[PPRAANet] Digital TV

[Dennis N0ABC]

Guess you are referring to "Over The Air" (OTA) TV - sorta like it used 
to be "in the old days" with NTSC broadcast TV. It works well, and is 
great when your internet and/or cable service go down!

Do you have a direct line-of-sight to Cheyenne Mountain?

Do you have a 75 ohm cable entrance into your house/abode from the 
outside? (This makes things a little easier.)

There are different styles of antennas you can use, such as a yagi, or a 
"bow-tie" antenna. They can be had for around $20 or so. You'll need an 
appropriate mounting method. And you'll want it to be at least over the 
tops of heads of anyone walking nearby.

If you have that direct shot to Cheyenne Mountain, you probably will not 
need any amplification, unless you want to split the signal to different 
TVs. (A two-way coupler drops the signal by 3DB to each output. 3 or 4 
-way coupler/splitter drops the signal so much more.)

I use a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV: 2/4 Tuners 
HDFX-4K which is kinda steep at $200, plus the cost for a hefty external 
hard drive. BUT, take a look at what it can do:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092GCN9NL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It has four tuners, available through your home network (LAN) via 
ethernet or wireless connection on most any device. The HD Homerun app 
is available for most smart TVs. The recurring cost is $35/year for the 
DVR service which provides 14-day guide so you can schedule recordings, etc.

I do split the OTA signal to the Flex 4K module as well as a few TVs in 
the house, so I can watch live TV without anything else in the path.

And, then again, I also have some streaming services, on again and off 
again, since my wife likes to watch some sports stuff. (OK, I watch 'em 
too, sometimes.)

Good luck. Feel free to ask if you have other questions.

Dennis
N0ABC







On 9/12/2023 5:09 PM, ZooNana via PPRAANet wrote:
> I don't have cable. Haven't in years. I just have a small digital TV indoor antenna above my TV. It gets a great signal.
> Then I subscribe to a couple of streaming services using my Amazon fire stick. Amazon Prime comes with a streaming service. Then we have Paramount+ free with Walmart+.
>
> Leianna N7ZOO
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
>   
>    On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 4:33 PM, tim powell via PPRAANet<ppraanet at mailman.qth.net> wrote:   Hi all,  is anyone out there familiar with Digital TV?  I'm thinking I'd like to get a good attic antenna and try it.  Cable is not all it's cut out to be.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim
> WB6GTV