• Home
  • About T4L
    • Contact
    • Legal Stuff
  • Subscribe

Tech for Luddites

News, Views, and How-Tos for a Digital World

  • Monthly Updates
  • Streaming Media

Watching Live Broadcast TV with an Antenna

Last Updated: November 15, 2016

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you end up buying something from the site it goes to, I may get a commission for the referral. If you are using an ad blocker, some product information and links may not display unless you whitelist techforluddites.com.

TV with Rabbit Ears AntennaI’m sure a lot of my readers won’t be able to relate to this, but I clearly remember the excitement in the Kricfalusi household when “Cablevision” came to our neighborhood. (Well, since it was in Canada, it was really our “neighbourhood.”) 🙂 Besides having more choices of what to watch, it also meant we could do away with antennas, whether they were the constantly-needs-adjusting rabbit ears on top of the TV or the more-powerful-but-still-temperamental rooftop ones.

I can’t swear to this but, before cable, I think we had exactly three TV stations: CBC English, CBC French, and CTV. Fortunately they did show some of the most popular American shows at the time and our biggest family disagreement was whether we were watching The Honeymooners or The Beverly Hillbillies on Saturday night. (No DVRs—or even VCRs!—back then either…) Even after the arrival of cable, I think we were up to 20 or 30 stations. Nothing like the hundreds of channels available today!

In the States, the pre-cable Big Three broadcast networks were CBS, NBC, and ABC. And it’s pretty amazing to me how much they (plus Fox now) still dominate the airwaves with their morning and evening news shows, syndicated daytime programming, late-night talk shows, and primetime hits from the Big Bang Theory to Sunday Night Football.

So for a lot of people, before they can even think about canceling their cable subscription, they want to know how they’re going to be able to keep up with their favorite (favourite!) network programs. And that’s where the antenna comes back into play.

Note: If you don’t care about watching your shows live, you can access a lot of them through streaming media providers like Netflix, Amazon Video and Hulu Plus.

How Does an Antenna Work?

I have no idea. 🙂 This level of technology knowledge is way beyond me. But below are some high-level concepts you need to know. For more detail, check out this great article from Consumer Reports:

How To Survive the Digital TV Transition >>

  • TV stations send broadcast signals out “over the air(waves),” which is why you’ll often see it referred to OTA TV.
  • The ability to access OTA signals through an antenna depends on a number of factors:
    • Your physical distance from a broadcast tower
    • Any impediments between your home and the tower
    • Where you place the antenna: indoors, in the attic, or on the rooftop

    You can find more information about how close you are to towers, what channels are available, and what type of antenna will work best for you at antennaweb.com or tvfool.com.

  • In 2009, U.S. TV stations had to switch all their signals from analog to digital to comply with a federal government mandate. On the plus side, the signal quality is better and you may have more channels available. On the minus side, some older TVs (including HD models, depending when they were made) will not be able to take digital signals.
  • If you have one of these TVs, you will need a digital converter box, VCR, or DVR that has what’s called an ATSC tuner to convert the digital signal to analog.

Recording Shows from an Antenna

Unlike with cable and satellite set-top DVRs, antennas don’t have built-in recording capabilities. So if you want to record shows, you’ll need to get a separate DVR. These can range from inexpensive models that include a very basic program guide and require an external hard drive to actually store the shows on to more expensive models, like Tivo, that are much more like cable DVRs and that may also come with monthly subscription fees.

My Antenna Setup

I live in the suburbs of a major city within just a few miles of a broadcast tower, so I got a basic indoor antenna and attached it to the wall just above my TV and the both the audio and video are really strong and clear. I get 30+ OTA stations and substations, including CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, The CW, PBS, Telemundo, Home Shopping Network, Radar (a weather channel that’s a substation of CBS), a movies channel, and a bunch of others I wasn’t even aware of before!

You may need to place an indoor antenna further away from your TV to get a good line to the broadcast tower, in which case you may need a longer coaxial cable to reach your TV. You can also get an antenna with a signal booster to make sure it stays strong over the length of the cable.

More Information

Indoor AntennasThats about it for my knowledge of antennas, but AntennasDirect is a site with a lot more information about them including DIY installation instructions for rootop antennas as well as links to service providers who can install them for you. They also sell a wide range of indoor and outdoor antennas.

Filed Under: Cutting the Cable Cord, How To, Real Life Tech, TV

If you found this post helpful, maybe your friends will too (hint, hint)!

To receive future blog posts in your Inbox, please fill out the form below.

Individual Posts Weekly(ish) Digest Monthly Newsletter

Comments for this page are closed. You can provide comments or ask questions via email at feedback@techforluddites.com. Unfortunately I cannot guarantee that I will be able to reply to every question I receive, but I will try.

Featured Post

T4L Monthly Update, February 2019

T4L Monthly Update: February 2019

CES 2019, FaceTime bug, streaming the Super Bowl, Wi-Fi calling for Android phones.

T4L TOP TEN

Stop the Email Threading Madness

Learn how to change your email inbox to list messages in the order they come in.

Windows 10: Change the Default Programs for Opening Files

Learn how to choose which programs you want to use with different kinds of files, instead of the ones Microsoft wants you to use.

Send Your Cable TV Signal Wirelessly to Another Room

Product review and how-to for systems that let you get cable/satellite programming on additional TV sets even if there are no outlets nearby.

Post Photos and Videos to Instagram from Your Computer

If, like me, you spend more time on your PC than on your phone or tablet, you can still share content on Instagram.

Create Different Headers in Word

Step-by-step instructions for using section breaks so you can have different headers on different pages of your Microsoft Word document.

Replacing List Bullets with Images Using CSS

Replacing standard HTML list bullets with images can be a great way to tie them into your site’s overall theme and make pages more visually appealing.

The Facebook News Feed: How to (Sort of) Control What You See

Facebook thinks they know what posts you want to see better than you do. If you disagree, here are some options that can help you out.

Streaming Media: Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about how a streaming media player like the Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV or Google Chromecast works? Find answers here!

Send Messages to People You Don’t Know on LinkedIn

While there are several ways to do this, purchasing an individual InMail is often the best option—and the most difficult to find.

The Twitter Hashtag: What Is It and How Do You Use It?

Learn what this ubiquitous symbol means and how to make the most of it in your tweets.




Privacy Policy

Data collected through forms on this website is used only for the purposes stated up front, e.g. sending newsletters to subscribers who opt in, selling products or services, etc. Tech for Luddites does not share or sell data collected. Learn more.

Ads and Affiliate Links

Tech for Luddites is a participant in a number of advertising and affiliate programs. This means that if you take certain actions (click through, make a purchase) from links on this website, T4L may receive a commission for the referral. Learn more.

Contact Tech for Luddites

T4L is not currently accepting guest or sponsored posts. To ask a question, share a tech tip, suggest a post topic, or provide general feedback on this site, please email info@techforluddites.com.

Copyright © 2019 Tech for Luddites. All rights reserved. Content may not be copied without written permission.

This Site Uses Cookies

Learn more about T4L's privacy policy.