They tricked me again! HD Antennas rant!

Submitted by whomp1970 t3_yn1mzt in philadelphia

I fell for it again. It's been about two years since I last tried, and so I bought another HD antenna that claimed it could get Lo-V stations.

The ONLY station that I require is Channel 6. I don't care if I pick up zero other stations, as long as I can get Channel 6.

And all these years, none of these antennas were able to pick up Channel 6, because it's the only one broadcast in Lo-V, while all the others are broadcast in UHF.

The box said it picked up Lo-V, but alas, this is not true.

I rent, so I don't have the option of buying a big roof-mounted antenna. And I don't have an attic in which to mount a heavy-duty antenna. I'm stuck with those cheap $30 flat ones.

Any suggestions? I'd ditch cable in an instant, if I can just get Channel 6. I need my Jeopardy!

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comofue t1_iv8nh1e wrote

They’re supposedly getting a boost to their signal soon but it’s been pending for awhile

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SgtKetchup t1_iv9596p wrote

Make sure your antenna is as close to perpendicular to the Channel 6 broadcast antenna as possible - there's a free app by RCA that helps you line it up. I had my antenna on a window and couldn't get it, then moved it to an internal wall instead (that's facing the broadcast station) and get it crystal clear. Direction is the most important thing for lo-V.

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redjonley t1_iva065s wrote

Good tip! Had no idea about how to actually set one up properly.

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whomp1970 OP t1_ives56s wrote

Thanks, I'm going to go try it after work!

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sailbag36 t1_iv8pfab wrote

My friend can get channel 6 in her 11th floor condo facing south. That’s my best answer.

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivesb7m wrote

I'm about 19 miles from the transmitter. That may be my problem.

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ImaginaryRoads t1_iv8pvgg wrote

> I'd ditch cable in an instant, if I can just get Channel 6. I need my Jeopardy!

Sail the high seas?

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electric_creamsicle t1_iv8to8g wrote

As far as I know, there isn't any kind of easily accessible free public stream. Folks with antennas in areas where Jeopardy isn't broadcast in Lo-V could have it streamed through something like Plex. Or you could just split a cable subscription with friends and stream it through the ABC app (this is what I do because I do have been bamboozled by antennas claiming to get Lo-V stations).

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivesdn2 wrote

Agreed. I searched far and wide for a way to stream Channel 6, there are no options that aren't part of a TV package that costs me about the same as Cable TV.

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electric_creamsicle t1_ivet754 wrote

There was an amazing non-profit called Locast which offered all of the OTA channels for free with ads and for $5/month for no ads. They got sued by all 4 major networks and the court ruled against them because the $5/month fee was presented as a "donation". It was great while it lasted.

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivetc33 wrote

Oh yes, I remember Locast.

I seem to recall that it worked just fine on my phone, but there was no option to cast it to the TV. And I think I tried finding a Locast app for the TV, but that wasn't a thing yet.

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electric_creamsicle t1_ivetg9j wrote

You might've used it too early in its lifetime? Casting to a Chromecast worked fine for me when I used it.

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CreamiusTheDreamiest t1_ivairm1 wrote

Are you pointing the antenna in the correct direction? I have an indoor antenna out in the suburbs and if I change the direction of it off by 30 degrees I will no longer get ABC. You can get an app to tell you the direction but the station is on city ave near the river

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivesvhv wrote

I'll give it a try later tonight. Thanks.

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bobanforever t1_iv8ydck wrote

With a little googling you could probably just illegally stream jeopardy and then depending on your gear send it to your tv or whatever

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivesglc wrote

I tried. I searched far and wide for a way to stream Channel 6, there are no options that aren't part of a TV package that costs me about the same as Cable TV.

I'm not the best Googler there is, but I think I did a good job.

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moronmonday526 t1_ivabxdp wrote

With an Antennas Direct ClearStream 5, I'm able to get 6abc out in Bucks. It is about the size of 12 shoeboxes, though, in 3 dimensions. The good news is that ATSC 3.0 is (eventually) coming. All of the major stations appear to be broadcasting on one frequency from one tower in the markets that have it. If 6abc finally moves to the main tower farm, our long digital nightmare may be coming to a close.

You'll need an ATSC 3.0-compatible tuner. I run the HDHomeRun Flex 4K into a PleX server with a lifetime Plex Pass. That gives me a 4-tuner DVR and I can watch TV or recordings on any TV or mobile device inside or outside of my home.

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SgtKetchup t1_ivdkeys wrote

My Plex server is insisting on transcoding everything when I try to play from my HDR which gives terrible quality and lag - do you just have a more powerful server, or have you managed to get it to Direct Play?

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moronmonday526 t1_ivetiry wrote

My "server" is an old Thinkpad T420 maxed out with 16GB RAM and a 1TB disk. Totally overloaded running a bunch of services across multiple docker-compose stacks.

What helped me the most with transcoding was not giving up until I got the relay function turned off. Since I run Plex in docker, Plex doesn't know the host's LAN IP. Once I published the laptop's IP in the custom URL, boom, that unlocked the full speed for me.

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SgtKetchup t1_iveybzg wrote

I'll have to look closer at that. I can direct play pretty much everything else but when I try to steam live TV it says transcoding is "forced" which doesn't make sense to me.

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moronmonday526 t1_ivfbb2l wrote

I'll check again and see how well it works. I'm slamming the laptop with ffmpeg on about 100 files right now, so it may not be an accurate test for another week or two.

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allenrabinovich t1_iv8sx1t wrote

Ask your landlord if they’d be willing to let you put an antenna on the roof? I lived in Berkeley many years ago, and had shit reception in the apartment, but you could see the Sutro Tower from the roof (it’s a huge TV transmission tower that covers much of Bay Area), so I asked the landlord, and he let me put up an antenna and point it straight at Sutro, and drop a wire down to my balcony — great reception, and I left it for the next tenant.

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivespgw wrote

> Ask your landlord if they’d be willing to let you put an antenna on the roof?

Good idea ... but this landlord won't even have the ancient inadequate heater serviced, so I doubt he would even entertain a conversation about antennas.

Plus I'm in a condo, and the HOA would definitely forbid it.

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mistersausage t1_ivhk6bg wrote

Hoa can't ban antennas. https://spectrumam.com/fcc-regulations-satellite-dishes/#:~:text=In%201996%2C%20the%20FCC%20adopted,antennas%2C%20or%20wireless%20cable%20antennas.

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whomp1970 OP t1_ivhwubr wrote

Whoa!

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mistersausage t1_ivhxzhm wrote

If you have a shit HOA become a Ham radio operator and put up a big ass antenna, and subscribe to some obscure satellite thing that requires a 20 foot dish.

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beeps-n-boops t1_iv8r9tr wrote

Would something like this help at all?

https://smile.amazon.com/GE-Antenna-Amplifier-Booster-42178/dp/B07NF6JYJV

EDIT: downvoted for trying to help. Typical fucking Reddit assholes...

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comofue t1_ivaztgd wrote

> EDIT: downvoted for trying to help. Typical fucking Reddit assholes...

😂

It wouldn’t help him, he needs a long antenna which as a renter he cant put up

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whomp1970 OP t1_iveslds wrote

Sorry you're getting downvoted.

The rig I bought comes with an amplifier. I think the problem is that I'm just too far from the transmitter, and can't get good line-of-sight to the antenna.

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ElenorWoods t1_ivcytj6 wrote

Did you scan? You can’t just plug it in and it’ll work. You have to hit “menu.. antenna… scan for channels.”

Literally every antenna I’ve ever had picked up every channel from 45 and below. You’re doing something wrong.

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whomp1970 OP t1_iveszun wrote

Yeah I scanned. I get many other channels just fine.

> You’re doing something wrong

That's a little presumptive. Are you 20 miles from the transmitter, where I am? Are you in a hilly area, where I am?

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