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74DartSport

74DartSport

Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
435
Location
Where Jackie Jr got whacked
Wife decided that $200+ cable bill is untenable so we switched to just fiber internet. The family streams most of their content but wife likes a few broadcast local shows. Put an antenna in the attic with a booster and rotator. Currently just pointing in the general area of lower Manhattan and quite pleased with the reception quality and number of channels. Plus the $200 a month savings too.
Should have done this years ago.
 
Have you considered sling TV? Or are they even still around? If cable and satellite companies had a buy what you watch deal it might be different.
 
We used YouTube TV via the internet for a while, then canceled it. Started it back up when college football season started, as my wife graduated Notre Dame and is a die-hard fan. Will be canceling again in a month or two. We don't watch content that could be available OTA, so don't miss it when the subscription is canceled.

To find stations available in your area, go to AntennaWeb and put in your zip code or address. This site has been around for many years. It will tell you distance and angle to each station as well as recommendations for antenna type for receiving each station.
 
i have an $8 clear tv antenna + 6.99 booster draped across the attic rafters picks up 25-39 channels plus free streaming apps i am totally content around $60/month for 500/500 fiber net.. thankfully we get Netflix, Hulu and her MLB tv through T-Mobile. T-Mobile isn't exactly cheap but if you take into consideration phone service, premium data + streaming subscriptions to Netflix - Hulu & MLB tv $112/month is reasonable for 3 lines.
 
Yeah, we cut the cable about 12 (or more) years ago. Attic for local and Roku boxes for streaming. Our Netflix and other streaming channels are less than $30 a month. We watch a lot of movies and limited series. Netflex, Starz, Peacock and Paramount+
We pick up maybe once a year for limited time special pricing Apple TV and Amazon ... as soon as super low special pricing ends we cancel. Offers in the past start coming in around this time of year and last 2 to 4 months. Not sure if that will happen this year but we dont care anymore.

Honestly do not use our OTA much anymore. Major sports events would be about it. Installed this in our new home about 7 months ago. Last home I had the traditional large 8 foot long yagi type. Really isnt much on OTA TV like there used to be that we cant get with streaming.

IMG_3230.webp
 
Wireman1987 said:
does the booster degrade signal or do harm?
Click to expand...
It boosts both signal and noise. They have their place but if the antenna works well enough without it, IMO, don't use it. Google tells me his location is not in a valley and he can probably see both the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center visually.
 
So new internet bill - cable bill savings = $200? savings

I called spectrum for my MIL and told them it cost to much and it magically went down to $179 from nearly $300 cable, 2 dvr boxes, internet, phone.

I dont really want to change her to a new box... She can barely use her smartphone to call someone.

Omni fiber just installed in her neighborhood.. looks like it would be around 100-130 for internet and tv.. at least for first year. (50+45+fees)
 
One should evaluate if their attics have foil backed insulation or metal roofing before committing to an indoor antenna up there.

A booster at the antenna end of the cable pushes a good signal to noise ratio down the cable. One at the TV end boosts both signal and noise that found its way into the cable.

I'm using this dumb thing outside as high as I could stick it with good results.
 
Wireman1987 said:
does the booster degrade signal or do harm?
Click to expand...
Nothing to lose trying out a boaster. Technically it could increase noise. I have never had that experience in 15 years.
Keep in mind with digital signals you're not going to have noise anyway. It's "there" or not digital signal.

First home BIG YAGI in the attic, cheap RCA boaster down on the main floor with distribution to 5 TVs.
New home I installed one of those funky ones (photo a few posts up) and a Channel Master boaster down on the main floor.

True, if you installed the boaster up near the antenna technically that is ideal but I always bought a large enough antenna that would capture most all stations and not rely on the boaster but only to solidify the signal and capture some weaker ones without pixelation.
A few posts above is our Antenna in our new home.
This link below is a post about the system in our old home described above
A

Post in thread 'TV Antennas'

This has been my attic antenna set up for around the last decade. Bought it in Lowes for $100. Been free of Spectrum pay TV ever since. Get all the major stations with better picture through the antenna plus about 20 side stations, this is distributed throughout the home to five TVs. Also stream with 5 Roku players and 1 Roku TV (6 TVs in all, one TV in not hooked up to antenna). Pay Hulu Basic subscription, Netflex and Apple TV. Total TV bill roughly $20 a month plus of course the cost of internet.
Tons of sites on the internet that will tell you with way to point it using a compass. Just...
  • Like
 
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We cut the cable and stream plus an antenna in the attic. We had internet anway, so not an added cost. Being south of DC, the antenna with a booster lets us pull in Baltimore too. We don't watch OTA tv much, mostly streamed. We do pay for an annual subscription for Malamar so wife unit can watch TV from Thailand. Otherwise, we're happy as we rarely if ever watched anything on the pay cable networks anyway.
 
My parents pay $300 for cable per month. Ridiculous. In 2023 I had dad call about adding a package for my room they wanted another $180 per month because I wanted sports. It was going to be $480 for two boxes, two remotes and two packages. Told them no way. I got an antenna and began streaming too (which I didn’t know was even a thing till 2023) and I’m happy with it. Parents still pay the $300 because it’s just what they are used too even though they use Netflix and other services more now they just feel bad about dropping it. They even renewed their contract for another 5 or so years last time it was due. I was definitely living in the stone ages before 2023 lol. I had told a coworker I really wanted a tv in my room but wasn’t willing to pay the cable price then he told me about antennas and streaming and I didn’t even know what streaming was and didn’t know you could use an antenna as this isn’t the 70s anymore lol. I sure was mistaken and I’m glad he told me about both of those back then though. I still have tons of DVD, Blu-Ray and VHS too that I use for movies but I do stream or watch a lot of shows OTA. Movies I will never stream because I like disks or tapes.
 
alarmguy said:
Nothing to lose trying out a boaster. Technically it could increase noise. I have never had that experience in 15 years.
Keep in mind with digital signals you're not going to have noise anyway. It's "there" or not digital signal.

First home BIG YAGI in the attic, cheap RCA boaster down on the main floor with distribution to 5 TVs.
New home I installed one of those funky ones (photo a few posts up) and a Channel Master boaster down on the main floor.

True, if you installed the boaster up near the antenna technically that is ideal but I always bought a large enough antenna that would capture most all stations and not rely on the boaster but only to solidify the signal and capture some weaker ones without pixelation.
A few posts above is our Antenna in our new home.
This link below is a post about the system in our old home described above
A

Post in thread 'TV Antennas'

This has been my attic antenna set up for around the last decade. Bought it in Lowes for $100. Been free of Spectrum pay TV ever since. Get all the major stations with better picture through the antenna plus about 20 side stations, this is distributed throughout the home to five TVs. Also stream with 5 Roku players and 1 Roku TV (6 TVs in all, one TV in not hooked up to antenna). Pay Hulu Basic subscription, Netflex and Apple TV. Total TV bill roughly $20 a month plus of course the cost of internet.
Tons of sites on the internet that will tell you with way to point it using a compass. Just...
  • Like
Click to expand...
also with shielded RG6 cable I don’t think that much noise would be introduced unfortunately budget antennas usually have a whip thats equivalent to RG59.
 
Wireman1987 said:
also with shielded RG6 cable I don’t think that much noise would be introduced unfortunately budget antennas usually have a whip thats equivalent to RG59.
Click to expand...
In post number 15 I had a link to previous BITOG post from a couple years ago on our previous house with the attic antenna and builder supply distribution panel.

In post #8 is our current new attic antenna I installed this year, but I didn’t post a photo of the builder supplied distribution panel that I used. So doing that here.
This is a small house and we only have a few TVs most everything is streamed, but it’s nice to have the OTA as well.
I have one more wire to run and this one might look a little messy because I actually have my router in there as well but overtime I’ll clean it up a little.
I bought a more expensive distribution amplifier this time because I actually pull in stations from two directions pretty much 180° opposite of each other. One set is from Wilmington, North Carolina and the other set is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I will say the cheap RCA $20 one does pretty good job. The channel master is expensive at from what I remember $50 and only slightly does better. It’s more than I need and market it as weatherproof. It’s a pretty heavy unit.


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