Okay, so, we don't have cable/satellite, etc. We use a converter box and rabbit ears...always have, always will. :) (Thank God for Netflix instant streaming!!)
Anyhow, it doesn't seem to matter where I place my TV, my antenna, etc...I can't get all the channels at one time. I have a nice antenna...I don't know the tech terms, but it has the turny disc on top, the wire loop, the "rabbit ears" and the turny knob.
So, does anyone have any great antenna tricks? I've tried foil, etc...I rearrange furniture too often...all to watch TV! How ridiculous, right? But it's a simple pleasure at night while I'm folding laundry...
...so, I hope someone has some ideas for me. :) Thanks!
nope, you gotta just keep moving them and rearranging them. Im the same as you, no cable, only i cant stream netflix yet.....soon.
and for the record i have a built in antenna on my roof(house is from the 70s) and i still have to maneuver my antenna in 2 out of 4 rooms
I'm in the same boat, b/c we are too cheap for cable we won't watch!
What I do is this: stand near the antenna. Now, hold the **Plastic part** (not touching any metal) and move the rabbit ears around. Where do they work best? Which direction? Then, when I've found it, I try to replicate where the rabbit ears are really supposed to go, manually move them and try again. Move away and take your hand off the antenna before deciding it doesn't work/does work. Works every time for me (even though I look like a freak doing it sometimes.). I rarely fuss with the loop or the turning knobs.
Oh, and I have discovered that fly-overs (airplanes, helicopters) can interfere with reception, so if it's good and then gets fuzzy, give it a minute.
@Denise P. --don't you know, the foil hat is so the aliens can't take over our brains! (maybe television will facilitate that!:) )
Yeah, we had the same issue. We found that placing it closer to the window helped... I also stole the antannae wire from an old radio I didn't use any more, stripped one end, wrapped that around one of the bunny ears, and ran that as high as we could get it to reach. It helped a little bit... but not all that much. We just found the best we could, and when we wanted to use the other channels we would adjust and turn the knob. lol.
We bought a really large antenna and put it in our attic. My hubby thread the wire to it through a hole behind the tv to connect it to the tv (similar to how people wire their houses for cable). Since it's larger we get great reception. It did take a while to get it set up though. Lots of yelling "better" and "worse". In the end, we also wound up hanging coke cans from it, it seemed to boost the reception just enough to give us a clear picture and channels don't go out. As an added bonus, no rabbit ears in the living room. We do occasionally have to reprogram the digital channels, but that's no big deal. We have been cable free for over 10 years, I don't see us ever going back.
We too have a converter box but live on a hill so life is good. There is a columnist in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that anwers questions about media on Sundays. He can't say enough good things about the Silver Sensor antenna. We already had an antenna but for the heck of it I bought the Silver Sensor. There were some things it did well but other things the regular antenna seemed to do better. We ended up buying a splitter and have BOTH attached. I think it gives all round better coverage. I think I bought my Silver Sensor through Amazon.
Thank you for this post! I thought I was alone in all the U.S. in not having cable or satellite. Our rabbit ears have two positions: The NBC and Others Position, facing the window, and The Only ABC Position, on top of the TV. We have not seen CBS in two years since the digital switchover obliterated CBS for us; we just cannot get its signal. And I'm not missing anything at all.
Do you have one of the new antennas designed for the new digital transmissions? You can get fairly cheap rabbit ears made to pick up more signals - there are lots of grades and types of rabbit ears to go with your converter box. Try upgrading your antenna. You may still have to move it -- we have a pretty good one but have to move it for certain channels and even then, if a plane flies over, the signal temporarily breaks up. We've finally gotten it down so we know the two positions we need. You might also look at whether you have anything like potted plants on the windowsill that interfere, etc. -- our antenna works best when pointed toward the windows but not if something's in the way. But I'm glad not to pay for cable or satellite and just get my PBS and local network news!
Ugh I feel your pain...we have been cable free for 7 ish years now. We do have netflix streaming and the HULU plus, I watch what few shows I care about online...ever since it went digital I have zero patience for actual tv, we have a converter box and an expensive antenna...what we get when we turn on the tv is a choppy, awful, infuriating mess!
You can find quite a few shows online the next day...I watch Glee at fox.com
I have been told that the only way to get good reception is to install an HD antenna onto your roof.
HI,
We are also cable free. Use netflix and I just heard about Hulu (need to look into that, I know nothing) We have an antenna on the roof that we bought years ago, but it is digital. Works great but we are relatively close to the signal antenna. We have rabbit ears in the kitchen because the signal from the roof antenna doesn't slipt well. (Need to look into that too :) ) It is an RCA brand was about $10 at Bestbuy and works great but also next to a window which may help. No need for cable with Netflix. Love Netflix. No gulit for paying for TV I don't watch. I did research on rabbit ears before I bought it and rated well and cheap!
Good luck.
i just told my husband what i was reading... he said what rabbit ears, they dont work! i guess you just tought us both something :)
we pay 160.00 a month for cable, phone and internet. i just took for granted that is what most people pay. maybe there are other ways....
We don't have cable either, for about 10 yrs. We used the bunny ears up until last year when we moved to the country, but we couldn't pick up any stations when we moved to where we live now. We have Hulu and Netflix, and we hooked up a 42 inch flat screen to a computer set up in an entertainment center. Looks just like a regular tv. I don't miss regular tv at all- the commercials are so annoying. And now when we decide to watch a program, we choose what we'd like to see and don't end up stuck with whatever happens to be on. Next time you're trying to watch tv, every time a commercial comes on, think about how you're being marketed to. Someone has been paid to come up with a gimmick to get you to buy and consume. And you're kind of a captive audience, because all you want to do is watch a show. And notice how the volume is noticeably louder during commercials. Grrr. So annoying. I vote for ditching the tv! :)
The technology has changed so rabbit ears and antennaes are not effective anymore. It updated in our area last year and there were announcements on the television letting us know that our reception would be poor if we didn't have a television "provider." We have cable now and I think the TV will be going soon. I think in some instances, less is more!
God bless,
M.
TV stations just don't send out the signals anymore. Since the invention of the digital box they just don't worry about fulfilling that need. Since you have the box the box should be doing all this work for you. I would say it's time to get cable or just watch with Netflix when you want to see a show. Why stress yourself over the antenna when you have a stream like that? Get rid of it and use the Netflix full-time.
