# Finally cancelled Directv and put up an OTA antenna



## john262

I got sick of paying so much money for channels I don't watch and the channels I did watch have too many commercials and often show the same shows over and over again.

So I took the dish off my roof and got a Winegard Freevision antenna from Home Depot. It cost $38 dollars and I also bought a splitter for $9. I can see the transmitter towers from my house so I knew just where to point the antenna. I was able to mount the antenna on the same post that the sat dish was on and I was able to use the same cable that had run from the dish into my house Actually it was four cables but by trial and error I was able to find the one to use. Then I replaced the splitter that the sat installer has used with the splitter I bought. Then I connected the cables in my house that has been connected to my Directv receivers directly to my TV sets. And what do you know it worked.

I live in a rural area but fortunately I live 3.7 miles from some translators that rebroadcast OTA stations from Salt lake City and Reno. I did a scan and got 22 channels, about half in HD. I get all of the network affiliates plus several subchannels such as MeTV and Retro TV. One station has the Weather Nation cable channel on a subchannel. One channel was a Spanish channel and I got two different MeTV channels so I deleted the Spanish channel and one MeTV channel from my favorites list but that still leaves me with 20 channels. As far as I'm concerned that plus my Roku gives my plenty of choices. I subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus so my monthly programming costs will be about $20 a month.

But what I am impressed with is the PQ. The HD channels are about equivalent to Directv but the SD channels are so much clearer than Directv SD channels. I don't mind watching SD now after having avoided SD on Directv.

The Directv rep tried to get me to change my mind about cancelling especially since I have been with them for 12 years. But when I told him I already had taken the Dish down he relented. They will be sending me boxes so I can ship my two receivers back.

Overall I am very satisfied. I will have to wait to see how it works in bad weather since I heard that weather can affect digital TV signals, but so far so good.


----------



## damondlt

If I lived in an area that OTA was an option , I would be right there with you.
With Nexflix HBO now. I would save about $160 a month


----------



## RBA

> I got sick of paying so much money for channels I don't watch and the channels I did watch have too many commercials and often show the same shows over and over again.
> 
> So I took the dish off my roof and got a Winegard Freevision antenna from Home Depot. It cost $38 dollars and I also bought a splitter for $9. I can see the transmitter towers from my house so I knew just where to point the antenna. I was able to mount the antenna on the same post that the sat dish was on and I was able to use the same cable that had run from the dish into my house Actually it was four cables but by trial and error I was able to find the one to use. Then I replaced the splitter that the sat installer has used with the splitter I bought. Then I connected the cables in my house that has been connected to my Directv receivers directly to my TV sets. And what do you know it worked.
> 
> I live in a rural area but fortunately I live 3.7 miles from some translators that rebroadcast OTA stations from Salt lake City and Reno. I did a scan and got 22 channels, about half in HD. I get all of the network affiliates plus several subchannels such as MeTV and Retro TV. One station has the Weather Nation cable channel on a subchannel. One channel was a Spanish channel and I got two different MeTV channels so I deleted the Spanish channel and one MeTV channel from my favorites list but that still leaves me with 20 channels. As far as I'm concerned that plus my Roku gives my plenty of choices. I subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus so my monthly programming costs will be about $20 a month.
> 
> But what I am impressed with is the PQ. The HD channels are about equivalent to Directv but the SD channels are so much clearer than Directv SD channels. I don't mind watching SD now after having avoided SD on Directv.
> 
> The Directv rep tried to get me to change my mind about cancelling especially since I have been with them for 12 years. But when I told him I already had taken the Dish down he relented. They will be sending me boxes so I can ship my two receivers back.
> 
> Overall I am very satisfied. I will have to wait to see how it works in bad weather since I heard that weather can affect digital TV signals, but so far so good.


Rain should have minimal effect on your system.


----------



## Phil T

I have helped friends get rid of cable (not DirecTV) and go OTA. Actually I am supposed to help a friend install the same antenna you have in the next week or so.

If my wife was not addicted to certain shows I would consider it and may sometime in the future. The OTA in my area is good with all the broadcast networks. Some of the sub channels are not available on satellite and look interesting.

In the last few years my viewing habits have changed and I hardly watch anything other then local news. I would miss Rockies Baseball but there are other way to get that.

Last night I wanted to watch the Weather Channel because of all the storms we've had lately. When I pulled up the guide it was showing back to back episodes of "Fat Guys in the Woods"!!! I have never seen that show or do I want to. I felt like canceling right then!


----------



## john262

> Last night I wanted to watch the Weather Channel because of all the storms we've had lately. When I pulled up the guide it was showing back to back episodes of "Fat Guys in the Woods"!!! I have never seen that show or do I want to. I felt like canceling right then!


I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can get Weather Nation on OTA. I think it's also on Roku but on OTA I won't need to use bandwidth to watch it.


----------



## coolman302003

john262 said:


> So I took the dish off my roof and got a Winegard Freevision antenna from Home Depot. It cost $38 dollars and I also bought a splitter for $9. I can see the transmitter towers from my house so I knew just where to point the antenna. I was able to mount the antenna on the same post that the sat dish was on and I was able to use the same cable that had run from the dish into my house Actually it was four cables but by trial and error I was able to find the one to use. Then I replaced the splitter that the sat installer has used with the splitter I bought. Then I connected the cables in my house that has been connected to my Directv receivers directly to my TV sets. And what do you know it worked.


Curious, did you ground the off air antenna properly? I couldn't tell from your picture.


----------



## AntAltMike

coolman302003 said:


> Curious, did you ground the off air antenna properly? I couldn't tell from your picture.


The National Electrical Code has the same requirements for the grounding of off-air antenna masts and downleads as it does for satellite reception antenna system masts and downleads, so if he just mounted the antenna on a properly grounded antenna mast, that mast grounding requirement has been met. Many people are surprised to learn that antennas don't have to be grounded, just their masts, and in fact it is difficult or impossible to ground antennas because with many models, grounding the antenna would severely weaken its signal, and of course, the "antenna" in a satellite dish reception antenna system is actually the little, 1/2" wide probe in the feed horn . :eek2:

However, when one reuses satellite downleads as off-air downleads, quite often, the multiswitch or DPP unit or SWM unit had used to satisfy the downlead grounding requirement. so when that unit is removed, downlead grounding must be maintained at that point or installed elsewhere. It is usually enough to make sure that the ground wire that had been connected to a properly installed satellite switch gets used to ground the splitter that replaces it.


----------



## john262

coolman302003 said:


> Curious, did you ground the off air antenna properly? I couldn't tell from your picture.


I also used a grounded splitter.


----------



## KyL416

You might want to keep both MeTV affiliates in your favorites. Some of them pre-empt MeTV programming for local programming like high school sports, extra newscasts and infomercials, so it would be good to have a backup if there's something you want to watch on MeTV but one of them is airing other programming.


----------



## SayWhat?

The one thing you'll most likely miss is any DVR functions.

But there are a number of ways to remedy that too.


----------



## john262

SayWhat? said:


> The one thing you'll most likely miss is any DVR functions.
> 
> But there are a number of ways to remedy that too.


I'm looking at this.

http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm

I could pay for it with about two months of satellite bills that I no longer pay.


----------



## SayWhat?

You can do it with a PC and tuner card/dongle too.


----------



## jimmie57

john262 said:


> I'm looking at this.
> 
> http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm
> 
> I could pay for it with about two months of satellite bills that I no longer pay.


I have looked at those and it appears to be a good alternative.
All of it depends on how good of a signal you can get with your antenna. 2 of the stations here chose the VHF format and they are weak compared to the UHF channels. I am 35 miles from the antennas and get 41 ? channels / sub channels here but I can not get CBS using an indoor antenna. I just barely get ABC, the other one that uses VHF.


----------



## PCampbell

If you are not into live sports OTA is a great way to go. Most have forgot how they watched TV when they were young or are to young to know about OTA.


----------



## damondlt

PCampbell said:


> If you are not into live sports OTA is a great way to go. Most have forgot how they watched TV when they were young or are to young to know about OTA.


CBS, NBC ABC, Fox, My ,and CW all have Live sports.
No shortage of NFL football.


----------



## SayWhat?

That was one problem with weekends with our local channels that caused me to turn the TV off.

The main channel was major/national leagues, the .1 channel was college and the .2 channel was high school or some other kiddie ball version.

No real programming to watch.


----------



## john262

jimmie57 said:


> I have looked at those and it appears to be a good alternative.
> All of it depends on how good of a signal you can get with your antenna. 2 of the stations here chose the VHF format and they are weak compared to the UHF channels. I am 35 miles from the antennas and get 41 ? channels / sub channels here but I can not get CBS using an indoor antenna. I just barely get ABC, the other one that uses VHF.


Is your antenna designed to pick up both UHF and VHF signals? Not all antennas are. Where I live according to TVFool two of the stations are VHF on channels 8 and 12. I can pick them up fine but as I said before I am very close to the transmitter location.


----------



## john262

damondlt said:


> CBS, NBC ABC, Fox, My ,and CW all have Live sports.
> No shortage of NFL football.


That used to be the way everybody got televised sports before cable and satellite came along. And as you said even now there is plenty of sports OTA on weekends. And another possibility is signing up for the Sling TV streaming service which carries both ESPN and ESPN2 in their basic $20 package and you can add several other sports channels for $5 more, plus they carry TNT for NBA basketball.


----------



## jimmie57

john262 said:


> Is your antenna designed to pick up both UHF and VHF signals? Not all antennas are. Where I live according to TVFool two of the stations are VHF on channels 8 and 12. I can pick them up fine but as I said before I am very close to the transmitter location.


It says it is but it does not work. I actually have a cheap set of rabbit ears with a loop and knob for adjusting that does better than the powered one that I bought.


----------



## Tom Robertson

damondlt said:


> CBS, NBC ABC, Fox, My ,and CW all have Live sports.
> No shortage of NFL football.


Might kinda depend on ones point of view. If your team isn't shown locally, one still wants NFL Sunday Ticket and ESPN. 

Peace,
Tom


----------



## john262

jimmie57 said:


> It says it is but it does not work. I actually have a cheap set of rabbit ears with a loop and knob for adjusting that does better than the powered one that I bought.


You might need to put up an outdoor antenna. I think that trying to get channels transmitting from 35 miles way is pretty iffy with an indoor antenna. I'm surprised actually that you can actually get 41 channels.


----------



## Mark Holtz

I need to find someone in Sacramento to install an antenna. I need VHF-High as well as UHF.


----------



## john262

Tom Robertson said:


> Might kinda depend on ones point of view. If your team isn't shown locally, one still wants NFL Sunday Ticket and ESPN.
> 
> Peace,
> Tom


Yes it doesn't work for everybody. It's just one more alternative. In my case I am a 49rers fan and they are considered a local team for this area so I will get to see many of their games. But yes I'll miss out on the games carried on ESPN and NFL Network.


----------



## Tom Robertson

john262 said:


> Yes it doesn't work for everybody. It's just one more alternative. In my case I am a 49rers fan and they are considered a local team for this area so I will get to see many of their games. But yes I'll miss out on the games carried on ESPN and NFL Network.


If you are truly local, there will be a local station carrying all the games that are cable only. If you are in the general region but not able to get the San Francisco (or San Jose?) channels, yeah, you miss them.

Would it be inappropriate to wish you get to see all of their games on local TV (thereby meaning they aren't doing well enough to be on late night?) 

I kid, may they do very well, up until they lose to the Packers in the playoffs. 

Peace,
Tom


----------



## john262

Mark Holtz said:


> I need to find someone in Sacramento to install an antenna. I need VHF-High as well as UHF.


You might want to try Homeadviser.com or Craig's List.


----------



## bidger

john262 said:


> You might want to try Homeadviser.com or Craig's List.


I just went to a local Mom & Pop Hardware store and told a clerk I was looking for someone to install an outdoor antenna and left my contact info. Good install, reasonable price.


----------



## john262

Just an update on how this is working for me. We had a severe thunderstorm last night and during the storm I lost two channels for a while. They were pixelating so much that they were unwatchable. But within 20 minutes they were back. I guess no system is perfect. i would have weather related outages when I had Directv sometimes too.


----------



## SayWhat?

^^ The difference is that you'll only have them for weather in your area, not for weather at the distant uplink site.


----------



## Tom Robertson

SayWhat? said:


> ^^ The difference is that you'll only have them for weather in your area, not for weather at the distant uplink site.


The nice thing about 9m dishes--they are so big they don't really have weather related issues. And they can use more power. And they are frequencies less prone to rain fade. 

Now, you can have weather related issues that are not in your region, so won't affect your OTA reception, but being in the path between you and the satellite orbit, can be a problem.

Peace,
Tom


----------



## RBA

> The nice thing about 9m dishes--they are so big they don't really have weather related issues. And they can use more power. And they are frequencies less prone to rain fade.
> 
> Now, you can have weather related issues that are not in your region, so won't affect your OTA reception, but being in the path between you and the satellite orbit, can be a problem.
> 
> Peace,
> Tom


This forum is about LOCAL CHANNEL RECEPTION with a TV antenna how did satellite dishes become pertinent?


----------



## Tom Robertson

RBA said:


> This forum is about LOCAL CHANNEL RECEPTION with a TV antenna how did satellite dishes become pertinent?


It started with the thread title and morphed into a natural comparison of dishes with local channel reception.

Peace,
Tom


----------



## damondlt

Tom Robertson said:


> Might kinda depend on ones point of view. If your team isn't shown locally, one still wants NFL Sunday Ticket and ESPN.
> 
> Peace,
> Tom


Then they shouldn't be looking in this thread.
They should stick with their directv services.

But ones in this thread don't have a desire to spend $150 per month, let alone paying $300 for NFL Sunday Ticket. 
Which has the least value to me more than its ever had since NFL ST first launched.
Less games and more Nitch game day and score features does nothing to sell me on it.

But I'm not getting into that, because this is essentially a cord cutter thread.
Obviously others feel the same as me in that aspect.


----------



## john262

RBA said:


> This forum is about LOCAL CHANNEL RECEPTION with a TV antenna how did satellite dishes become pertinent?


I think it's because when I discussed a reception problem I had with my OTA antenna I mentioned in passing that I also used to have occasional weather related outages with Directv too. I think that is relevant to the discussion. I just wanted to make it clear that just because I had a brief reception problem with my antenna that doesn't mean it was a bad decision to put one up because all systems, whether they be satellite, cable or OTA can have an occasional outage.


----------



## scooper

I use both OTA and Dish, depending on what I'm watching. Often use OTA when there is a weather related Dish outage.The only OTA channels I have problems with are the local PBS stations. Dish is nice to have for them.


----------



## billsharpe

There was an OTA antenna on my house when I bought it 44 years ago. I am still using that antenna on both of my HDTV sets. The only change I made was substituting a coax lead for the twin-lead wiring. I still have FiOS TV, phone, and Internet but I can get over 100 OTA stations using this antenna.

I also have an Apple TV (free using ThankYou points) and Amazon Fire Stick ($20 for early buyers). I subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Eventually I will drop FiOS TV.


----------

