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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Comments

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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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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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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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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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electric_creamsicle t1_iv8to8g wrote

Replying to ImaginaryRoads (#454,273)

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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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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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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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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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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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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SgtKetchup t1_ivdkeys wrote

Replying to moronmonday526 (#456,543)

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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whomp1970 OP t1_ivesglc wrote

Replying to bobanforever (#454,673)

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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whomp1970 OP t1_iveslds wrote

Replying to beeps-n-boops (#454,346)

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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whomp1970 OP t1_ivespgw wrote

Replying to allenrabinovich (#454,436)

> 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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whomp1970 OP t1_iveszun wrote

Replying to ElenorWoods (#460,548)

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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whomp1970 OP t1_ivetc33 wrote

Replying to electric_creamsicle (#463,322)

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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moronmonday526 t1_ivetiry wrote

Replying to SgtKetchup (#461,583)

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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