Free, Over the Air, TV watching

[SternWake]

What methods do you employ to watch free, over the Air, broadcast TV?

I've not had much need for stealth and have been using a homemade antenna that I can connect to my Spare tire carrier and can stick the thing 15 feet in the air and pull in every possible station in my Area.

But I cannot travel with this thing, I am not going to set it up and try to figure out which way to Aim it when travelling. I've no good location to store it without some major disassembly, and can't really be bothered with TV that much.

BUt A smaller omnidirectional antenna, so I can at least pull in strong local stations for news/weather is desirable.

I'm working on a solution, with one impressive product I tested today. I am interested in seeing how many of you watch TV, what you use as an Antenna, and how many stations you can get on an Autoscan.

My Big Antenna in my area will pull in a minimum of 60 stations, and a maximum of 110 in my current location.

The new product I tried today, a fraction of the size, pulled in an Impressive 44 stations.

One other product, zero channels

One other product, an inline amplifier, made it so only 5 stations came in using the product which pulled in 44 without it.

I'll be doing some modifications to mount this newer product in a safer stealthier location and will update with photos and links in the near future, but in the mean time, I am interested in your solutions to getting lots of channels without a large honking antenna on the roof.

If you Dislike TV, or do not feel the need for having it in this lifestyle, well you do not need to share your views in this thread.

As far a Using Data and a smart phone, that is another topic too.

And for those who might not have realized that these TV signals are broadcast free all over the country, plug you r current address into this Website, and it can show you what is possible to receive in your specific area. It is About 85% accurate in my area.

https://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

 

[Lucky mike]

I use an antenna craft disc with an amp and a program on my computer to locate direction my antenna is mounted on a tripple extend painters pole affixed to a heavy duty camera tripod. here is the website I use for channel locations
http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

 

[caseyc]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...45092&ef_id=UNJGvgAASJW9pFCc:20140605135141:s

Hi SternWake,

It sounds like you already know quite a bit about free OTA television viewing. I use the above Terk antenna that I got from Best Buy. It's amplified, so requires power, but picks up more stations. It's omnidirectional, so it doesn't require any pointing of rabbit ears. It's rather compact, and I have it sitting on the window-sill next to the van window. I usually get a couple dozen channels or so on my Toshiba flat screen TV. My major gripe is that 20 to 30% of the free stations are Spanish channels. I don't understand a lick of Spanish, haha! I like watching TV, especially the evening news. Unfortunately, with this new lifestyle, I notice I haven't been watching television as much cuz I'm usually out and about.

---

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037KLRC0/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For 12 volt powered television, I use the above Phillips 7" combination television and DVD player. This sucker picks up free OTA stations remarkably well. I have this Phillips TV attached to an Arkon adjustable arm holder (Amazon link below).
http://www.amazon.com/Arkon-Wheelch...d_sim_e_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WYN7S17CZECP69ABSR1

I recently velcro-taped my Samsung 8" tablet onto the front of the Phillips TV so I can watch Netflix movies via the tablet when not watching television on the TV. (The front of the Phillips TV rotates around so the screen is closed, and the tablet is velcro-taped on the other side of the lid.)

I know this this thread is about antennas, but I thought I'd throw that tidbit in.

 

[SoulRaven]

Here is an indoor antenna for the stealth crowd.

The power for its amp is an usb port.

Perfect for using with notebook or a netbook and an usb TV tuner.

http://www.amazon.com/August-DTA500...d_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=094GFEHY9B2MB0KJ9JM0

 

[caseyc]

That USB powered TV antenna looks pretty slick. That would mean not having to turn on my inverter. Question: Have you personally tried this antenna yourself? Do you have it?

Here is an indoor antenna for the stealth crowd.

The power for its amp is an usb port.

Perfect for using with notebook or a netbook and an usb TV tuner.

http://www.amazon.com/August-DTA500...d_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=094GFEHY9B2MB0KJ9JM0

 

[SoulRaven]

Sorry I do not have the item I posted but plan to buy for snowbird adventure.

 

[wagoneer]

At our last RTR I copied Graybeards antenna model and Got pretty good results Wood plank bare copper wire some screws and bending plus an afternoon of fun doing it, at the flea market this guy was selling his old 1terrabite ss drives and I picked em up he said they contained movies well one has a thousand movies and the other a bunch of tv shows and movies. you can buy a standalone handheld reception locator with a compass and audible signals.

 

[SternWake]

That USB powered amplified antenna the LouReed posted is the same brand as the amplifier I bought, and just printed up the RMA for cause it is worthless and going back. The amplifier is the little black rectangular box shown in the Photo dangling.

Amplifiers also amplify the Noise so they might not do anything, or in my case, made reception worse.

CaseyC, on the wall wart/power transformer provided with your amplified antenna, check the output voltage, If 12v then no inverter needed, if 5v then you can run it off USB, If 9v, well options exist for that too.

But the inverter is noisy, electrically, and can actually reduce TV reception. My 800 watt MSW used to knock out some mid strength stations and even a few strong ones, yet other weaker stations were unaffected.

Winegard makes an USB powered low noise amplifier, and winegard is a highly respected antenna company. I was considering getting this product:

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-LNA-..._sim_e_11?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XVB6AWG04R42EW58192

The two products I am sending back are both August DTAxxx as they are worthless, but the third product that I am impressed with is also August.
I am simply amazed that such a small simple antenna is picking up so many stations. I just push it onto my F connector located just below my rain gutters, and it stayed there through 65mph highway driving.

I ordered 2 more incase it does come off, gets stolen or does not like the moisture.

http://www.amazon.com/August-DTA102...d_sim_e_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0R1NHP4YJEFM7K719JAZ

My plan is to attach an F connector in the frame of my solar panel and move this antenna up higher. Any low hanging branches will just turn it on its side. Going to do the same with the Wifi SMA connector/antenna.

With Antennas, Height is might. Getting the Antenna out from within the metal/glass skin of the Vehicle has a huge effect on reception. I am pretty sure this setup is going to cover 85% of my Local TV watching demands and render my giant Antenna nearly useless.


My TV is an AC/DC RCA, well at least that is how it is marketed. It is a 12vDc TV which comes with a 120c/12vdc wall wart transformer. It has a 13.3 inch screen and uses between 0.7 amps and 1.1 amps depending on volume and brightness setting. Plenty big for in a Van. When playing a DVD, it will draw 1.6 amps. I've got it mounted on a double pivoting swing arm over 4 feet long to aim it where my head is, whether it be in bed or my third chair.

I never considered the USB tuner for my laptop, just because my laptop draws 4x+ the electricity when streaming Movies as my LED backlit TV does, and I figured the tuner would eat up as much juice as streaming videos does.

In my Location all the VHF high channels(7-13) are still in use. 8 and 10 broadcast from about 20 miles away and strong, but 7, 9. 11, and 13 are from 92 miles away( 5500' elevation) and still are received by the tiny antenna, but not always.. VHF channels require longer antenna elements to receive the frequencies, and is the reason I added rabbit ears to my homemade' tiered bowtie' antenna with great success. It grabs as many channels as my neighbor's giant household Channelmaster antenna which is mounted higher.

 

[SoulRaven]

Mr Wake thanks for the heads up. The DTA 102 fits my needs better for it is small and fits in my netbook case.

My netbook draws only 1.2a DC so with a 4-port usb hub I plan to charge my cell phone, jetpack, Bluetooth headset, and Bluetooth speakers when using the netbook.

I will be using this in flat Florida where the signal strength will be +50db so ampflication is not really needed.

 

[Zil]

My experience may or mayn't help. o got to love spell check.
I got the converter when every thing changed, $40 with the coupon. disconnected the cable, hooked to my old Magnavox tube, up to attic to my dads old uhf antenna. Got dozens of channels clear and some fuzzy. got all national networks sharp and clear. Then the male cat did his work on my electronics and they went to trash. I eventual got a new electronic HD TV and hooked it to the antenna. No good. Went and bought a outdoor antenna no good. Other antennas no good. I refuse to buy another TV to test the system. My friends have fine pictures.
Now there are many fine antennas, some small, I haven't tested.
Just make sure your TV is broadcast digital ready.
I do enjoy my Roku. Best TV for me, although it will keep me up all night to see the next episode.

 

[caseyc]

SternWake,

I only use my Terk amplified antenna by plugging it into my inverter, which in turn is attached to my Toshiba 19" flatscreen TV. The Terk antenna didn't come with any adapters such as a 12 volt outlet, so I'm assuming the only way to use it is via my inverter. But since I don't like turning on my inverter if I can help it, I simply haven't been using the Terk antenna. I prefer to watch television on my smaller 7" TV screen that's powered by 12 volts, since it's much more convenient. The only time in the past that I had used my larger 19" TV screen was to play Mortal Kombat via my Sony Playstation 3. Because of the Toshiba's high definition screen, I enjoyed seeing all the (animated) blood and guts spilling out of my defeated enemy, haha! Pretty much the only channels I watch are the low numbered local channels, such as Channels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. I usually (or used to) watch Channels 2 and 4 for the evening news. But I've noticed that my Terk antenna doesn't pick up channels 3 nor 6, I'm guessing because those stations are further away. I sometimes watch KQED public broadcast channel for their educational stuff, especially when there's nothing but infomercials on during Saturday mornings. I notice nowadays I'm watching more YouTube videos, so maybe that's been substituting for my TV viewing. Since I have unlimited data, I watch as much YouTube and Netflix movies to my heart's content. Alas, I haven't been following TV shows for the past few months, so I'm a bit out of touch with television land.