Question for the guys who dropped their paid TV

[lovemachine]

Wife and I are talking about dropping our satellite package. Anymore, all the shows we watch our on local channels, and we spend most of our time on Netflix. So, paying for satellite seems pretty stupid now.

I don't have an outdoor antenna. And have heard where people have installed antennas in their attics. What did you guys do? Did you do an outdoor antenna? Put one in the attic? Rabbit ears?

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Digital antenna for local news & weather. Netflix for everything else

It just mounts on the wall.

 

[AngryRooster]

We had an outdoor antenna that rusted through on one side and the high winds last year took it all the way down. The old one broke about a foot or so above the ground and the bolt holes in the cement were still exposed and undamaged. We had a new antenna mounted on it 50' tall. Two HD antennas, one facing Indy and one facing Dayton. A 2 meter antenna mounted up there as well. We went with the two separate antennas instead of a rotor to cut down on the chances of the motor going bad in the future. Turned out to be cheaper that was as well. Total cost for the project was $1050. That includes everything. Mast, antennas, HAM antenna, wires, brackets, labor and building a support at the top of the eve where the wood had gotten a little soft over the years.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Digital antenna for local news & weather. Netflix for everything else

It just mounts on the wall.

Pretty much this. I did mount a digital antenna on the old sat dish frame, as the wire was already ran it seemed like a no brainer. It didn't change much with the reception, though. We had hulu and an antennae for years until Comcast made us a bundle deal to add the cheapest cable package to our Internet and it reduced our payments about $20 a month over Internet alone. No HD, so the picture quality is actually better via antennae on local stations.

 

[TB1999]

Mohu leaf indoor antenna has done wonders for me. I got a refurbished one for around $20 on their website. Depending on where you live, roof mount antenna might be overkill. There are websites that will tell you what channels you can expect with antenna based on your location.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Depends where you live. Check distance to towers

AntennaWeb - Address

 

[Fantix]

Look at this site. AntennaWeb - Home

Edit:
hoosierdoc beat me to it!

 

[EvilElmo]

I hung one of these in my attic: http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-CM-4228HD-High-Antenna/dp/B000FVVKQM/

It easily picks up all the local channels. I could probably get more from neighboring cities if I put it outside with the ability to rotate it but hanging it in the attic was simple and it's good enough for us.

 

[Leo]

Thanks for the link Hoosierdoc

Ah, the joy of Lafayette, exactly one station available with antenna.

 

[Bill B]

Thanks for the link Hoosierdoc

Ah, the joy of Lafayette, exactly one station available with antenna.

I'd take that with a grain of salt. I used my moms address in michigan and it shows her getting the south bend channels and the PBS station out of kalamazoo. She gets all the south bend channels, all the kalamazoo channels and all the major chicago channels, except channel 2 in chicago, nobody gets channel 2.

 

[hoosierdoc]

When I was in New Castle I was like 43 miles from the towers in indy and got 92% signal on all networks with a channel master 4228 (I think) mounted six inches off the ground and a pre-amp.

as was said above, you'll get more than it says you will.

 

[miguel]

Digital antenna for local news & weather. Netflix for everything else

It just mounts on the wall.

This.

We haven't mounted on the wall, just put it in the little stand it came in and it holds up unless one of the resident nerf gun owners uses it as a substitute for steel plate...

 

[stephen87]

Netflix for us. Gonna get a Roku at some point.

 

[bigus_D]

Outdoor antenna mounted in place of old satellite antenna and on same coax. Works great for all TVs preveously serviced by the satellite. Roku Netflix for everything else. Never looked back!

 

[HoughMade]

I have this installed in the attic over my garage, so it is about 16 feet above ground level:

Antennas Direct ClearStream 4V Antenna Multi C4-V-CJM - Best Buy

I have a mast mounted amplifier as well because the run from the attic to the distribution if over 100 feet. I am 35 miles from Chicago and 55 from South Bend and get almost all the channels from both even though they are 90 degrees apart from where I am. 60+ channels, obviously with some network repeats like 2 CBS, 2 NBC, 2 Fox, 4 PBS, but a lot of channels that broadcast old TV shows and movies...which I like.

Oh..and there really is no such thing as a "digital" antenna or "HD" antenna. There are just antennas. ANY antenna that picks up the UHF or VHF (whatever your area has) will work- even if it's 20 years old from before the "digital revolution"

 

[CountryBoy19]

People pay for TV?

I haven't paid for TV in quite some time. As a matter of fact, the only time I've paid for it was a 1 year introductory offer of extended basic for $20/mo when I was living in an apt with no TV antenna.

I do pay for internet ($31/mo) and Netflix ($8/mo)

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I've just used an old uhf/vhf antenna on a 20 foot mast. It worked well until the ash tree I put near it grew enough to block the digital signal. Then I could only get a good signal after the leaves fell. I've had cable for the last few years, but when the ash borers kill the tree, I'm going to replace the mast and the antenna and ditch my cable again.

I'm like 60+ miles out of Indy, so I need a good antenna and I need to have it fairly high up.

 

[Bfish]

You may also look into apple tv. There are a lot of things you can do when you start connecting devices, and you can run netflix, hulu, amazon prime, and a lot of things through it, even specific channels if you want. You can also run anything that is on your computer, iPad, or iPhone. So you can watch youtube videos or look at photos or anything on your tv. It's a pretty cool thing, so if that interests you check it out.

 

[87iroc]

I have a TV sitting in the attic. I have a booster on the line as well. The less coax the better on antenna. We dropped cable about 5 yrs ago...miss it some times...but the money we're saving every month is huge.

Antenna Direct I think is where I bought my stuff. I got on the phone with my daugther while in the attic to set the direction of the antenna. It works OK most days. If you're close to Indy you should be golden!

 

[chezuki]

Build your own!