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Old 10-03-2012, 11:41 AM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
4,009 posts, read 6,862,543 times
Reputation: 4608

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Hey There!

DH & I have been without TV for the past 3 years here in NC (we do have Netflix and also use Hulu on our laptop) but were contemplating getting a set and an Antenna next year when my grandparents come to stay for a month (they're elderly so won't want to do much aside from sit home and watch tv!).

However, everyone has told me that Antennas get virtually no signal in St. Louis anymore. Does anyone know if the North County / Florissant area is still able to get Antenna signal?

If not, what are some other (free / super cheap) options?

Greatly appreciated!
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Old 10-03-2012, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Tower Grove East, St. Louis, MO
12,063 posts, read 31,615,463 times
Reputation: 3799
My mom uses a digital antenna and it's not great but it's totally watchable. And she lives in St. Peters which is a considerable extra distance.

If you could put one on your roof you'd be totally set.

If it doesn't work at all you can always return it, but I really think it will be fine.
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Old 10-03-2012, 01:12 PM
 
15,546 posts, read 12,012,788 times
Reputation: 32595
Quote:
Originally Posted by glamatomic View Post
Hey There!

DH & I have been without TV for the past 3 years here in NC (we do have Netflix and also use Hulu on our laptop) but were contemplating getting a set and an Antenna next year when my grandparents come to stay for a month (they're elderly so won't want to do much aside from sit home and watch tv!).

However, everyone has told me that Antennas get virtually no signal in St. Louis anymore. Does anyone know if the North County / Florissant area is still able to get Antenna signal?

If not, what are some other (free / super cheap) options?

Greatly appreciated!
I live in Maplewood, but we just have a cheap pair of rabbit ears that are probably 20 years old hooked up to a digital receiver. It works just fine for basic tv. For some reason we can't pick up PBS, but we get FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, and the CW. We also get a station called This tv which shows older movies, as well as a hip hop music video station and a country music video station.

There are websites that you can put in your address and it'll tell you the best position for the antenna and what stations you can pick up. I can't think of the website my boyfriend used when we moved, and Google isn't bring up the results I want...
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Old 10-03-2012, 01:25 PM
 
Location: Tower Grove East, St. Louis, MO
12,063 posts, read 31,615,463 times
Reputation: 3799
^This one seems to work pretty well: AntennaWeb - Address
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Old 10-03-2012, 02:01 PM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
414 posts, read 884,387 times
Reputation: 219
A lot of factors come in play for OTA TV watching. Distance, obviously, is an important factor. The address aragx6 provided is a good guide to start with. First off, the digital transition changed alot of things around. Transmitters changed hands...affiliates changed hardware...all sorts of stuff. For STL the transition was mostly good (data nerds see here: http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/market...t_Louis_MO.pdf ) and coverage was increased for most, however, several stations saw a reduction in coverage. Most notably, KETC and KSDK had complete coverage loss in the far Western part of the metro. Complete coverage loss means spottier coverage closer in.

Also, your local topography plays a big role. For example, if you are situated in a low point or a valley, a lot of signals are going to have trouble getting down to you unless there is a low cloud deck (bounces off the clouds). Additionally, interference can come from a lot of sources. Your wi-fi router can weaken a TV signal as well as any other sources of electromagnetic radiation such as power lines or transformers. Additionally, the bright summer sun can affect signals as the electromagnetic radiation from the sun takes all wavelengths (but is just noise) as well as solar storms (coronal mass ejections) slamming into the Earth's magnetic field.

The cheapest improvement you can apply to basic bunny ears is an amplifier. This will boost the antenna's ability to pick up weaker or distorted signals. Just be careful with it if you are near a station as the amplifier will drown out a strong and healthy signal.

The best though is to use a directional antenna on the roof. This is expensive but it almost guarantees you will get a lot of stations (you might end up with duplicates from different metros) and won't see much interference. You do have to face them in the direction where you get the most stations, but it is possible to get ones that can be redirected using a remote control.

And one more note on hardware, a cheap TV will have a cheap tuner in it and cheap tuners are terrible at picking up weaker signals. I have two TVs set up at home and our NBC affiliate, while weak, is usually picked up by our nice TV. Our bargain TV doesn't even pick it up in the channel scan.

Just remember, when there are "a lot" of people complaining that reception is bad there are probably as many people with good reception and don't have anything to complain about.
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Old 10-03-2012, 02:04 PM
 
Location: St Louis County (63117)
321 posts, read 1,003,441 times
Reputation: 150
We live pretty close to Sundaydrive00 (in neighboring Richmond Heights) and we pick up pretty much the same lineup they do using old rabbit ears upstairs and a passive disk shaped Philips antenna in the basement. We do get the PBS channels (9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4) although they sometimes drop in and out, but we cannot pick up CBS (4-1, 4-2) in the basement (upstairs it is fine). We also pick up "This TV" and the country video station, but as far as the station mentioned that has hip-hop videos, they always seem to be playing old 1980's pop music videos when I flip by them. I am not sure which is worse!
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Old 10-03-2012, 05:50 PM
 
Location: CasaMo
15,971 posts, read 9,382,413 times
Reputation: 18547
Agree with RichMonk. Nothing beats an old fashioned aluminum antenna on the roof. Since the OP lives right in town, a smaller one should work just fine. Just beware of the marketing ploys that you need a special antenna to get HDTV. Any antenna that gets both VHF and UHF is all that matters.
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Old 10-05-2012, 03:21 AM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
4,009 posts, read 6,862,543 times
Reputation: 4608
Thanks for the replies everyone! I am SO getting a roof-mount antenna Just a smaller one like MONative suggested, that should hopefully work since I'm in Florissant proper. It's good to hear that free tv is still alive and well
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Old 10-06-2012, 02:03 PM
 
Location: St Louis, MO
4,677 posts, read 5,765,142 times
Reputation: 2981
Quote:
Originally Posted by glamatomic View Post
Hey There!

DH & I have been without TV for the past 3 years here in NC (we do have Netflix and also use Hulu on our laptop) but were contemplating getting a set and an Antenna next year when my grandparents come to stay for a month (they're elderly so won't want to do much aside from sit home and watch tv!).

However, everyone has told me that Antennas get virtually no signal in St. Louis anymore. Does anyone know if the North County / Florissant area is still able to get Antenna signal?

If not, what are some other (free / super cheap) options?

Greatly appreciated!
I'm out near Page and 270. On our antenna (GE Futura mounted under our eaves about 9' off ground and facing southeast), we get:
2.1, 2.2
4.1, 4.2
5.1, 5.2
9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4
11.1, 11.2
24.1, 24.2
30.1, 30.2, 30.3
33 (poor signal)
46.1, 46.2
51 (poor signal)

That's every digital channel in the market, plus 33 and 51.
The can be frustrating on windy days, but on a calm day we easily get all of those channels clearly.
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Old 10-06-2012, 07:22 PM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
4,009 posts, read 6,862,543 times
Reputation: 4608
Thanks Marigold! If you don't mind me asking- how much did you pay for your antenna and installation?
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