For those in Boston: what antenna are you using for over the air TV?

[Ron Bello]

First try a 10-14 inch piece of wire inserted into the middle of the
antenna connector on the rear of the TV
Southie might be close enough for it to work
I am able to get most stations in West Palm Beach, FL 10-12 miles from the
towers with this method

Worth a try as cost is almost zero

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On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 7:58 PM, <map92map@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Sean,
>
> Before you spend $50-$80, Here's a simple, tried & true and very
> inexpensive
> suggestion:
> Being reasonably close to the tv towers, you may be pleasantly surprised by
> trying an old fashioned pair of "rabbit ears" extended about 10-14" on each
> side and positioned up about 45 degrees. I've tried many antennas for local
> reception like this, and the $2-$5 rabbit ears win out for Non-Directional
> reception of the maximum amount of stations within line of sight (usually
> 15
> miles on flat terrain).
>
> Depending on which way Mom's apartment faces, reception will come direct or
> by reflection, but will be subject to some near field reflections--but
> that's not nearly as much of problem with ATSC as it was with analog, and
> these simple antennas should work well in this case.
>
> Out here, between Springfield & Hartford, With rabbit ears, I get all the
> Springfield stations (10-15 miles) via reflection when adjusted for max
> reception of all the Hartford stations (20-30 miles away, but still LOS to
> my location). Using (any) much more expensive directional antenna , I might
> pick up an additional station or 2 that is 60/70 miles away, BUT, I always
> lose some of the local stations that would all get to me using the rabbit
> ears.
>
> Last year, we traveled with a camper out to the Southwest and back using an
> LG TV and mostly, rabbit ears. When we were within 20 miles of larger
> cities, it was not uncommon to get 20-50 stations. Outside Los Angeles, I
> got 158 stations (with rabbit ears), while parked at my son's house.
>
> How many TV's does mom have? If she has 2 tv's the investment is around $10
> for 2 rabbit ears (with F connectors--check details) shipped to her door
> from ebay, amazon, or maybe even walmart.com. And, Walmart should have
> these
> on the shelf for $5-$10 each.
>
> In the recent past a few of the Dollar Stores had these. For a Dollar
> (grin)!!
>
> Terk makes some good quality antennas and the HDTVa/az should work well,
> but
> it is directional, and given the close-in location, I'd be greatly
> surprised
> if it works any better than the rabbit ears.
>
> Another question is: what brand of TV does mom have? There is a wide
> variation on the tuner quality of different brands. LG has consistently had
> the best tuner in the models I've tested and/or owned. Most Panasonic,
> Vizio, JVC, Toshiba & Sony are also very good . Samsung OK. But, Some of
> the
> cheapo brands are not good in the tuner dept.
>
> Oh...
> repack no problem, just do a channel rescan if mom loses a channel
> subchannels (mostly) no problem
> channels transmitting from locations Other Than the towers near RT 128 in
> Needham/Newton area and/or downtown/Pru, etc may be a problem.
> channels transmitting with very low power may be a problem.
>
> Mark Casey
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Sean Smyth
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2018 8:08 AM
> To: Boston Radio Group
> Subject: For those in Boston: what antenna are you using for over the air
> TV?
>
>
> Hi broadcasting friends:
>
> My mom might soon drop cable and go strictly with OTA. She lives in an
> apartment building in South Boston. I see good reviews of several antennas
> on Amazon, but I’d like to hear from folks in the city who pull in OTA
> signals. Would a decent antenna pick up all the in-market network
> affiliates and their subchannels, or would I need a range extender? I know
> repack is ongoing, but haven’t been following super closely. She’s on the
> side of the building, not directly facing the street. Any signal would need
> to fight its way through a wall or two (an older brick wall at that).
>
> I trust you all more than any Amazon review. Thanks in advance for any
> help.
> --
> Sent from my iPhone
>