Is it YOUR turn to cut the cord?
I think we’ve all heard the term “cut the cord” which refers to firing the cable company and watching TV “the old fashioned way”.
It’s been a growing trend. In 2020, 25.3 million US households cut their cable cords and started enjoying “FREE TV” the way we used to before cable TV came thundering over the horizon.
Those Were the Days
Back when I was growing up, we had an outdoor antenna on our house…and so did everyone else. Our viewing choices were limited to the small number of network affiliated stations that were available in the area. Many American cities in those days only had FOUR channels! But we were happy with our choices. The prospect of receiving anything outside of our regional area was unfathomable.
Over the air signals back then were analog, not digital the way they are today. The downside to that was occasional sketchy reception. If the station was fifty miles or more away, it might’ve meant a “snowy” picture. Other times there might’ve been horizontal “lines” across the screen which were often constantly moving, either up or down. In major cities like New York, “ghosting” was a problem. The TV transmitter signal would bounce around and reflect off large buildings, causing a doubled, or blurred image.
Ahhhh, Cable TV!!
When cable was first invented, it still only provided local channels, but the selling point was “clear”, snow and double-image free reception. Amazing! It was maybe a maximum of 12 channels, but meant the end of endless antenna adjustments. Especially for those with “rabbit ears” on top of their TV!
Eventually rooftop antennas were dismantled, and cable lines started stringing their way through cities and towns both large and small. Technology was advancing, and the choice of more channels soon became an option. I think we all know what happened after satellite receivers became the predominate way for cable companies to receive programming. This is how popular services such as of A&E, ESPN and HBO were born!
The Age of Greed
As the variety of programming with cable grew, everyone involved got money hungry. The cost of having cable continues to go up, partly due to programming suppliers who keep raising THEIR prices, which in turn is passed on to the customer. This is also true for popular streaming services as well.
Want to Save Money???
If your goal right now is to save money, you need to cut the cord from cable and satellite, and get your TV fix strictly via over the air broadcasts!
But if, if you’re not a baby-boomer and have no previous reference point as to where to begin the process, keep reading!
Your Local Channels 101
To cut the cord successfully, you must first find out (if you don’t already know) what the local channels are in your area.
The following websites can help with that. Go to “ Antenna Web” and enter your zip code. This site is “okay”, and pretty accurate, but tends to not list ALL the available channels. Another one that’s pretty good, is “ GoMohu”. Again, just enter your zip code or street address. The listings there are fairly complete, but it tends to include stations that are up to sixty miles away, which for many situations is too far for the average antenna to pick up…unless the signals can reach you via flat, open terrain. Put an obstruction or two in there, like a mountain range and it’s “no-way-Jose”!!
The gold standard for finding local channels is “ TV Fool”.
It’s been preferred by professionals for many years. The issue now though, is that it hasn’t been updated in at least two years and is seriously out of date! It can still be somewhat helpful, but many TV markets have seen a lot of changes and the site info has remained the same.
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The site I actually prefer is “RabbitEars”. It’s constantly updated and is geared toward professional use. You can do a channel search based on your (location) coordinates and get fairly accurate results, as to how strong or weak your available channels are. You can also click on each station separately to get detailed info, and it even lists which “sub-channels” are available alongside the main channel. Recommended!
“RF” and Display Channel? What’s that?
No doubt you’ll notice on most channel search sites, that within the station description info, you might see something like; “WXYZ” — Ch 7, RF-25. On RabbitEars they’ll be listed as “display channel” and “physical channel” respectively. Sometimes, it’ll be the SAME channel location under both headings.
The reason for this is simple. When the FCC adopted digital TV (DTV) back in 2009, every television station in North America had to eventually convert their signal from analog to digital. For most stations, the conversion meant their signal had to vacate the current channel they were on, and move to a different frequency. Even after moving however, when you scan channels on your TV, they still appear on the channel you’ve always known them as.
At the same time, the UHF band, (channels 14–83) was being cut in half, with many of the frequencies being allocated for cellular use. This resulted in “high” channel numbers — 56 for example, being moved DOWN to a lower channel — 32 for example. So right now, the UHF band consists of channels 14–36. This is why for ANY station, you won’t see an “RF” number higher than 36. “RF” means “real frequency”. In an attempt to keep it simple for TV viewers, stations were allowed to keep their ORIGINAL channel for IDENTIFICATION purposes only!
Choosing An Antenna Can Be Fun
For someone who enjoys browsing through antennas, this can be a fun task. But, like shopping for anything electronic, it can be overwhelming and challenging.
Pay close attention to the previous heading! If your research determines there are only UHF stations in the area, there’s no reason to buy a VHF/UHF antenna. And again, pay attention to whether there are any VHF (2 -13) stations nearby, and the channel (or RF channel) they broadcast on.
Whether an antenna is placed indoors, (or in an attic) might determine the size you’re looking for. If its placement is near the TV (like old fashioned rabbit ears) and you’re less than twenty miles from most of the area’s TV towers, a “flat panel” unit might be good enough. There are plenty of small antennas that’ll work just as well inside or out.
If the ultimate in reception in is your grasp, and you can place an antenna on your roof…the sky is the limit!
Don’t Be Fooled!
When shopping antennas, be careful of the way merchants might try to scam you!
“HD” Antenna
Now hear this!!! There is no such thing as an HD antenna! ALL antennas, even if they’re thirty years old can receive HD signals. So don’t believe the “HD hype”!
Mileage Claims
You won’t know if antenna mileage claims are correct until it’s too late. But just so you’re prepared. There are units that claim to receive signals from hundreds of miles away! This is obvious nonsense. The curvature of the Earth can only permit “line of sight” reception to be close to one hundred miles. In most cases, sixty or seventy miles will be the maximum distance. Choosing a sixty mile antenna will get you everything there is to get. Except for “ e-skip” reception under certain conditions, you won’t ever see anything further than the max limit.
In The End
You too can cut the cord and join the revolution. Just do your research, and shop wisely!
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
