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Old 08-19-2012, 09:20 PM
 
85 posts, read 286,705 times
Reputation: 32

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I'm not a big TV watcher - I just want public TV, Steeler's football, and network reruns for my wife.

I live in Crafton.

How is the reception and consistency around here? Is it affected by bad weather?
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Old 08-19-2012, 09:40 PM
 
6,601 posts, read 8,981,085 times
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Go to radioshack and buy a regular old $14 rabbit ear antenna and give it a shot for yourself. It makes no difference whatsoever whether it is marketed as an "HDTV antenna", they all get the same signal...if you have one from years ago it will still work so long as your TV has a digital tuner. That's what I use and stuff comes in fine, especially compared to pre-digital over the air TV. Weather doesn't seem to make a difference, but I do think I get more channels at night. One thing that is bad with digital TV is that it is hard to adjust the position of the antenna; with the old analog TV stations you could see if the picture was getting better or worse, but with digital TV it's either coming in completely clear or not at all so you don't know which way to adjust it.

There's a great community for this stuff over at http://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters
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Old 08-19-2012, 10:43 PM
 
441 posts, read 766,234 times
Reputation: 540
I easily get reception with my cheap-o $20 Walmart antenna.
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Old 08-20-2012, 05:21 AM
 
Location: Western PA
3,733 posts, read 5,965,362 times
Reputation: 3189
The over-the-air picture with an antenna is actually sharper than the cable feed. I have an antenna on a second TV and I get about 20 channels, including the four WQED channels, which are great. Who ever knew that TV could be free?
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Old 08-20-2012, 06:38 AM
 
Location: Squirrel Hill
1,349 posts, read 3,573,708 times
Reputation: 406
It worked surprisingly well the couple weeks we were between houses and didn't have fios installed yet. The HD picture is as good, or better, than cable. Channels are obviously limited though, but you will probably get more than you think.
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Old 08-20-2012, 06:40 AM
 
6,341 posts, read 11,087,268 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Geeo View Post
The over-the-air picture with an antenna is actually sharper than the cable feed. I have an antenna on a second TV and I get about 20 channels, including the four WQED channels, which are great. Who ever knew that TV could be free?
TV was always free minus a couple of times when one or two over the air stations tested a pay per view service many decades ago. Only with the advent of cable TV and satellite did the idea of paying to watch your favorite shows start to occur.

To the original poster. I have some experience in matters such as these. I would probably recommend a Antennacraft HBU 22 for your location. But first, I would ask that you post a TV Fool Report. Instructions can be found in the link below.

TV Fool

Most likely unless you live in a low lying location all of your local stations will be in Green which means a HBU 22 will work fine. BTW. You can purchase this antenna at Radio Shack.

I don't recommend a indoor antenna because they don't handle multipath conditions very well and they are a major issue with all of the hills in your area. Multipath leads to signal breakup.
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Old 08-20-2012, 07:09 AM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,014,869 times
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Not to be a pedant, but federal taxpayers have always been paying for "free" OTA TV because that policy undervalues spectrum licenses, and that policy has never been more expensive than it is today because spectrum has never been more valuable. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad policy (although I have my doubts--for example, wireless broadband may be the only viable way to get near-universal broadband access in the United States, and even more OTA TV spectrum may be needed to accomplish that goal, and compared to that goal providing "free" OTA TV is arguably small potatoes). But my point is that it isn't really "free" in a universal sense: rather, it is being heavily subsidized by the taxpayers.
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Old 08-20-2012, 07:17 AM
 
6,341 posts, read 11,087,268 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
Not to be a pedant, but federal taxpayers have always been paying for "free" OTA TV because that policy undervalues spectrum licenses, and that policy has never been more expensive than it is today because spectrum has never been more valuable. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad policy (although I have my doubts--for example, wireless broadband may be the only viable way to get near-universal broadband access in the United States, and even more OTA TV spectrum may be needed to accomplish that goal, and compared to that goal providing "free" OTA TV is arguably small potatoes). But my point is that it isn't really "free" in a universal sense: rather, it is being heavily subsidized by the taxpayers.
That is the case with PBS. I don't know how many subsidies the NAB receives though. As far as I know the average commercial TV station is a self reliant station that generates revenue through advertising to stay afloat. But I don't believe the OP wanted to discuss the politics of free OTA TV.
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Old 08-20-2012, 07:37 AM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,014,869 times
Reputation: 2911
Quote:
Originally Posted by WILWRadio View Post
As far as I know the average commercial TV station is a self reliant station that generates revenue through advertising to stay afloat. But I don't believe the OP wanted to discuss the politics of free OTA TV.
The subsidy I was referencing takes the form of the station not paying a market rate for their spectrum license.

But I agree this was just an aside, and I don't want to derail the main conversation.
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Old 08-20-2012, 07:39 AM
 
1,653 posts, read 1,585,894 times
Reputation: 2822
This may be pointing out the obvious, but we have a TV in our basement, and the only way to get good reception there with an indoor antenna is to put the antenna on a higher floor and run cable up to the higher floor. If you have a similar situation (family room in the basement) you might do well to have a rooftop antenna installed as periodically our picture breaks up a little. If your TV's on the second floor then you may not have this problem, just buy an indoor antenna from somewhere with a no-hassle return policy (I used Target) and give it a go. We have the GE Model 24775 Amplified Quantum Antenna.
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