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Off Grid Living / Camping => Off Grid Living / Alternative Housing => Topic started by: WooferHound on April 13, 2012, 02:25:10 pm

Title: Free Antenna TV
Post by: WooferHound on April 13, 2012, 02:25:10 pm
I have been playing with antennas for TV since I've been able to switch channels. I had the BIG antennas with the rotator and would regularly watch TV stations that were 100 miles away. The picture was a little snowy but very watchable.

Television broadcasts have gone Digital and High Definition, but the frequencies that are used are the same as the old UHF channels of the analog days. Any old UHF antenna will work fine to receive the new digital channels. Antennas labeled as Digital or HD are not special, it's just marketing talk and probably cost more too..

Digital TV needs a Good Signal to work properly. Indoor antennas are not recommended. An outdoor antenna that is taller than the building will give the best results. In digital TV you will either get a great picture, or it will be unwatchable, there is no inbetween snowy picture.

A TV has a menu selection that chooses between Antenna or Cable channels so that needs to be set for it to work right.
Here is a great website that will show you the channels available in your area and coverage maps of each individual station.
http://www.tvfool.com/
Title: Re: Free Antenna TV
Post by: Wolvenar on April 13, 2012, 10:28:31 pm
All good advice woofer


It's unfortunate that in my area, we went from getting quite a few channels with just touching the hookups, to needing the extreme antenna I setup to get the channels that were back then considered ***WAAYYY*** out there.
( extreme = large yagi on 75ft tower)
This tower may very soon have to come down as its age is really catching up to it :(

We still have a channel transmitting analog though local, not sure if they are legal to or not, but for many this is their only source of news/weather etc they can afford to get, so hope they don't get shut down unless some work is down to ensure that the signal problems are overcome.  Most of our channels were vhf in those days and that carries significantly farther..

@ woofer, that site is kinda correct about the theoretical possibilities , but I know for a fact as it applies to our area even the green marked stations take something significant to get
Title: Re: Free Antenna TV
Post by: WooferHound on April 14, 2012, 08:19:27 am
Low power Analog broadcasting for television on VHF frequencies was allowed by the FCC during the transition to Digital TV. But I found this information on Wikipedia . . .

On July 15, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission issued a final ruling regarding Broadcast translator (TX), Low-powered (LP), and Class-A low-powered (-CA) stations, requiring that analog transmitters shut down by September 1, 2015. Transmitters on channels 52 to 69 were required to vacate their channels by December 31, 2011, but may remain in analog on another channel until the September 1, 2015 deadline. As part of the rules that were imposed, low power VHF stations on channels 2 to 6 can transmit with a maximum ERP 3 kW instead of the previously allowed maximum of 0.3 kW.
Title: Re: Free Antenna TV
Post by: WooferHound on April 15, 2012, 07:33:02 pm
A Home Owners association can NOT prevent you from putting up an outdoor antenna or satellite dish.

Homeowner associations are allowed to ban most types of antennas (amateur radio, CB, etc), but the FCC specifically forbade them from banning TV antennas. This also applies to satellite dishes used for receiving television.
See: http://www.ccfj.net/FCClaw.htm
Title: Re: Free Antenna TV
Post by: ghurd on April 15, 2012, 07:53:17 pm
Good Golly!
An agency that starts with 'F' actually had a bit of common sence!
G-