Rural TV reception

farmfun · Dec 25, 2011

Here are a few tools that may help you locate local stations and antenna equipment.

Address

The Digital TV Transition: Reception Maps

An Ultimate TV Antenna Selector for US/Canadian States and Cities

Pete Judd · Dec 25, 2011

I have had the largest antenna I could buy on a tower with rotor as well, but when everything went digital, soon found that I could only get fox news, and a bunch of bible channels, and YES I have a digital ready TV.

No cable on our side of the valley, and the cost for the sat is just to high, but I have been able to get DSL, and now we watch over it. An older computer with a very upgraded vid card, HDMI straight to the big screen.

I set up a friends Android phone to act as a gateway between the 3G and his in home wireless, as he can get 3G at the home, but no cable or DSL. Unlimited 3G still costs him as much as the Sat. company, but has up and download and keeps him networked.

sherpa · Dec 25, 2011

As I stated, I have a new digital TV, the 3 educational channels are digital.
The antenna is fairly new and about 12 feet long mounted high above the roof.
I live in a mountain valley at 1800 feet with hills on both sides.
There is no cell service around here either.
Satellite may be our only option for TV?
sherpa

MikeInEburg · Dec 25, 2011

sherpa said:
As I stated, I have a new digital TV, the 3 educational channels are digital.
The antenna is fairly new and about 12 feet long mounted high above the roof.
I live in a mountain valley at 1800 feet with hills on both sides.
There is no cell service around here either.
Satellite may be our only option for TV?
sherpa

Unless you can move the antenna to the top of the "hills on both sides", you're destined for satellite. There are some free satellite services - look up "free to air". Otherwise, give DirecTV a call and be happy.
Mike

Larry Caldwell · Dec 25, 2011

sherpa said:
As I stated, I have a new digital TV, the 3 educational channels are digital.
The antenna is fairly new and about 12 feet long mounted high above the roof.
I live in a mountain valley at 1800 feet with hills on both sides.
There is no cell service around here either.
Satellite may be our only option for TV?
sherpa

UHF is pretty much line of sight, and thanks to the curvature of the Earth, 60 miles is about the limit even if the terrain is dead flat. VHF is slightly more forgiving, but even there 100 miles is about the limit. I once lived at Eola Crest in Oregon, and with Radio Shack's best antenna, mast mount amp and a rotator I could pick up VHF signals from Olympia to Medford, but that was from the top of the highest hill around. I also got an amazing number of FM stations. There are still a few digital stations broadcasting VHF, but half the VHF band was reassigned to emergency communication.

Where I live now is very similar to you. Not only do we not get television, we only get 3 radio stations and no cell service. The satellite is great, and Dish includes both Sirius radio and a bunch of CD channels. I have DSL, but it's too slow to stream video. Satellite is worth the money.

dmccarty · Dec 25, 2011

We subscribed to Amazon Prime and Netflicks a month or so back so we can stream to our TV. It has worked far better than I expected. We are at the end of the phone line and just at the limits of DSL service. We only get 1.5 MB and it can be problematic. Having said that the streaming is working and we have watched mostly streaming video instead of Directv.

I think we will pull the plug on Directv soon. My only concern at this point is the amount of content on Prime and Netflicks. We have been watching several different series but we have not figured out what we will do when we have watched the entire content. In the case of Cheers with a decade of shows it will take awhile I suppose.

If you have DSL, streaming could be a solution. We do not watch ANY network TV. We do watch PBS from time to time and for them we might have to put up an antennae.

Later,
Dan

creekbend · Dec 25, 2011

We rely on Direct TV because we live quite a distance from any TV towers. When severe weather occurs, we do lose our signal at times.

JD 4520 · Dec 25, 2011

sherpa said:
As I stated, I have a new digital TV, the 3 educational channels are digital.
The antenna is fairly new and about 12 feet long mounted high above the roof.
I live in a mountain valley at 1800 feet with hills on both sides.
There is no cell service around here either.
Satellite may be our only option for TV?
sherpa

I'm afraid that satellite is your best bet and probably only one. Check ou the options of both Directv and Dish.

JD 4520 · Dec 25, 2011

creekbend said:
We rely on Direct TV because we live quite a distance from any TV towers. When severe weather occurs, we do lose our signal at times.

You shouldn't loose Directv signal if you place your dish in a covered / shielded from the elements area or have access to it to sweep it off.

Merry Christmas.

creekbend · Dec 25, 2011

JD 4520 said:
You shouldn't loose Directv signal if you place your dish in a covered / shielded from the elements area or have access to it to sweep it off.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks for the advice. The disk is located right next to our deck. When snow accumulation occurs, I do reach over with the broom and sweep it off. But when there is a heavy severe rain storm, we lose our signal quite often. The signal comes and goes at times and if the thunderstorm is really severe, we don't regain a signal or reception until the storm passes. Any possible suggestions would be appreciated. We have called the 1-800 number several times and they insist that this is the norm. Our Son has Downs and if the reception is delayed for extended periods, he gets despondent when he misses his shows.