One Week Without DirecTv

[quikdraw67]

And I didn't go crazy like Homer Simpson in "The Shining" spoof episode.

Really, there's little I miss. I still watch the morning and evening local news, that's about it.

There is an IndyCar race on Fox today, I'll probably put that on. ETA - I'm wrong, it's next weekend.

The digital rabbit ears are doing OK. The Channel 64 group (which is ION, Grit, and some others) are spotty. The Channel 38 group (which includes MeTV) doesn't come in at all.

After doing a little research, I'm considering getting a power boosted antenna and putting it in the front window, along with a long length of coax cable.

We'll see.

BTW, DirecTV send me an e-mail offering a $100 Visa gift card if I reactivated service, all I had to do was call. Nope.

Then I got another e-mail offering the $100 card and 3 months free of all the movie and streaming services they have. I didn't pay to watch them then, why would I start now?

I guess watching TV just isn't that important to me. Which is a good thing.

ETA - I looked up the NASCAR race at Pocono today. It's on Prime Video and HBO Max. I have Prime Video due to our Amazon Prime membership.

 

[LVSteve]

Is this where you get your OTA TV.

https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=68

There is no substitute for an external antenna. However, if the towers you are aiming for are at the front of the house and relatively close then one of those flat plate UHF antennas may suffice. This company seems to have the market well covered.

https://store.antennasdirect.com/HD-TV-antennas.html

 

[olfart]

We have an old fashioned Yagi-style TV antenna about 30' up on a pole (50 miles from the nearest tower), and we get all the OTA channels just fine. Still doing Dish Network too, although I'm not sure how much longer at $174 a month.

 

[quikdraw67]

Is this where you get your OTA TV.

https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=68

https://www.antennaweb.org

this is what I used

I want to get the 38 Series channels, I don't care about the 60 Series channels.

 

[daddio202]

No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy!

 

[Doriangray6]

I haven't watched TV since I moved back from Europe 25+ years ago. I watched it over there for two reasons; to help me learn the various languages that were spoken around me and though I never became fluent with any of them I was at least able to correctly pronounce and accent the little bit I did learn and also because during the race season every kind of motorcycle competition from MotoGP to sidecar motocross was broadcasted.
I stopped watching TV when I returned to the US because I was born in the US so have no need to learn how to speak American English and because unless I'm willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money the same coverage of motorcycle competitions isn't available here.

 

[38magnum]

just get a samsung smart tv with the samsung tv..

 

[LVSteve]

We have an old fashioned Yagi-style TV antenna about 30' up on a pole (50 miles from the nearest tower), and we get all the OTA channels just fine. Still doing Dish Network too, although I'm not sure how much longer at $174 a month.

Yep, there is no substitute for height and antenna aperture.

 

[LVSteve]

https://www.antennaweb.org

this is what I used

I want to get the 38 Series channels, I don't care about the 60 Series channels.

Here is where the channel ID's and the actual physical channel frequency gets twisted. The stuff you you want with the channel IDs of 38 are being broadcast on RF channel 34 at 170 kW ERP. The ION TV stuff using 64 as their ID is going out on RF channel 33 at 700 kW. If the ION stuff is spotty, you have no chance with the 38s.

How close is the Bald Mountain antenna farm?

The antennaweb site does not work for me. It likely does not like me blocking most of google's scripts.

 

[dockmurgw]

Try one of these...and get the preamplifier.
https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-4MAX-Outdoor-TV-Antenna.html