Is this a TV Broadcast antenna?

[prcguy]

I can't speak for the rest of my Yankee countrymen, but my disdain for cable (and satellite tv) companies comes from the entitlement and greed they display.

I don't mind for paying for content, but I draw the line at paying for content that I don't want. Our cable and satellite providers like to "bundle" channel packages. Many of these bundles include (for instance) ESPN channels. I have no interest in sports, so I never watch ESPN, even though I'm paying for it. By bundling, the providers spread the cost of a service across the entire client base rather than just charge those who want a particular service which would increase the cost substantially.

The cable and satellite companies I've dealt with raise rates without justification. The also have abysmal customer service--usually with offshore call takers who just read from a trouble tree. I dropped my Dish Network subscription earlier this year partly because I was tired of paying for a lot of channels I never watch (ESPN, for example), but also because of poor service.

I was having problems with the signal frequently freezing. I rebooted boxes, checked connections, ran onboard diagnostics. My conclusion was this was caused by a problem with the LNBs, but it was intermittent so I couldn't run the diagnostics while the on screen picture was frozen. I called the Dish service desk and spoke with an offshore representative reading a script, but with no technical knowledge.

After he ran his diagnostics which showed everything normal, I explained my suspicion that the problem was probably at the LNBs and a technician needs to make a house call. He was unconvinced so I dropped the service.

Originally, I got premium services (HBO, Netflix) via the Dish box, but changed over to a FireTV stick several years ago. The picture quality is far better. The only thing I was really watching on Dish was my local channels (my home isn't line of sight to the tv transmitters' location, so OTA tv isn't an option). The minimum channel package I could get from Dish that included my local channels was about $100 a month.

Part of my anger is directed at the content providers. The local tv channels are available free OTA, but they charge cable companies "carriage fees" to rebroadcast their signals. They also reap the benefits of having cable subscribers viewing habits counted in viewership surveys.

It costs broadcasters far less to maintain a streaming app than to maintain mountaintop transmitter facilities so why not stream all content (which many AM/FM broadcast stations already do) and benefit from the increased viewership?

I'll put in my relevant post before going sideways and I'll complain about the antenna specs in the first post. This is a fairly expensive antenna and its only 11dBi gain and it goes to 806MHz, the old UHF TV frequency range before cell phones took over some of the band. Today the band only goes up to about 608MHz, so some of the cost of this antenna is wasted. And usually cable TV headends have some satellite dishes to bring in other programming and that's a lot of shelter space for just off air TV reception.

Now on to the off topic complaints. I worked for the largest US satellite TV provider for 18yrs and lived through the local into local fiasco where the US Gov demanded DirecTV carry local channels in about 230 TV markets across the US. This coast DirecTV in the billions of $$ to launch extra satellites to carry all this capacity, not to mention lots of ground stations that were built and DirecTV built up the largest private fiber ring around the entire US, only phone companies like ATT and Verizon were bigger. This was to partially distribute local channels from TV stations to uplink centers, and it later handled other tasks.

So a company is forced by the Govt to spend billions of $$ they never signed up for and you complain you have to pay a little to get local channels on your satellite? By design DirecTV and Dish were always about bundled packages to keep their content provider costs down otherwise the price of some content to DirecTV would go through the roof. Its about quantity pricing and you sign a deal to get a better price for so many million viewers of a particular program or channel. If DirecTV or Dish only sold you a few channels to watch the price of most channels from the providers would go way up for everyone else. And the satellite providers have already invested billions of $$ in satellites and ground stations to carry the full offered lineup and not just the few channels you might want, so how are they to break even if they don't bundle programming?

 

[kc2asb]

I disagree with "The signal is either there, or it's not". I've been watching OTA ATSC 1.0 since they began broadcasting in it (long before the June 9, 2009 death of NTSC). You can have pixelation or other conditions where you are not (yet) at the "cliff". If you are going to watch OTA, you must be serious about it. Unless near the transmitter, no "rabbit ears" or phony antennas. Put up a real antenna outside, suited for the job, and point it down the throat of what you want to receive.

Good point about the pixelation - I have seen that myself. However, analog provides much more leeway on weak signal reception. Often, it did not require elaborate antennas for good reception, except in distant, fringe areas.

Now, an outdoor antenna is required in locations where a simpler antenna may have sufficed before. I live a mere 5 miles from NYC. Before digital OTA, the cheap antenna that came with the set provided perfect reception, even in the basement. Now, reception is spotty even on the top floor of the house. So, we get our local channels over FIOS.

Most people do not want to deal with an outdoor antenna.

 

[gmclam]

Now, an outdoor antenna is required in locations where a simpler antenna may have sufficed before. I live a mere 5 miles from NYC. Before digital OTA, the cheap antenna that came with the set provided perfect reception, even in the basement. Now, reception is spotty even on the top floor of the house. So, we get our local channels over FIOS.

Most people do not want to deal with an outdoor antenna.

If you could get by with an indoor antenna before the ATSC transition, you can likely get by with one afterwards. Often the issue is your antenna is NOT for the correct frequency. That station that used to be on physical VHF channel 7, might still call itself channel 7; but now could be on low-band or UHF.

Since the original transition to ATSC (1.0), the number of physical channels being used for OTA have been reduced. But that still means to get it all you'll need an antenna that covers from VHF channels 2-13 and UHF channels 14-36.

I'd much rather deal with an antenna (regardless of location) than I would monthly cable bills. And if the transition to ATSC 3.0 continues as planned with DRM, it won't matter as I won't continue to watch at all.

 

[kc2asb]

I'd much rather deal with an antenna (regardless of location) than I would monthly cable bills. And if the transition to ATSC 3.0 continues as planned with DRM, it won't matter as I won't continue to watch at all.

Will that require an internet connection to watch? I barely watch any TV as it is now and don't feel as if I'm missing anything.

 

[KevinC]

I think the OP got his question answered. Closing.