Cutting the Cord Article on Dishes and Cable

[CPTKILLER]

The subject on cutting the cord comes up often here. This is a recent article worth looking over if anyone is thinking about "Cutting the Cord".

"Kiss your cable bill goodbye: The best TV antennas for cord cutters
Ready to cut the cord? You値l need a quality antenna to pick up digital broadcasts. Here are our recommendations.
pcw antenna hub

Martyn Williams By Martyn Williams
Senior Correspondent, TechHive | NOV 23, 2018 3:00 AM PT
With cable and satellite TV subscriptions getting ridiculously expensive, more and more homes are ditching pricey pay TV and choosing free, over-the-air broadcasts. Digital TV typically provides between 20 and 60 channels depending on where you live, and can save you at least $1,000 a year, based on a typical pay TV subscription.

So, cut that cable, ditch that dish, and join the 14 percent (and growing) of American households that are free from monthly bills for TV service.

Putting up an antenna is easy, but before you buy one you値l need to figure out what channels are available where you live, how strong the signals are likely to be, and what direction theyæ±*e coming from. See TechHiveç—´ guide to choosing an antenna to figure all that out.

[ Further reading: TechHive's top picks in smart TVs ]
As a rule of thumb, indoor antennas are suitable for areas with strong or very strong signals, the attic/outdoor antennas work in areas of medium signal strength, and the larger outdoor antennas in areas of weak signals.

Once you致e determined your needs, this article will help with your antenna purchase.

Table of Contents
Best indoor TV antenna
Best attic/outdoor TV antenna
How we tested
Our latest TV antenna reviews
Best indoor TV antenna




Clearstream Flex

Read TechHive's review
$79.97See Iton Lowe's
The Clearstream Flex is one of the best performing indoor TV antennas in its class, but don't try to push its range too much as performance falls off as signals get weaker.

The Antennas Direct Clearstream Flex is a large, flexible antenna for mounting inside your house against a window or on a wall. It comes supplied with an inline amplifier that gave a good boost to signal levels in our tests. It did well on both VHF-High and UHF reception葉he broadcast bands that include the vast majority of large stations in the U.S. (See our full review.)

Runner-up




Mohu Blade

Read TechHive's review
$20.97See Iton Amazon
The Mohu Blade is a sturdy indoor and outdoor TV antenna that did a great job receiving UHF and VHF-High signals in TechHive reception tests.

The Mohu Blade has a unique bar-type design and can sit on top of a piece of furniture with an attached stand or mounted on the inside or outside wall of a house. It also has an inline amplifier and did well receiving UHF stations but reception of VHF-High signals (channels 7 through 12) was a little below our top-ranked Clearstream Flex. (See our full review.)

Best attic/outdoor TV antenna

Winegard Elite 7550

Read TechHive's review
$134.99See Iton Amazon
The Winegard Elite 7550 is a sensitive TV antenna suitable for areas with strong to medium strength signals.

The Winegard Elite 7550 immediately impressed with its ability to pick up more broadcast channels than the competition at higher signal levels. It has a built in amplifier and performed well on both VHF-High and UHF broadcast bands. Because of its size you値l want this one in the attic or outside of your house. (See our full review.)

Clearstream 4 Max

Read TechHive's review
$99.99See Iton Amazon
The Clearstream 4 Max is an excellent choice for areas with strong to medium strength signals and with multiple TV transmitters in different locations. It's well made, easy to assemble and supplied with all the required mounting hardware.

The Clearstream 4 Max is a little larger than our top-ranked choice and wasn稚 quite as good at pulling in stations but it痴 still a solid antenna. Its unique double figure-eight design is sure to look distinctive and it can receive signals from different directions, which is useful if you live in an area with stations in multiple places. (See our full review.)

How we tested

TechHive tests TV antennas in one or two locations. Our main testing location is 30 miles North East of San Francisco in an area sandwiched between hills that make reception of signals from San Francisco and Sacramento difficult. Itç—´ a good spot to test antennas because many channels are weak. Antennas are mounted 25 feet in the air on a rotatable mast and tests are run several times.

We use a set-top box to scan for channels and record the number of RF channels received by each antenna and their strength. Each RF channel carries a number of digital stations, but the number is different per channel and can change, so digital stations received isn稚 as useful a measurement. We scan several times and adjust the direction of the antenna on some rescans.

Our picks are the antennas that receive the largest number of stations with the highest signal level in both the UHF (channels 13 through 51) and VHF-High (channels 7 through 12) bands, which are the primary TV broadcast bands.

Working at a relentless pace, under extreme pressure to grow, and with limited internal resources, treasury managers at high-growth tech companies face unique challenges when conducting business...
Our latest TV antenna reviews

To comment on this article and other TechHive content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.
AT A GLANCE
Clearstream Flex

Read TechHive's review $79.97 See Iton Lowe's
Clearstream 4 Max

Read TechHive's review $99.99 See Iton Amazon
Mohu Blade

Read TechHive's review $20.97 See Iton Amazon
Winegard Elite 7550

Read TechHive's review $134.99 See Iton Amazon
Clearstream Eclipse Amplified

Read TechHive's review $39.21 See Iton Amazon
Mohu Basic 50

Read TechHive's review $39.99 See Iton Mohu
Mohu Leaf Glide

Read TechHive's review $62.99 See Iton Amazon"

Best TV antennas for cord cutters 218: Kiss your cable bill goodbye | TechHive

 

[TractorGuy]

I got rid of DTV back around 2010 and never looked back. I invested about $170 in an antenna and rotator if I remember right.

 

[shooterdon]

My problem is living in a remote area. Closest stations are 60+ miles away, and there are not many. Cell will not work either so I am stuck with satellite for now. And my bill is over $180 a month...Dish and Internet. What a waste of money!

 

[radios1]

it might seem good, but all that's on broadcast TV at least in the daytime are game shows, news, soap operas, and sports. at night around 7PM EST you start to get a little bit of shows worth watching..

 

[TractorGuy]

I forgot to mention I WATCH broadcast TV on a limited basis but it has less commercials than DTV did. Now that I get fairly reliable internet through a AT&T wireless device I mostly watch Netfilx and Hulu. I watch news on broadcast and some shows though with no repeat fees.

I do watch our local PBS channel and donate to them on occasion. I don't give them as much as they beg for but I base my donation on the value of entertainment based on what I pay other sources. All in I spend less than $200 per year for boob tube. My daughter and I share accounts to maximize the value of our subscriptions.

 

[Stimw]

I have been using over the air antenna for years because dish goes out when it rains.
I still have Dish but I canceled over air through them and save $12. a month!
I bought a antenna from Walmart for $38. that has rotator and remote.
I get over 40 channels from different cities.
Some people don't know about the over air sub channels either.
For example my local PBS has channel 7.1 , 7.2 , 7.3 , 7.4 and 7.5 all different programing.

 

[kcflhrc]

I'll keep my dish, works great and the DVR is the best thing since BBQ Ribs. The time it goes out because of weather is minimal and it never lasts more than it takes a thunderstorm to pass. I have an OTA antenna I use in case of emergencies but it gets used about as much as my snow blower which is quite rare.

 

[nybirdman]

Have Direct TV and antenna;soon to have high speed internet with phone,t.v. and "then" I will do away with the dish and land-line and weak internet service.

 

[Diggin It]

'Cutting the cord' to me means the power cord. Turing the thing off. Not switching the cord to another input source.

 

[PILOON]

At TV broadcast frequencies clear line of sight is necessary especially with digital.
If the transmitter tower can be seen (with binoculars) at about 50 miles or so distance then U are good to go.
Hills and other obstacles will stop the signal from reaching you.
Unlike the older analogue signal that faded and became snowy digital is either good and clear or nothing.
The old analogue usually kind of flowed over hills and reached into shallow valleys but not digital.

Where I am I used to get a ton of signals (like 15 0r 20)from far away stations with analogue but only 2 with digital so I had no choice but to go satellite.