outside tv antenna?

[porthos]

getting very tired of cable bills. anyone use any antenna type device for tv reception; and what quality of picture and #of stations?

[oneofsix]

You can check here to see what's available in your area- https://antennaweb.org/

We use an antenna for our bedroom TV, rarely watch it these days but pick up 8-10 channels. BTW, we didn't buy an antenna, just using the old one left on the house when we bought it.

[Finster101]

I use an antenna and get about 16 stations in my area. With digital you will find many stations will have subs on their carrier ch20, 20-2, 20-3 and so on. The picture is either good, pixelates or just drops out. No fuzz with digital. I put as big an antenna as I could fit and aim in my attic so as to not have to mess with it in hurricane or high wind situations. Mounted outside I could probably pull in more stations than I do.

[MyFlatline]

The wife bought an antenna recently after we kicked cable to the curb. Can't get anything. That being said, we didn't get much before with UHF, maybe 3 channels. Is there something out there better ? T/V or Reception ..

[Smoke4320]

As oneofsix pointed out check antenna.org first. If you are down in a hole/ behind a mountain ie blocked by some obstruction reception distance will be severely limited.
Pay no attention to antennas that state 75/100 miles they lie like car insurance ads
Look at customer reviews closely bigger antenna is not always the answer
I purchased 2 different antennas from 2 different mfgers 2 different styles. 1 for the house and one for the store
Both look like a figure 8 and pull stations 55 miles away

[Dieselhorses]

Digital antenna's have come a long way and depending on your location you pick up as many as 100 stations! For around 60-80.00 on Amazon you can land you a rotating (by remote) antenna that will reach out to 160 miles (once again it depends on your location). The antenna I use in one of the bedrooms costs 8.88 from Wally World and receives 21 stations! Thing is, you only pay for antenna one time!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

On top of my tall house, I have a large VHF antenna that is 20+ years old, I added a separate Large UHF antenna in 2004, before the digital switch over. I wired them together, although it was suggested to NOT do that, and I use a signal Amp. I am 90 miles from the main TV transmission towers for the Minneapolis area. I get all the local channels...about 40 or 50 of them.

[hc18flyer]

I am about 80 miles from Omaha which has the most stations. We have never had cable, have a large antenna on a 25' tower and a signal amp. We get about 30 stations, a few are duplicates. I used to have a rotor to get stations from other cities, I chose not to mess with it when I replaced the antenna. If may be a good option for you? I plan on looking into the Netflix type options, satisfied for now. hc18flyer

[Tripplebeards]

I've tried the old clothes hanger looking roof antennas. A cheap indoor $25 RCA antenna dose better. I get 17 channels in a 70 mile radius and bought a $39 fire stick. I get so many free movies and channels with the stick it's unreal. There are a lot of free apps that give you movie axis. I also I get Netflix and Amazon prime. You need Internet for the fire stick which you obviously have.

[Jedman]

I have a antenna mounted on my house. It has a rotor that no longer works but it would only get me a few more PBS stations and some are the same as others so I don't fix it.
I get approx. 21 channels.
Where I live there is no cable so I tried a dish for a couple years but got tired of the constant rate hikes that were not suppose to happen and I would spend 1-2 hours on the phone to get the bill fixed then it would happen again in a couple months.
Finally I told them to keep it and have been using the basic antenna for several years now.

Jedman

[Outpost75]

I have a "deep fringe" log-periodic UHF and microwave yagi antenna a roof tripod and mast with Channel Master rotator and receive stations from 5 states. https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=cm-3020

[Beagle333]

I got a little digital antenna from WalMart that looks sorta like a sharks fin, and I have taped on the top of my extension ladder raised just over the roof line (about 12' up) and it gets me about 21-24 stations to my TV that's out on the porch. All the major networks and a bunch of small ones. I think it was less than $35 bucks.

[WarEagleEd]

We are looking at ditching DirecTV at some point in 2019 and plan on using an HDTV antenna for over-the-air channels and subscribing to a streaming service (e.g. Playstation VUE or Hulu Live TV). I plan on getting a directional antenna (something like this) and mounting it in the attic. You can use the TV Signal Locator at TV Fool to find your azimuth for pointing the antenna.

The nice thing about a directional antenna is that it can "see" further in one direction than an omni-directional antenna (e.g. a CB whip antenna). Bad thing is that it can't "see" all around it. It's like a flashlight beam compared to a table lamp.

[JBinMN]

We have an old antenna that we got from some friends who were having their roof redone and had decided to go to a dish. Had it about 21 years. We get about 20-25 channels from what the missus says.
I have not watched TV for a long time. Like 20 years, or so. Other than when she might say, "Look at this." about something on the TV that she thought I would find funny or something.

TV does not interest me much.

We live down in kind of a "hole" for TV reception & those ones that are inside do not work well here, so I have the one up on the roof for the missus. That is about all she gets and she seems happy with what she gets to see.

It works and it is free... So it will stay for a while, I reckon. Keeps her happy anyway.


G'Luck with your decision!

[Winger Ed.]

Hard to say without knowing more of your situation as far as altitude, and how far away are the broadcasters.
I'd get a cheap one and just try it. Get it up as high as you can.
There's a few youtube videos of guys making them and putting them in their attic.
If you get a few stations, a higher, bigger fancier one should get a few more.

[razorfish]

As others have said, the effectiveness of antennas depend on where you live and your elevation but in general, you’ll get your best results with a large directional antenna (yagi)

Here’s a link to a fifty dollar antenna that’s worked well for me. Xtreme Signal Long Range Yagi Style VHF/UHF HDTV Antenna (HDB91X) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CX700EY..._dWmjCbMC567ZV


Note, this antenna is big, about seven feet long. I’m a bit biased as my company installs these antennas but we’ve had good results with this particular model.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hickory]

Checkout Amazon's Firestick.
My friend has it, he says you can get TV stations off your Wi-fi at no charge.

[bob208]

we have one of the figure 8 ones it could be mounted out side. but we have it mounted on a stand about 4' high. it is setting in a window if we have trouble getting a channel in just turn the stand a little. we kicked cable out 8 years ago. don't miss it one bit.

we get about 16 channels. the ones we watch the most are the pbs stations.

[DukeSoprano]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I get 41 Channels, some are >60 miles away

[HATCH]

May I suggest something else.

Purchase a Roku -> https://www.amazon.com/Roku-Express-.../dp/B075XN1NZC

Right now its $25 from amazon

You can get YouTube TV for $40 a month. It has locals.
Or if you can live without locals you can get Philo TV for $16 a month. Has 57 channels.
Or Hulu for $40 a month and you have access to live TV and their movies

Keep in mind this is all streaming via your internet.

I pay $124 a month for 100 meg internet, home phone, and the "select" spectrum cable package.
I do not have ANY cable boxes. I use roku devices on all my TVs.
I do not have DVR service which kinda sucks but considering I was paying $190 a month before I will take that savings.