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[ 11 posts ] |
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 Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:06 pm |
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Help! Can anyone tell me if they think I could get TV reception if I buy an antenna from radio shack for my TV? I cancelled my DirectTV about six months ago because I was paying way too much for something I didn't really use. Downtown Abbey is coming up on PBS and I really want to watch it. I live on Yucca and am not sure about reception and if I can just buy some rabbit ears with a booster or if I need to have something installed outside on the roof. Advice anyone?
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:41 am |
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I, too, gave up Direct TV about a year ago. I bought an antenna and a box from Wal Mart. I get several channels . . but not all of them. It seems to depend on where you live in the area as to which channels you can get. Very strange . . . I bought a Roku box also and subscribed to Hulu Plus for $9/mo. I watch the programs I like, but not when they happen. The nice thing about Roku is that I also get radio stations from across the US. I definitely have enough choioces and have not really missed Direct TV. I thought I would have severe withdrawal, but that hasn't happened :) I actually do not miss my Direct TV except for football games and have another option for watching them. It's also nice on a snowy day like we had yesterday and today to watch a series from start to finish with very few commercials.
_________________
Life can change in an instant - enjoy every day to the fullest
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:50 am |
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yes, macewa, it's totally dependent on where you are located. We get all the locals and PBS and a few Latino channels with an RCA antenna I bought from Walmart (sorry !) It looks like a shark fin and gets power / amplified by a small booster near the TV. I have a makeshift outdoor setup with about 8' of pipe as a mast and a run of about 25' of cable. Some channels come from El Paso, some from ABQ via Cruces, I think since my antenna is aimed South East. Works fine but, as I say, where you are makes a huge difference.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 5:14 pm |
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I know there were supposed to remain access to some "basic" channels. I wish Direct/Dish didn't make be choose between Northern NM (Alb) and Southern NM (LC & EP)and I am pleased to hear someone can get both. I live in the Mimbres where, I'm told, there is no other reception at all. I am posting so I can follow this discussion. Good Luck in your search.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:23 pm |
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Not only does it depend on -where- you live, but, when you are using an indoor antenna, -what- you live in. TV signals do not pass through metal very well, so if you live in a manufactured home, or even a stucco home, where the stucco is applied to a chicken-wire like lattice, it will not work as well as a wood-framed house. From Yucca Street, with a wood-framed house, you should be able to get all of the channels that are being (re)broadcast from PA Mountain. That includes the Albuquerque network stations and PBS from Las Cruces. An outdoor antenna will solve the problem if you live in a metal box.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:40 pm |
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Wow! I just bought an RCA flat digital antenna from Walmart for $34 and it's only sitting on top of my bookshelf but gives me five channels. Most important PBS reception is just great and I am so exciting about watching the new season of Downton Abbey tomorrow night. Thanks so much for the comments, as they helped me go search for a solution and one was found.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:45 am |
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On a related issue, radio reception: When I lived in Silver City, we got KRWG just fine on our boombox or small radios, but very poorly if at all on our stereo receiver. My first fix to the problem was to put an automobile antenna on the roof and connect it via coaxial cable to the receiver. Later I discovered that a powered TV antenna (cost - I think about $30 when I got it) from Radio Shack placed on a bookshelf inside the house worked even better.
AW
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 10:02 am |
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Cool - I'm impressed the RCA is working so well - I can't get anything inside due to us living in a Faraday cage (metal roof and stucco siding over a wire grid) :-( Thanks for the reminder on Downton Abbey !
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 5:23 pm |
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So what to do about reception when you live in a 'Faraday" cage ??
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:03 pm |
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You put your antenna on the roof or on a pole outside the "cage" - a length of iron pipe works well and most antennas come with clamps that will fit on it. You can clamp it onto the outside of your house or sink a larger piece of pipe into the ground with a cement base and slide the antenna pipe into it - that way it's easy to take it down to access the antenna.
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:38 pm |
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I'd be surprised if one couldn't find a basic di-pole (flat twin lead) antenna at the restore for probably a dollar or so. Alternatively, one could make a basic one from the old flat twin lead antenna wire. Cut a length around 65", strip both end's wires and twist each ends pair of wires together so you have a 65" long piece of wire that is a essentially a connected loop. In the middle of the loops length, sever one of the wires and attach another length of the flat twinlead wire to the two ends that you just exposed after severing, so you now have a "T" shaped antenna. The long vertical length is the lead wire, and the 65" horizontal wire is the antenna.
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[ 11 posts ] |
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