Frugal and Energy Efficient Living

freshwest

(53,661 posts)

6. Those are great ideas. How about local and building interference? When I lived in very rural area...

Sun Jan 8, 2012, 06:16 PM

Jan 2012

On a high hill, I was able to get stations from Houston to Dallas to Nevada and even a Southern Californian station on an unusal evening. Those frequencies were all caught by my 'gold' many vaned antenna set up on a pole.
Any kind of electrical storms, or tornado activity between myself and those areas, made it almost impossible to see or hear clearly.

In town, though, it apppears that the signals are worse, or when I moved to another area outside the city and in the mountains of the PacNW, it was useless. Not only were television broadcast frequencies impractical, radio and even cellphone service was unreliable.

Do the two devices suggested overcome local static? I'm always considering going off line but would like to be able to keep up. Where I live right now, my radio won't get much of anything. I can get a limited set of stations, but nothing I really want to hear.

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The frugal way to do TV... [View all] Fumesucker Jan 2012 OP

On antennas (antennae).. Fumesucker Jan 2012 #1

I am on dialup Tsiyu Jan 2012 #9

Here's an extremely simple but fairly effective homemade antenna made from one piece of wire.. Fumesucker Jan 2012 #10

Thanks! Tsiyu Jan 2012 #11

My pleasure.. Fumesucker Jan 2012 #12

DIY Antennas - I have made several of these, and get excellent UHF reception, but VHF is not as good ad2atlga Nov 2014 #27

What you want is a folded dipole tuned to the frequency Fumesucker Nov 2014 #28

You are so right. cbayer Jan 2012 #2

I agree. I went off of cable as soon as the stations Curmudgeoness Jan 2012 #3

Thanks so much this! onestepforward Jan 2012 #4

Searching through the reviews on indoor antennas on Amazon, this unit stands out for great reviews.. Fumesucker Jan 2012 #5

Those are great ideas. How about local and building interference? When I lived in very rural area... freshwest Jan 2012 #6

Digital broadcasting is a good bit less prone to static.. Fumesucker Jan 2012 #7

Thanks for your time and the excellent information. freshwest Jan 2012 #8

A few trips from a brutal fringe area. dimbear Jan 2012 #13

I've done some more research and found out something about the converter boxes.. Fumesucker Feb 2012 #20

Interesting article, thanx. Most of my equipment is ChannelMaster, always open dimbear Feb 2012 #21

Cable or satellite is an insidious financial drain... Fumesucker Feb 2012 #22

I tried 2 different converter boxes and neither one gave me a picture. kestrel91316 Feb 2012 #14

Where is your attenna? And what kind are you using? cbayer Feb 2012 #15

I used rabbit ears for years. They went into the trash. kestrel91316 Feb 2012 #17

We use a $30 antenna from Radio Shack (TV is already HD ready). It makes a lot of difference. cbayer Feb 2012 #18

I've been using these converters from Amazon.com with great success. For a number of RKP5637 Mar 2012 #23

It may not be completely obvious how to hook everything together.. Fumesucker Feb 2012 #16

This is a great post, thanks. k&r Little Star Feb 2012 #19

We got DirecTV because of hills blocking signals, but pay $1/month for it. uppityperson Mar 2012 #24

THere is always Hulu.com n/t guardian May 2012 #25

You could get a lot of programs on Hulu for free. RebelOne Dec 2014 #31

RCA preamp TVPRAMP1R dimbear May 2012 #26

Good info here... sendero Dec 2014 #29

we've been doing Roku for years, but i just ordered an Amazon Fire TV box NMDemDist2 Dec 2014 #30

Wood board with old wire clothes hangers cut, bent and attached to it, each other and then the tv. Jetboy Dec 2014 #32

Thanks for Posting! Sherman A1 Jan 2015 #33

I'm finally dropping my cable at the end of the month. xmas74 Jun 2015 #34