TV Antenna

   / TV Antenna #21  
I got rid of a dish too. When I first moved here in 1989 there was an old 8' dish. Just about everything was scrambled but I had a descrambler and was paying about $50 a month for service. The second month I was here an electrical storm took out the Descrambler. Then there was the ice storm that made the dish impossible to turn. Then the descramble went out again.

I gave the whole mess away and put up an antenna. The stations I get are 90 miles away but I get good reception most of the time.
 
   / TV Antenna #22  
wow ... $50 a month for service on a BUD? You must've had every channel possible to subscribe to. I've got a 10 footer and we wouldn't be without it.Not sure why I still subscribe to Starz and HBO ... probably hopuing that someday I'll find time to watch a movie ... but with all the stuff we want, plus the aforementioned movie channels, I pay less than $300/year. If I got rid of the movie channels it would be less than $100 a year.
No intention of changing ... although I hope to finally get my tower up this month and finally get around to installing the 4DTV receiver that's been sitting in the garage for 5 months ...
Local channels are cruddy here ... most from Flint and couldn't be any more mickey-mouse. IO'd say that likely 75% of the time the TV's on, it's Home & Garden.
 
   / TV Antenna #23  
Wingnut, do you have one of those big dishes? I put up a 12' Paraclipse in 1984. Spent about $2,000 on it, doing it myself with a STS receiver, actuator, etc. I had trouble with the unit after a few years, and then my information was that basically everything was scrambled.

I really had a blast with it when I had it, but left at the house I sold. I now have a DSS satellite, which costs a lot and is not near as much fun. Easier to stay tuned to the satellite however, since its digital.

I have about a 9-foot long Radio Shack TV antenna about 20' in the air or so. It works OK for the Dallas stations 45-50 miles away. I can't get local channels on the satellite because of the communist conspiracy.
 
   / TV Antenna #24  
It might have been 30 and seemed like 50. Yes, had just about everything you could get. I've been much happier since I gave it away. I doubt I would take a dish if you gave me one today. Not that they are bad or anything like that. I am just not interested enough in television to pay for it and my kids are grown and gone. I get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS on my antenna. That is plenty for me and my wife.

If I really want to see a movie, I wait for it to go VHS and rent it.
 
   / TV Antenna #26  
one thing about reception of tv on antenna, what one thinks is good reception, other thinks is terrible. TV reception is set up in bands or zones around the transmitter. Zone one is within 50 miles of tower, good reception, next zones is out to 75 miles, poorer then zone one. From zone two and out, everything must be done correctly to recieve the signal. A rotor helps with poor signal strenght in that you can point the anteena to take advantage of signals bouncing off objects that surround your reception area. Good reception in zones beyound zone one is more art then science.

Dan L
 
   / TV Antenna #27  
Alan,

yeah ... I have one of those BUDs (big ugly dish). I've had them since the mid-80's .... got into it just when everything started going dark (scrambled). It was the only choice back then, and I think it still is. With BUD, I buy a-la-carte. In other words, I pay for just the channels I want .... and I am adamant about not supporting sports. No sports programs allowed on MY dish ... hahaha.
I've looked at DSS on and off over the years, but I have the same problem as I do with cable. They dictate what you can see (see above for Sports phobia) and they have you as a captive audience so everytime the management needs new Rolls-Royces ... up go the prices.
Back in the boonies in Alberta, I had a lot more time available and used to "use" the dish. I had C-Band and added Ku band so I could have fun "searching the skies". Used to watch the stuff straight from the cameras before the network chose the soundbites they'd put on the news. Got to see a lot more of the stuff like Waco, the Gulf War and other "news" than most did.
Don't have time for that now .... wife is always upset that I won't sit and watch the box with her. As I mentioned, I bought the 4DTV box to add digital capability to my setup .... but haven't bothered to install it yet (also have a DVD/VCR deck to replace the current VCR .... and that's been sitting in the garage for 4 months).
I currently have a deep fringe antenna on the roof on a 5 foot extension with a rotator .... but I've been unhappy with it since day one ... so this winter, I stripped an old 30 foot tower, repainted it .... and I just need to dig a hole, mix some concrete and install it .... as soon as I can buy some TIME. I want to get it up so that I can FINALLY install the weather station (yeah, it's been sitting in its box for at least 6 months) and get more accurate readings. Of course ... right now there's no rain to measure anyway ...
As you've gathered, most of the TV equipment is there for my wife ... who's happily retired. I just like playing with electronics .... /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
 
   / TV Antenna #28  
Wingnut, What service are you using for your C-band reception? I was paying about $100/yr (no movies) and they went up to $156 this year.
 
   / TV Antenna #29  
I'm using NPS (National Programming Service) and mine went up about 5% ... although I argued them out of a couple.
I think the problem is that fewer and fewer of us are still using BUD and the programmers need to recover their expenses from somewhere. But we're unlikely to go dark for quite sometime yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
 

Footer Links 1

Top