taking their promotion, no matter how great it is, is just setting you up to be screwed over in the long haul.
With all that said, the whole point is that I don't want to be with pay TV anymore. As long as I can watch the Redskins play, I'm fine with whatever OTA gives me. At least I know the signals would be in HD.
I have an indoor antenna and I can pickup the skins games on the fox21-27 station. I had to play around moving the antenna around in the room and finally was able to pick up the station very clear.
I know that some people for regional sports have gotten a friend to hook that slingbox service and then watch regional sports through the internet. If you have some friends in VA where they get all 16 skins games that might be worth checking out. I have thought more about trying rabbit ears with a lot of the NC local tv stations addings these secondary channels like METV and GET and Movies! as well as the PBS channels. I watch more of that than a lot the cable channels you are realing paying for.
I have an indoor antenna and I can pickup the skins games on the fox21-27 station. I had to play around moving the antenna around in the room and finally was able to pick up the station very clear.
I know that some people for regional sports have gotten a friend to hook that slingbox service and then watch regional sports through the internet. If you have some friends in VA where they get all 16 skins games that might be worth checking out. I have thought more about trying rabbit ears with a lot of the NC local tv stations addings these secondary channels like METV and GET and Movies! as well as the PBS channels. I watch more of that than a lot the cable channels you are realing paying for.
I haven't thought about the slingbox idea! I might have to look into that!
I would recommend a Channel Master antenna. Since most HD channels are still on UHF, get a decent high gain UHF antenna. Channel Master are well built and mine has been through several ice storms with no problems.
As far as an amp..unless you have just an incredibly long cable run from the antenna to the TV, they can overpower the signal. I believe CM still makes amps though if you're interested in one.
As long as you don't have trees blocking your northern view, you should be able to receive most of the Roanoke channels fairly decent from Summerfield. I live in southern Alamance County and have gotten WDBJ, WFXR, and WSLS with my antenna a few times when the leaves are off of the trees (otherwise the trees kill the signal for me). WDBJ, WSLS, and WFXR all have transmitters on Poor Mountain southwest of Roanoke, which gives the northern Triad decent coverage of the Roanoke market. The exception is WSET..its transmitter is near Lynchburg and is much harder to get unless you're in one of the border counties like Caswell or Rockingham.
If you have friends though...the less hassle is the Slingbox. They're awesome.
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