OT: cutting the Comcast cable cord, which outdoor antenna?

[eddief]

I just started researching this topic. I'm about 20 miles from most of the sources over in SF. I am concerned about height of install on my roof and trees maybe being in the way. What do the expert bros know? Considering this one:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Yagi-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=pd_sim_sbs_23_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=31JsxLR7yHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0QKFEG9YAFFMA05GZY5C

[Cicli]

I cut the cord, for a while, I have comcast now. Again.


I heard someone say that to win the war on drugs that all drugs should be legal and only available from Comcast customer service. I believe this to be true.

[eddief]

I will smoke a joint and consider your information.

I cut the cord, for a while, I have comcast now. Again.


I heard someone say that to win the war on drugs that all drugs should be legal and only available from Comcast customer service. I believe this to be true.

[malbecman]

We got this Clearstream antenna for our roof, it's been great. It easily pulls in stations from 35-40 miles away with no problems (where most of our broadcast antennas are located in SW Sacramento). We also get many other from farther away and off-axis.

http://www.amazon.com/ClearStream-Indoor-Outdoor-Antenna-Mount/dp/B007RH5GZI/ref=sr_1_29?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1445805320&sr=1-29

TV Fool (tvfool.com) has a nice address based search function which shows you all the locations and distances to your broadcast antennas.

[unterhausen]

http://howtoinstalltvantenna.com/

Winegard (http://www.winegard.com/) seems to be a favorite among cyclists

[berserk87]

I cut the cord, for a while, I have comcast now. Again.


I heard someone say that to win the war on drugs that all drugs should be legal and only available from Comcast customer service. I believe this to be true.

That is the post of the day.

I would sooner have the mumps than have to call Comcast.

[dave thompson]

I just started researching this topic. I'm about 20 miles from most of the sources over in SF. I am concerned about height of install on my roof and trees maybe being in the way. What do the expert bros know? Considering this one:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Yagi-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=pd_sim_sbs_23_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=31JsxLR7yHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0QKFEG9YAFFMA05GZY5C
Trees won't make a difference when you're as close as you are to the broadcast origin. Big/tall buildings will.

If you're pretty much line-of-sight, or relatively close to the broadcast antennas, you may be able to use an attic mount (if you've got an attic or something close) antenna or a low-mount antenna on your roof.

[thirdgenbird]

I think I'm about 60 miles from my source and an old school powered antenna in my attic pulls in everything in my era crystal clear.

[shovelhd]

I think I'm about 60 miles from my source and an old school powered antenna in my attic pulls in everything in my era crystal clear.

That's the thing about digital TV, it's either crystal clear or its intermittent.

I have a $5 tag sale Radio Shack special in my attic. I can pick up stations up to 50 miles away as I have no hills in the way. That's going to be your biggest concern in the Bay Area, multi path.

[commonguy001]

Trees won't make a difference when you're as close as you are to the broadcast origin. Big/tall buildings will.

If you're pretty much line-of-sight, or relatively close to the broadcast antennas, you may be able to use an attic mount (if you've got an attic or something close) antenna or a low-mount antenna on your roof.

I have an attic mount that's been up there for probably 40 years and it works great. I'm about 25 miles from the towers with relatively flat terrain and no large buildings in the way.

[thirdgenbird]

That's the thing about digital TV, it's either crystal clear or its intermittent.

I have a $5 tag sale Radio Shack special in my attic. I can pick up stations up to 50 miles away as I have no hills in the way. That's going to be your biggest concern in the Bay Area, multi path.

Yeah, what I meant was no pausing, jumping or blocks that digital will give you with a weak signal.

[peanutgallery]

We told comcast to eff off like 10 years ago. I have one of these in the attic, does ok and I made it out of stuff in the house

http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

[buddybikes]

What are you using for internet provider?

Personally, and I am probably 1 in a million, don't think comcast is all that bad with 110mps internet, compared to Verizon where we are paying 220 and I am still using a stupid flip phone, and wife/kids need to watch how much they download monthly. Plus the 2 year commitment. I HATE VERIZON!!!

[peanutgallery]

Don't laugh...DSL

$20 per month and it streams OK

[bikinchris]

Radio Shack USED to be the go to place for good TV antennas. No more. Frankly, go to WalMart.com and order the RCA "60 mile" antenna. My old Radio Shack antenna is not as nice as that one and gets stations from 90 miles away.

[shovelhd]

That's the thing about DSL. Good DSL is decent. Crappy DSL is super crappy. It's today's dialup.

[thirdgenbird]

Don't laugh...DSL

$20 per month and it streams OK

Jealous.

We have two providers avalible. Extremely unreliable cable or 6mbps DSL. Both are 3x what you pay.

I had the cable. Even at "30mpbs" it constantly buffered and would drop out for hours at a time. The DSL will stream 720p reliably all day long. In 3 years I've had fewer outages than I had with cable in a week. My coworkers all experainced the same.

[Birddog]

Here is a good source for HD antennas. Sgn up for their E-mail deals, there is at least one antenna special every week.
http://www.solidsignal.com/?utm_campaign=google_adwords_SolidSignal_brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&keyword=solidsignal%20com&gclid=CMWn863z3sgCFYZAaQodaWQNzA

[Peter P.]

Weingard is the standard for antennas.

Sounds like ease of installation is a concern for you.

Don't discount set-top antennas. You can easily reposition them if needed for stations in another direction. You can always try one and if you don't like the performance, return it for a refund. Just be kind to the packaging.

Mounting an antenna in an attic if possible is a great option. Consider a rotor as well, and you can also mount the entire assembly upside down from the rafters.

[Web1111a]

This site shows the coverage areas

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/


Important you need to know whether stations are UHF or VHF

There is another site antenna web.org

Supposedly it does not show all your stations

Google antenna web.org and the first listing is a website that says it is not accurate

[dgauthier]

I HATE VERIZON!!!

Dump Verizon. Please forgive the thread drift, but we pay $90 a month for 3 lines with 1 Gig of data each with TMobile, with no overages, ever. We're saving about $1000 a year over AT&T, with more data and better coverage to boot.

To the original poster, we have a DirecTV satellite dish antenna instead of cable. Though we're about 24,000 miles from the source we still get a great signal. ;)

I'd go for an HD antenna but as we live in a canyon I understand it won't work for me...

[aramis]

I got a winegard I installed on my roof off amazon for $50. had to go to one of those sites that shows where the stations are and aim the antenna pretty accurately to get all the major stations- but I'm in a valley and all the stations are pretty far. Abc still only comes in intermittently. I installed the little rca antenna at my moms and didn't even aim it and she gets way more stations. Location is huge.

I don't watch the networks much though. Usually just the news every few days. Hulu/amazon prime/Netflix don't have commercials and there is so much on those I'm never worried about not having something to watch if I'm bored.

[oldpotatoe]

I cut the cord, for a while, I have comcast now. Again.


I heard someone say that to win the war on drugs that all drugs should be legal and only available from Comcast customer service. I believe this to be true.

We are thinking of cutting it but not until Walking Dead is over this season..can get it via Apple TV but last season only.