Does anyone use (just) an antenna for their TV reception?

No, I am connected to FIOS.

Didn’t think you could use antennae for broadcasts any more after the switch to digital last year.

@janbb I think you are correct, after Feb 2009 it all changed in the US…

This article is a year old but addresses a lot of what you need to know.

A girlfriend of mine in MI still does.

Our television is digital, high def, it does not need a converter box. I was we are just having a difficult time finding the right antenna and placement of it.

@janbb and @Kayak8 No, people still get broadcast signal, but it needs to be converted now if you still use an older TV. New ones automatically do that. Antennae still work.

My parents and my partner’s parents get their programming from an antenna. My TV isn’t hooked up to anything to get reception because just about anything on TV is shite.

Almost embarrassed to say that when a first read your question I read Does anyone use an enema for their TV reception?… where was my head…

Yes. I use an antenna and a $40 converter box with my old TV. I can get ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox CW , Weather channel, 4 PBS stations, an all music video station, and a couple of religious stations that I skip. My computer monitor gets even more and does not need the converter. All for free.
I have a big old antenna on the roof from about 1970. It works great. I live about 30–40 miles from a city.

@worriedguy I remember growing up, we had a huge antenna on our house, that was the only way to get reception. We live in the hilly-tree-filled Pacific Northwest, so I am thinking that maybe we don’t have a clear shot to the towers because we are within 30–35 miles of all the Seattle stations. Man, I really just want to be able to watch the news and NCIS…maybe a couple of others.

I use plain old rabbit ears plugged into my HDTV and I get a dozen or more HD channels. It works great.

Here’s a site which literally shows you which way to point your antenna for each station based on your address, highly recommended for figuring out your antenna needs.

http://www.antennaweb.org

@jaytkay Thank you- I have been to that site. From my research, CNet suggested starting out with an indoor antenna. So we have…and we can get 9–11 strange channels but no major networks. Probably we would do better with an antenna on our roof, however, my husband doesn’t want to climb to the peak (high/steep) and our homeowner’s association would certainly frown on a big ole antenna sticking out of the top of our house. I think I am looking for easy answers where there are none.

Do you have an attic? They make antennas you hang inside your attic. It’s not as good as the ones outside your roof, but you don’t have the drawback of being hideous. I’m about to buy my first home and am seriously considering going this route. I can’t justify the cost of cable per month for as little tv as I watch, especially when the best news around is on PBS.

Let us know how it works out for you.

@gorillapaws We do have an attic, we tried the antenna up there and it didn’t make a difference. We bought this house just a little over a year ago and it’s all wired up (On-Q/Legrand) we were wondering if we could wire it into that?
If we figure something out, I will post!

@Sweetpea Sounds like you are going about it the smart way, testing the simple cheap way before committing to months of cable bills. And the effectiveness of an antenna depends on your location compared to the transmitters.

I’m lucky in that two skyscrapers about 4 miles from my place host all the local TV stations. And they are roughly in the same direction from me.

Seems like a great business opportunity, setting up antennas for people. A one-time fee of 2 or 3 months’ cable bills for permanent free TV.

@jaytkay Yeah! I wonder if there are antenna people out there? I sure haven’t found any.

At home I have fiber optic cable. But, in my RV, I have only an antenna with a gadget attached for digital and it works fine in most areas. In remote mountain areas I might get no signal at all. Every place I stop for the night I have to ask the television to scan for stations in the area. This only takes a few minutes. If I don’t get good results I turn the antenna 90 degrees and try again. I don’t always get to watch exactly what I wanted but there is generally something I don’t object to. A weather channel or news is welcome for its information but not a show to watch.