@j37hr0 ATSC 3.0 standard transmissions will use the same frequency ranges currently in use. You will not need a new antenna when stations transition to the new standard. You may need a new ‘Tuner’ which is not usually built into the antenna, but that’s a minimum of 5 years away (I’ve already seen reports saying the transition (in the US) will be delayed (in part due to COVID-19)). You will not need a new antenna - and any antenna that tries to make it ‘seem’ like you need a new antenna is just trying to ‘sucker’ you into buying it - Kind of like claiming that it will get you reception from 100 miles away - In real-world conditions the idea reception areas for antenna TV are within about 35 miles of local broadcast towers. If you live on a hill, with no other obstructions or interference nearby, you may get TV signals up to about 70 miles away, at which point the curvature of the earth begins to impact OTA reception. For more information see the Cord Cutters website: https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/what-cord-cutters-need-to-know-about-distance-ratings-for-ota-tv-antennas/ Curvature of Earth is also referenced in other posts/replies below.
@j37hr0@rvaessen True, I’ve been a professional radio broadcaster and a licensed Amateur Radio operator for 40+ years, and you can’t magically get a signal if you live in poor terrain. For example, I’m currently in a low spot 40 miles from the nearest city, and I can’t even get cellular service at home. Even an antenna on a 50-foot tower wouldn’t help me much to get over-the-air broadcast TV signals. On the other hand I have friends right in the local metro area who can get 50 stations with a coat hanger.
@guybrush01 I do live in fucking Kansas, and even then it would be of limited value, since few cities are large enough to support an independent station, and most of the stations in small markets are merely repeaters of stations in Wichita. So you might pick up a new station but not get any new content. Might be handy for someone so far out in the sticks that they don’t get anything well.
You’ll likely only be able to get the green stations that come up from this, as this assumes you are using an outdoor antenna 30 feet off the ground. These indoor antennas get less reception than that, obviously.
An antenna like this works for me. My stations are all 14 miles away on top of the same knob.
My problem is that one of the stations is still broadcasting on channel 11, and these things don’t pick up VHF worth a damn.
But if your stations have all migrated to UHF (and most have, even if they still call themselves 2 or 5 or 10), then this kind of antenna should be fine as long as you have line of sight without buildings or forests or land in the way and the towers are fairly close.
A two-fer today – what, is it Tuesday again, or something?((
Couldn’t tell yesterday from a Sunday.
My dog gets antsy, and randomly tears through the living room, knocking around the rabbit ears antenna I’m using (it’s sitting on the floor next to the TV), so one of these might solve the problem.
/buy
– color = yes, unless its the opening of The Wizard of Oz
Save your money! Might receive 6-14 stations but not worth it. If you have a smartTV download locast. Free broadcast network channels. Fair warning- can be a nuisance with their incessant “donate” commercials but FREE tv. Also PlutoTv should keep you busy at no cost
@superman10000 The difference is that this doesn’t use or need the internet at all. Just like in the old days when there was no internet (how did we ever live?). Or if you have a crappy overpriced network service that limits your total usage to discourage streaming unless you buy it from them. Back in the days when there were sports games, local TV usually had most of the football games. Pair it with a DVR-type off-the-air tuner box and you’ve got basic free broadcast DVR. Also local PBS stations have a lot of good stuff.
@pmarin@superman10000 Locast is also restricted to 17 cities, such as L.A., Boston, NYC, etc. - cities where rabbit ears would have sufficed ‘back in the day’.
Scientific fact: The Earth is round. (Sorry, flat-earthers.) The curvature of the Earth will block most over-the-air broadcast signals at roughly 70 miles. According to the current laws of physics, it is generally impossible to deliver the 100 and 150-mile range claims some antenna manufacturers boast. While you may receive signals from farther away in absolutely ideal conditions (a home atop a hill whose broadcast towers are directly on top of another hill with a clear shot between the two and absolutely no obstacles) or you’re inclined to engineer a unique (and probably dangerously tall) setup, then consistent, reliable reception of anything over 70 miles away should not be expected. Range can also be impacted by factors such as location, obstructions in the terrain around you, other buildings, the location of transmitters on the broadcast tower, and other variables. Antennas Direct’s founder, Richard Schneider, raised his concerns about these dubious range claims.
@dtwsportsfan I agree that those range claims are probably over exaggerated; however, it is possible to transmit and receive over 100 miles and it is the current law of physics that allow it.
It’s common for HAM radio operators to pickup transmissions from thousands of miles away by from skipping the signals off the ionosphere.
Chances are you’re not going to pickup any TV channels by skipping off the ionosphere but your statement saying it’s impossible to go further than 70 miles because of physics isn’t accurate. People do it as a hobby to see how far they can go and log every country and city they make contact with.
@cengland0@dtwsportsfan But HAM radio is all in the HF band, where that’s possible. That’s also why you can sometimes pick up AM radio stations from really far away.
However UHF is pretty much just line-of-sight, and that’s the band these antennas are built to receive.
@limewater@tsigwing Doesn’t matter about frequencies because I’m only providing proof that it’s possible and the curvature of the earth doesn’t always limit the maximum distance. I did state that you probably wouldn’t pickup TV channels this way but the physics do allow for bouncing of signals to increase range.
But HAM radio is mostly around 3-20MHz. I am not a HAM operator myself, so I haven’t taken the time to learn the frequencies, and there are different rules and power limits for different bands.
@cengland0@tsigwing You’re right that @dtwsportsfan didn’t explicitly state a frequency band, but the phrase “over-the-air broadcast signals” in the context of this thread seemed pretty clear to me that he was talking about television signals. But yes, he could have been more explicit in his language.
@cengland0@dtwsportsfan What @dtwsportsfan said about TV signals is true almost all the time. The only exception is if one happens to live near a very large body of water, think Great Lakes size or bigger, and then a phenomenon called ducting can occur with the right weather conditions. During ducting the atmosphere refracts the signals, bending their path to cheat the curvature. When I lived close to the coast of Lake Erie, I routinely used to receive a Canadian TV station 120 miles away with a rooftop antenna.
You need the longer elements to pick up VHF stations reliably, like on rabbit ear antennas, especially low VHF channels 2-6 which broadcast in the 50-87MHZ range (just below FM radio). Digital stations don’t always broadcast on the channel they identify as. You can have a station calling themselves Channel 8 (high VHF), for legacy reasons as that’s where they use to be before the digital transition, but now may be on channel 30 (UHF). Likewise a channel 25 (UHF) may actually be on channel 3 (low VHF). There is no such thing as an “HD antenna”. An antenna picks up radio waves, of which “TV waves” actually are, and the antenna doesn’t discriminate if the waves are HD, old analog, or 4K. The tuner in your TV interprets what the antenna picks up. No such thing as a 100 mile, or “any” mile antenna. Bigger antennas with larger elements pick up further as a rule, especially on the roof top higher, away from obstructions. It all depends on the broadcasting power of the station in watts, your antenna and tuner, and any obstructions in between. These signals travel line of sight, 70 or 80 miles at best due to the curvature of the earth. You may be able to put this antenna up 100 feet or live at the top of a hill or mountain, and get 100 miles, but generally strong local stations with the antenna inside your house. Near a window facing the TV tower helps.
@trailtroll I’ve had luck with this type (not sure of this exact model, but similar one from Amazon Basics that was bundled with the Amazon DVR box). They are small and lightweight, but can’t do much unless the signal is right in front of their face.
That one worked for me on stations that are a few miles away. I agree the 100 mi is ridiculous, with or without an amp it just can’t really work for distant towers. You need the big flat wiry type, preferably up high in your house or above your house. What was your “old antenna” that worked better?
Save your money. I bought these last time and they don’t work any better than my small, non-amplified antenna I already owned. In fact, they don’t work as well as my other one.
@rk69rn my experience with a previous one is that it didn’t really matter with or without the amp. Either it was an easy local station and worked OK, or a distant one and it couldn’t get it either way. EDIT it partly depends on the TV also. Some are better at getting what they can from the input signal. So basically they have some type of amp anyway internally I’m sure. The traditional use of amps was to put remotely up on an antenna on the roof, so it would amplify the signal down a long length of cable into your house. With a small “portable” antenna like this, the amp part seems kind-of useless.
I have a cheap, dumb tv and a cheap no-name antenna in this style and I get ~40 channels clearly (a couple are duplicates). This includes the major networks and their subchannels, several PBS stations, and multiple others like Quest, Decades and Movies. Thing is, I’m <20 mi) from a metropolitan area with good line-of-sight. Even so, I get different stations and better/worse reception when I move the antenna even a few inches, during a storm, or seemingly if I’m in a good mood or not.
A couple of tips:
–Try the antenna in several different places, and rescan every time
–Putting it in a window facing the source is usually (but not always) best
–Move it from time to time and rescan
–Rescan from time to time even if you haven’t move it
–Find a place to live that’s closer to broadcast stations
–And if you haven’t done all these things, don’t blame your poor reception on your antenna
These leaf antennae are often junk. Usually no VHF elements in them so if you have VHF stations, unless they’re pretty close by, you’ll have a bad time picking them up.
Also any indoor antenna claiming 100 miles range is nonsense. If you have clear line of site to that TV station’s antenna, you still run into curvature of the Earth issues around 60-70 miles. And the outdoor ones on top of your roof will struggle with those.
These do work to a degree I get about 12 channels really much better quality picture than cable. Network, PBS and of course the shopping channels. Go to tvfool.com and enter your zip and it show you which direction the transmitters are.
@Viper1 what he says is true in that whatever is local (meaning really <15 miles and clear sight) works very well. Where I am (Asheville NC) there is a PBS station literally a mile away and it is great. Also can get 3 of 4 original networks (well, Fox wasn’t original but they are kind-of one of the 4 now – used to be just ABC/NBC/CBS). CBS shut down their repeater for this area so no more off-the-air for CBS. When there was a SuperBowl on CBS (remember when we had sports?), it really sucked because unless you had cable or sat there was no Super Bowl for you!
Mine work fine. We’re pulling in stations we didn not get before. I was using the similar antennas offered a few years ago with rca signal amplifiers, Those sortta worked but the signal would go to crap in dry or windy weather. These have been remarkably stable. I get 42 channels
@cranky1950 Since it was a 2 pack, did you put one out side and one inside sorta acting as a repeater? Maybe you’re pulling in stations from 200 miles out?
Anyone have a extra one they’d like to get rid of? Of course I missed the two days this month that I most probably would have bought, this and the jerky. Oh well, let me know if you’re interested, I’ll pay for the shipping of course. Thanks!
Specs
What’s in the Box?
Price Comparison
$25.98 (for 2 similar) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
I picked up a few of these over the past few years and they don’t do much, what makes these any better?
ATSC 3.0?
@j37hr0 not a chance
@j37hr0 ATSC 3.0 standard transmissions will use the same frequency ranges currently in use. You will not need a new antenna when stations transition to the new standard. You may need a new ‘Tuner’ which is not usually built into the antenna, but that’s a minimum of 5 years away (I’ve already seen reports saying the transition (in the US) will be delayed (in part due to COVID-19)). You will not need a new antenna - and any antenna that tries to make it ‘seem’ like you need a new antenna is just trying to ‘sucker’ you into buying it - Kind of like claiming that it will get you reception from 100 miles away - In real-world conditions the idea reception areas for antenna TV are within about 35 miles of local broadcast towers. If you live on a hill, with no other obstructions or interference nearby, you may get TV signals up to about 70 miles away, at which point the curvature of the earth begins to impact OTA reception. For more information see the Cord Cutters website: https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/what-cord-cutters-need-to-know-about-distance-ratings-for-ota-tv-antennas/ Curvature of Earth is also referenced in other posts/replies below.
@j37hr0 @rvaessen True, I’ve been a professional radio broadcaster and a licensed Amateur Radio operator for 40+ years, and you can’t magically get a signal if you live in poor terrain. For example, I’m currently in a low spot 40 miles from the nearest city, and I can’t even get cellular service at home. Even an antenna on a 50-foot tower wouldn’t help me much to get over-the-air broadcast TV signals. On the other hand I have friends right in the local metro area who can get 50 stations with a coat hanger.
@rvaessen that’s some straight-up nerd shit that you just said and I really do appreciate it.
100 miles if you live in fucking Kansas.
For people like me who live in a city with reflection issues, it’s around 6 feet, so you can use it to self distance at Wal-Mart.
Ordered one. Because civilization is going to fall, and I need to get my Wheel of Fortune on.
@guybrush01 Wheel of Fortune broadcasts 6 feet from you? Say hi to Vanna for me.
@guybrush01 I do live in fucking Kansas, and even then it would be of limited value, since few cities are large enough to support an independent station, and most of the stations in small markets are merely repeaters of stations in Wichita. So you might pick up a new station but not get any new content. Might be handy for someone so far out in the sticks that they don’t get anything well.
@guybrush01 yeah… if people think they’ll get 100 miles out of this they should start taking hydroxychloroquine immediately - cause why not!
I found this link from the last time this deal came around. Punch your location in here to get an idea of how well these will work.
https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps
You’ll likely only be able to get the green stations that come up from this, as this assumes you are using an outdoor antenna 30 feet off the ground. These indoor antennas get less reception than that, obviously.
@lljk yup , 6 stations, barely…
@lljk Ha, thanks for the link. 13 Stations no signal, 1 station weak signal…
@lljk
Wow. 15 stations with great signal for me.
An antenna like this works for me. My stations are all 14 miles away on top of the same knob.
My problem is that one of the stations is still broadcasting on channel 11, and these things don’t pick up VHF worth a damn.
But if your stations have all migrated to UHF (and most have, even if they still call themselves 2 or 5 or 10), then this kind of antenna should be fine as long as you have line of sight without buildings or forests or land in the way and the towers are fairly close.
So 2 will give me a 200 mile range? Do they need to be in serial or daisy-chained? Will this antenna make network-based TV shows any better?
@Kerig3 Unfortunately these will not improve the quality of the programming.
@Kerig3 @rtjhnstn I did try turning up the ‘Brightness’ control - no dice.
A two-fer today – what, is it Tuesday again, or something?((
Couldn’t tell yesterday from a Sunday.
My dog gets antsy, and randomly tears through the living room, knocking around the rabbit ears antenna I’m using (it’s sitting on the floor next to the TV), so one of these might solve the problem.
/buy
– color = yes, unless its the opening of The Wizard of Oz
@phendrick Your order number is: absorbed-nutritious-vinegar
/giphy absorbed-nutritious-vinegar
@phendrick I prefer butter flavored to vinegar.
Hey, it’s a real bargain. You save eight bucks from the Amazon price. That’s why I’m on Meh.
Save your money! Might receive 6-14 stations but not worth it. If you have a smartTV download locast. Free broadcast network channels. Fair warning- can be a nuisance with their incessant “donate” commercials but FREE tv. Also PlutoTv should keep you busy at no cost
@superman10000 The difference is that this doesn’t use or need the internet at all. Just like in the old days when there was no internet (how did we ever live?). Or if you have a crappy overpriced network service that limits your total usage to discourage streaming unless you buy it from them. Back in the days when there were sports games, local TV usually had most of the football games. Pair it with a DVR-type off-the-air tuner box and you’ve got basic free broadcast DVR. Also local PBS stations have a lot of good stuff.
@pmarin @superman10000 Locast is also restricted to 17 cities, such as L.A., Boston, NYC, etc. - cities where rabbit ears would have sufficed ‘back in the day’.
@superman10000 man… i was super-excited to learn about locast… but i’m about 15 miles outside of a market. no tv for me.
Scientific fact: The Earth is round. (Sorry, flat-earthers.) The curvature of the Earth will block most over-the-air broadcast signals at roughly 70 miles. According to the current laws of physics, it is generally impossible to deliver the 100 and 150-mile range claims some antenna manufacturers boast. While you may receive signals from farther away in absolutely ideal conditions (a home atop a hill whose broadcast towers are directly on top of another hill with a clear shot between the two and absolutely no obstacles) or you’re inclined to engineer a unique (and probably dangerously tall) setup, then consistent, reliable reception of anything over 70 miles away should not be expected. Range can also be impacted by factors such as location, obstructions in the terrain around you, other buildings, the location of transmitters on the broadcast tower, and other variables. Antennas Direct’s founder, Richard Schneider, raised his concerns about these dubious range claims.
@dtwsportsfan “Multi-directional and high-performance UHF and VHF reception from up to 100 miles away”
They’re guaranteeing it’s no greater than 100, so, yeah.
@dtwsportsfan I agree that those range claims are probably over exaggerated; however, it is possible to transmit and receive over 100 miles and it is the current law of physics that allow it.
It’s common for HAM radio operators to pickup transmissions from thousands of miles away by from skipping the signals off the ionosphere.
Chances are you’re not going to pickup any TV channels by skipping off the ionosphere but your statement saying it’s impossible to go further than 70 miles because of physics isn’t accurate. People do it as a hobby to see how far they can go and log every country and city they make contact with.
@cengland0 @dtwsportsfan But HAM radio is all in the HF band, where that’s possible. That’s also why you can sometimes pick up AM radio stations from really far away.
However UHF is pretty much just line-of-sight, and that’s the band these antennas are built to receive.
@cengland0 @dtwsportsfan what frequencies are HAM radio operator’s using?
@limewater @tsigwing Doesn’t matter about frequencies because I’m only providing proof that it’s possible and the curvature of the earth doesn’t always limit the maximum distance. I did state that you probably wouldn’t pickup TV channels this way but the physics do allow for bouncing of signals to increase range.
@cengland0 @dtwsportsfan @tsigwing Well, telling you “HF” band narrows it down pretty far.
But HAM radio is mostly around 3-20MHz. I am not a HAM operator myself, so I haven’t taken the time to learn the frequencies, and there are different rules and power limits for different bands.
@cengland0 @tsigwing You’re right that @dtwsportsfan didn’t explicitly state a frequency band, but the phrase “over-the-air broadcast signals” in the context of this thread seemed pretty clear to me that he was talking about television signals. But yes, he could have been more explicit in his language.
@cengland0 @dtwsportsfan What @dtwsportsfan said about TV signals is true almost all the time. The only exception is if one happens to live near a very large body of water, think Great Lakes size or bigger, and then a phenomenon called ducting can occur with the right weather conditions. During ducting the atmosphere refracts the signals, bending their path to cheat the curvature. When I lived close to the coast of Lake Erie, I routinely used to receive a Canadian TV station 120 miles away with a rooftop antenna.
You need the longer elements to pick up VHF stations reliably, like on rabbit ear antennas, especially low VHF channels 2-6 which broadcast in the 50-87MHZ range (just below FM radio). Digital stations don’t always broadcast on the channel they identify as. You can have a station calling themselves Channel 8 (high VHF), for legacy reasons as that’s where they use to be before the digital transition, but now may be on channel 30 (UHF). Likewise a channel 25 (UHF) may actually be on channel 3 (low VHF). There is no such thing as an “HD antenna”. An antenna picks up radio waves, of which “TV waves” actually are, and the antenna doesn’t discriminate if the waves are HD, old analog, or 4K. The tuner in your TV interprets what the antenna picks up. No such thing as a 100 mile, or “any” mile antenna. Bigger antennas with larger elements pick up further as a rule, especially on the roof top higher, away from obstructions. It all depends on the broadcasting power of the station in watts, your antenna and tuner, and any obstructions in between. These signals travel line of sight, 70 or 80 miles at best due to the curvature of the earth. You may be able to put this antenna up 100 feet or live at the top of a hill or mountain, and get 100 miles, but generally strong local stations with the antenna inside your house. Near a window facing the TV tower helps.
Not too amped over this.
too late i buyed 160mi antennas from amazun 2 dayz ago
@cranky1950 You bought meters, not miles.
Why is today’s meh button a Hitler-bot?
@AVahne It’s not a Hitler-bot, it’s a Hitler Funko-Pop!
So, with shipping, I’m saving $3?? Neat
Bought these last time meh offered. They are horrible. Went back to my old antenna.
@trailtroll I’ve had luck with this type (not sure of this exact model, but similar one from Amazon Basics that was bundled with the Amazon DVR box). They are small and lightweight, but can’t do much unless the signal is right in front of their face.
That one worked for me on stations that are a few miles away. I agree the 100 mi is ridiculous, with or without an amp it just can’t really work for distant towers. You need the big flat wiry type, preferably up high in your house or above your house. What was your “old antenna” that worked better?
AntennaWeb.org will show you the channels you are likely to receive.
Save your money. I bought these last time and they don’t work any better than my small, non-amplified antenna I already owned. In fact, they don’t work as well as my other one.
@rk69rn my experience with a previous one is that it didn’t really matter with or without the amp. Either it was an easy local station and worked OK, or a distant one and it couldn’t get it either way. EDIT it partly depends on the TV also. Some are better at getting what they can from the input signal. So basically they have some type of amp anyway internally I’m sure. The traditional use of amps was to put remotely up on an antenna on the roof, so it would amplify the signal down a long length of cable into your house. With a small “portable” antenna like this, the amp part seems kind-of useless.
Purchased last time. Junk. Absolutely horrible.
I bought these last time. Now I can watch Sanford and Son reruns all day. What else do I need (besides a life)?
I bought these last time. Waste of money, they don’t work. I cut the wires off and use one as a mouse pad and the other a placemat.
@AndyChase well, there ya go! See, Meh products are always useful.
100 miles my buttocks. I got more channels with my GE@ 9.99 from big lots. Worse yet I PDF 24.99 @ their sister site
I have a cheap, dumb tv and a cheap no-name antenna in this style and I get ~40 channels clearly (a couple are duplicates). This includes the major networks and their subchannels, several PBS stations, and multiple others like Quest, Decades and Movies. Thing is, I’m <20 mi) from a metropolitan area with good line-of-sight. Even so, I get different stations and better/worse reception when I move the antenna even a few inches, during a storm, or seemingly if I’m in a good mood or not.
A couple of tips:
–Try the antenna in several different places, and rescan every time
–Putting it in a window facing the source is usually (but not always) best
–Move it from time to time and rescan
–Rescan from time to time even if you haven’t move it
–Find a place to live that’s closer to broadcast stations
–And if you haven’t done all these things, don’t blame your poor reception on your antenna
And finally, here’s what I use for listings: https://www.tvpassport.com/tv-listings
Never has a Meh story been more relatable.
I just got one of these and now I’m able to receive live broadcasts of Howdy Doody from 1954.
@mehmax You must be 66 light-years away. Man that little antenna is working pretty good!
These leaf antennae are often junk. Usually no VHF elements in them so if you have VHF stations, unless they’re pretty close by, you’ll have a bad time picking them up.
Also any indoor antenna claiming 100 miles range is nonsense. If you have clear line of site to that TV station’s antenna, you still run into curvature of the Earth issues around 60-70 miles. And the outdoor ones on top of your roof will struggle with those.
These do work to a degree I get about 12 channels really much better quality picture than cable. Network, PBS and of course the shopping channels. Go to tvfool.com and enter your zip and it show you which direction the transmitters are.
@Viper1 what he says is true in that whatever is local (meaning really <15 miles and clear sight) works very well. Where I am (Asheville NC) there is a PBS station literally a mile away and it is great. Also can get 3 of 4 original networks (well, Fox wasn’t original but they are kind-of one of the 4 now – used to be just ABC/NBC/CBS). CBS shut down their repeater for this area so no more off-the-air for CBS. When there was a SuperBowl on CBS (remember when we had sports?), it really sucked because unless you had cable or sat there was no Super Bowl for you!
Complete junk. I was better off with a non-amplified antenna. The attached cable is very short. I hope everyone’s tv is within 8 ft of a window.
Mine work fine. We’re pulling in stations we didn not get before. I was using the similar antennas offered a few years ago with rca signal amplifiers, Those sortta worked but the signal would go to crap in dry or windy weather. These have been remarkably stable. I get 42 channels
@cranky1950 Since it was a 2 pack, did you put one out side and one inside sorta acting as a repeater? Maybe you’re pulling in stations from 200 miles out?
KuoH
Anyone have a extra one they’d like to get rid of? Of course I missed the two days this month that I most probably would have bought, this and the jerky. Oh well, let me know if you’re interested, I’ll pay for the shipping of course. Thanks!
@Lynnerizer Check sidedeal.com today… (4/30)