I know its hard to answer. Tv without cable. (Chicago: apartments, living in)

[dragoro]

If I brought out a tv with me when I move, whats the chances of getting any kind of reception without cable? Here in mich, its next to impossible so I was just wondering.

[Avengerfire]

It depends where you live ,how many windows you have, and what direction the windows face. If you get the Digital signal converter it probably will work anywhere.

[j33]

I lived in Chicago proper for many years without cable and got excellent reception with rabbit ears.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I was just thinking the other day that many prime time programs are on the internet on the main network sites. If you can't get the best reception, you can see them there.

If you use a download program like bittorrent, you might be able to download some stuff as well. I notice that alot of people record their programs in HD and upload to places like isoHunt - World's largest BitTorrent and P2P search engine so you can download them from there.

[Drover]

I get good reception of most local channels with just rabbit ears. The following English-language channels come well enough to give a reasonably clear picture:

2 (CBS)

5 (NBC)

7 (ABC)

9 (CW, plus local WGN programming that is a little different than their cable Superstation programming)

11 (PBS)

20 (PBS)

23 (MeTV, sort of a local version of Nick at Nite, shows old stuff like All in the Family and The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Jeffersons and Good Times and some vintage commercials)

26 (WCIU, independent, runs mostly contemporary syndicated reruns like The George Lopez show and The Bernie Mac Show and King of Queens and stuff like that)

32 (Fox)

34 (I have no idea)

38 (Ion TV, formerly Pax TV network, mostly eclectic stuff)

50 (a Fox affiliate but it does not carry new Fox programming; only Channel 32 does that locally. This one carries eclectic re-runs and stuff)

There are also about half a dozen Spanish stations (useless for anything but soccer unless you speak Spanish) and a couple of others (one I think is all Korean all the time and another that rotates between Chinese and Polish and some other Eastern European language).

[dragoro]

Thanks everyone!! Like I keep saying, the people on this forum are awesome!

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by dragoro

Thanks everyone!! Like I keep saying, the people on this forum are awesome!

You gotta watch Svengoolie (who used to be the Son of ""...long story) on Ch 26 when you get here. That man is an icon. I used to watch the tapings when I was a kid at WFLD 32(before it was Fox). I also saw the tapings of Oprah when she was only on the air in Chicago-before the show was called The Oprah Winfrey Show. (It was called AM Chicago) She was a nobody and almost nobody watched her.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

You gotta watch Svengoolie (who used to be the Son of ""...long story) on Ch 26 when you get here. That man is an icon. I used to watch the tapings when I was a kid at WFLD 32(before it was Fox). I also saw the tapings of Oprah when she was only on the air in Chicago-before the show was called The Oprah Winfrey Show. (It was called AM Chicago) She was a nobody and almost nobody watched her.

Seriously, get out of my head, Avengerfire!

[via chicago]

I've never had cable, and the stations listed above are pretty accurate. Also, for sports (Bulls, Sox, Cubs), they tend to be split up between WGN and WCIU (when not on cable).

And maybe its just me (I doubt it), but channel 20's sound has not been synced up with the visual on a ton of shows for the past couple months. Its really starting to **** me off.

[jessiegirl_98]

What happens when everything switches to digital? Won't the rabbit ears not catch anything then? (oh, I just read that doesn't happen for awhile)
I would move and then see what you get. I had the experience of living in two seperate apartments in Chicago where comcast had forgot to actually disconnect service. That isn't usual, but it's worth the try :-)