What equipment do I need to connect my newish TV w/o cable??

[Doctor_J]

I decided to ditch my $45/mo cable bill, watch broadcast only. So I went downstairs and ripped the FM antenna off my stereo, thinking that would work. I look at the back of the TV, and the only connection is a coax (cable) socket. I expected to find two little screws on which to place the wires of my antenna. What am I missing?

[TrueAmerican]

1. this

[Dr.Phool]

2. You can buy an adapter

that will hook up the two. But, I doubt that the FM antenna will do much good. They're designed for different frequencies.

[AndyTiedye]

13. If It's just the twinlead antenna that comes with most FM receivers

it actually will work OK (but not great) for TV.
You'd need that adapter.

Rabbit ears may be more convenient, and won't cost much more than
the adapter. They will probably come with a coax plug, but make sure.

A real antenna on the roof would help if the stations are far away, of course.

I had one hanging from a rope up in a redwood tree for a while.
I'll probably try that again, since I'm not getting good enough
receiption for HDTV.

[short bus president]

3. A TV antenna.

;-)

On a modern set, I think you need a coaxial cable type plug for yer antenna. They don't do the little screws anymore.

[TrueAmerican]

4. Where is your location

Are all or most your stations VHF? If not you'll probably need a UHF antenna.

[Trajan]

5. You need either ...

1) Set of Rabbit Ears (with a 75 Ohm coax connection)

or ...

2) A 300 Ohm (flatline) to 75 Ohm (Coax) adapter .. available at most Radio Shacks, Home Depots, et al ...

BEST option: On the Roof Antenna with 'many' elements, and an RF amplifier for signal boost .. just in case ....

[TrueAmerican]

6. Do you have a cable modem?

If so, sometimes you can split the input to the cable modem and hook up your TV too. You'll get basic cable if your cable company was too cheap to put in a filter. ;)

[jellybelly]

7. why not get broadcast cable?

It's only $8.00 a month...the quality is good...you get the most basic channels...

[TrueAmerican]

8. Not all cable companies provide that service

A lot of the basic cable systems today start out at 20-35 dollars a month for basic.

[jellybelly]

12. when I called up for a cable connection,

the salesman told me that Cablevision didn't offer Broadcast cable anymore, and that cable packages started at $30...

Well, he was LYING!!!:grr: I called back and another (honest) salesperson told me that a lot of workers lie about broadcast cable service because they don't make a commission when a customer chooses that service. They only make commissions on packages higher than $30...always double check...

[Doctor_J]

9. thanks, all

I will try these.

[TrueAmerican]

10. Plug in your address at this web site and it'll tell you what antenna you

need.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

[AndyTiedye]

14. Antennaweb Can be Wildly Optimistic

Antennaweb says I should be able to pick up a dozen HDTV stations.
Not one is strong enough to lock onto the signal.

Not nearly as many analog stations as they say, either, and I'm
using a roof antenna in their deep-fringe catgegory and an amplifier.

[TrueAmerican]

15. Well,

The stations are still doing a lot of testing and most are not fully powered. It's 2005, I think they were all suppose to be online 2 years ago.

Give it two more years, you'll get your HDTV.

[karlrschneider]

11. Your results will vary depending where in IL you are, if in/near Chicago,

you can get a little gadget like the one shown by the DUer in post #1, it's called a "balun". If you're more than 20 miles from the broadcast stations, you'll probably need something more than what you have, like an outdoor antenna (Probably Radio Shack your most convenient if not least cost source) You can rig a 'makeshift' antenna...just get a 6 to 8 foot long piece of thin wire, strip off about 1/4 inch of the insulation and poke it into the little tiny hole in the center of the "F" coax connector and move the wire around while watching TV, it might work well enough if you're close to the transmitters to suit you! :D

edit: Forgot to mention, you will need to get into your TV's "setup" and change the "input" from CABLE to ANTENNA, if you don't do this you won't be able to get all broadcast channels.

[Doctor_J]

16. OK, i found a little gizmo and hooked it up. Now..

Thanks, TrueAmerican & KFS. The FM ant actually works OK. I am near enough to chicago to get viewable quality on 6-7 channels.

Now, how do I hook up rabbit ears AND a UHF ant with only one input?

[TrueAmerican]

17. A lot of indoor antennas

have both VHF (2-13) and UHF (14 and above) built in . Make sure your TV band selection is set up for over the air and not cable. If you don't have that selected, you will never see the UHF channels. If you are comfortable with an indoor antenna, this one might work for you.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QXXF/qid=1104874611/sr=8-12/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i5_xgl23/102-5104234-3980967?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846

For best reception, an outdoor antenna is a must.