TV Antennas

[treacheroustexan]

Weird topic.. but long story short, I don't pay for cable. I use hulu and netflix, but in my apartment, I can just hook up the coaxial cable to my tv and pick up local channels. Here in Cleveland, on my old Samsung tv I was able to get channel 30 with a little fuzziness, but they broadcast all of the Cavs games so I don't mind. My girlfriends parents got us a new Haier TV for Christmas, and we moved the old tv into the bedroom and now when I go to channel 30 (fox sports ohio) on the new TV to watch the Cavs it's nothing but fuzzy. I went into the bedroom and turned on 30 and it comes in just fine. Why won't it come in on my new tv, and is there anything I can do to help? I'd rather watch Cavs games on my bigger tv if possible.

 

[Zuljin]

Sounds like the coax is acting like an antenna. I've had it work like that before. I don't know why it doesn't work the same with all TVs. Try an over the air antenna. A new digital TV shouldn't need a converter, but old analog TVs do.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Sounds like the coax is acting like an antenna. I've had it work like that before. I don't know why it doesn't work the same with all TVs. Try an over the air antenna. A new digital TV shouldn't need a converter, but old analog TVs do.

I was thinking about going and buying an antenna to give it a shot. Guess I left that out of my original post. haha. Yeah, it's just weird how all 3 of my tv's pick up different channels.

 

[RobbieSkull]

Look into fractal antennas. You may be able to make one fairly cheaply. I made one as a temporary antenna until I could look into the best antenna for my needs in the area. Turns out it works pretty well at getting hd broadcasting. Clearer than the local channels my cable was providing.

 

[pers]

I was thinking about going and buying an antenna to give it a shot. Guess I left that out of my original post. haha. Yeah, it's just weird how all 3 of my tv's pick up different channels.

It is possible your other TVs have QAM tuners in them and you were actually pulling the free signals from your local cable company and not from OTA. QAM tuners are quite rare these days in anything but top end TVs.

Your new TV probably only has an ATSC tuner in it and that would require you to use some type of antenna to get the free OTA stations.

 

[flars]

The TVs may be using the electrical wiring in the walls as signal boosters. I have a small TV in the garage. Rabbit ear antenna with a powered signal booster. All the wiring going into the attic space is behind the antenna. I can pick up ABC, CBS, Fox, and PBS 35 miles to the southeast, and NBC 60 miles to the west without adjusting the rabbit ears.

edit: The antenna in a different location could not bring in NBC reliably and would need to adjust the rabbit ears for the other stations.

 

[Jayzon]

Sounds like the coax is acting like an antenna. I've had it work like that before. I don't know why it doesn't work the same with all TVs. Try an over the air antenna. A new digital TV shouldn't need a converter, but old analog TVs do.

^ This. I had an old TV use the coaxial cable as an antenna before. Some TVs work, others don't. I currently use this. Amazon has a really good return policy if it doesn't work out.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

If you're into DIY, you might find these useful:
http://www.diytvantennas.com/index.php
or
http://www.tvantennaplans.com/
or
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Regards, GF.

 

[Phildo253]

I dropped cable about 6 months ago, and not looking to go back anytime soon. I am about 45 miles from the broadcast antennas in Seattle, so I had to go with a rooftop outside HD antenna. Because you are in the city, you should be able to use a cheaper indoor HD antenna and get quite a few more channels than you are getting now. I am currently getting about 70 OTA channels on 2 different tvs. Another thing that I found was that I had to get an inline booster because the coax from the antenna to my house was so long (60ft). That really cleaned up my signal. I do still get some pixelation on foggy/rainy days (quite a few up here in the pnw), but with the OTA and neyflix, hulu plus and amazon prime on the roku, I am not missing cable one bit. And my wallet really liked the lower entertainment costs.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I dropped cable about 6 months ago, and not looking to go back anytime soon. I am about 45 miles from the broadcast antennas in Seattle, so I had to go with a rooftop outside HD antenna. Because you are in the city, you should be able to use a cheaper indoor HD antenna and get quite a few more channels than you are getting now. I am currently getting about 70 OTA channels on 2 different tvs. Another thing that I found was that I had to get an inline booster because the coax from the antenna to my house was so long (60ft). That really cleaned up my signal. I do still get some pixelation on foggy/rainy days (quite a few up here in the pnw), but with the OTA and neyflix, hulu plus and amazon prime on the roku, I am not missing cable one bit. And my wallet really liked the lower entertainment costs.

Yep, I'm about 50 miles from the broadcast station. I have a cheapo antenna right now, on the roof, but there are a few channels that won't come in, so I need to get a better directional antenna instead.