I plan to be eliminating my Satellite TV system very soon. I don't use it enough to justify the now $150 per month cost. Just like Cable TV, the price rises every year. I recall when I started my full-in cost was much less than $90, including HBO and Showtime. It seemed reasonable then, especially thinking I might occasionally watch Real Time with Bill Maher or the Untold History of the USA. But I haven't watched much of anything in the past 5 years.
In fact, most months I've owned it, I'd never even turned it on. TV doesn't really resonate with me anymore. I mostly listen to music and browse the internet, not even watching online videos very much.
But I'm loath to give anything up. Over the years (but not so much in the past 10) I've watched the PBS station quite a lot. I would certainly never give that up.
When I started with Dish network, they only offered HD for local channels IF you used an OTA receiver. That is no longer true, they also provide local channels in HD through the Satellite system now. But I'd gotten used to the OTA receiver and demanded the OTA "option" when they forced me to upgrade about 5 years ago.
I created an antenna just for the PBS station. It's a folded wire dipole, similar to what is commonly used for FM tuners (which I still love and use daily), except cut to the length required for the PBS TV station. I calculated the exact length required as 29 inches, and it has always worked great tacked to the wall in my kitchen about 7 feet high. Perfect reception at strength in the 90's with no dropouts. Before when I used a rabbit ears on top of the CRT TV I did get occasional dropouts, so my folded wire antenna is better.
I only intended the antenna for the PBS station, but soon discovered it could pick up all the other local channels also. But I watched the other channels so infrequently I didn't realize until this week that they have frequent dropouts.
The PBS transmitter is only 5 miles away, and on VHF channel 9, so my folded wire dipole works perfectly. It turns out nearly all the other channels are UHF channels despite their old-timey visible channel assignments.
Self-described channel 12 also transmits on its original VHF frequency corresponding to channel 12.
But the other local TV channels are all UHF, despite the numbers they describe themselves as. (OTA TV takes care of this through some magic you can read about elsewhere.)
Here are the real channel assignments:
"Channel 4" really transmits on UHF channel 48
"Channel 5" really transmits on UHF channel 39
"Channel 29" really transmits on UHF channel 30 (?)
So it's no wonder that my 29 inch wire doesn't pick up the UHF channels very well. It's also orientated in the wrong direction for them, which doesn't help.
Here is the FCC channel finder giving info on all the local channels, including the actual channel they broadcast on and the location of the transmitter. It turns out most TV channels are transmitted from the south relative to where I live. I had erroneously believed many of them were to the west, based on the locations of their studios.
***** Testing the Clearstream 2V
So, I put the Clearsteam 2V atop my china cabinet, the best perch in the kitchen. The width of the VHF dipole means I must twist it to the southwest, whereas straight south would be the optimal angle for stations from my house.
The VHF reception is slightly worse than the twinlead dipole I've had attached to the wall in a perhaps somewhat more optimal location. I'm mainly saying that because my favorite Channel 9 has dropped down into the 60's of signal strength, but somehow it still looks fine. On my dipole I get middle 70's through low 80's. Somehow my PBS station gets perfect reception with signal strength in the 60's, whereas commercial stations around me seem to need 70's or better to keep from having dropouts.
Meanwhile the other VHF channel Channel 12 gets higher numbers, now up to the middle 80's. And it comes in fine, but it came in fine before.
The UHF channels I couldn't get now come in OK, mostly, but I'm still getting occasional dropouts on Channel 4 and very rare dropouts on Channel 5.
I'm thinking of removing the VHF part of the antenna...which is merely being combined with the UHF part through a built-in combiner...and then use my old dipole for VHF stations, and combine it through an external combiner with the UHF from the clearstream. That would give me the ability to rotate the clearstream for better reception. Rotating and perhaps raising the Clearstream might help with those UHF stations it has trouble with. But for the absolute best reception, it might need to be moved to the center of the wall near where my VHF antenna is.
[Note: I'm doing these tests with my old Dish receiver with the optional OTA module. This is DTV technology from about 2012. It's possible the Tivo OTA from 2013 might be slightly better. I'm seriously hoping it isn't worse.]
And, if I move the relatively bulky Clearstream to the center of the wall, it will be even more ugly in my kitchen.
If I'm going to attach UHF antenna to the wall, it would be much nicer for it to be flat, like my Channel Master flat antenna, or perhaps a simple loop UHF antenna, or a
home made "pennyloop" antenna which is apparently the basic design of the Clearstream 2V.
Way back when I started with OTA digital TV in 2009 which was using my first Dish receiver which had OTA built-in as standard equipment, I did ultimately use separate UHF and VHF antennas, combined with a VHF/UHF combiner I still have. (It is absolutely necessary to use the combiner, else the two antennas will interfere and possibly cancel each other out. It is NOT a simple splitter being used "in reverse.")
At the time I had a little indoor yagi type UHF antenna. I still have that, somewhere, and it might be better than the Clearstream 2V for UHF.
Here is some information on the simple single loop antennas, like the ones that used to come with every TV. They give a formula for optimal loop diameter, with the instructions to set the loop for the weakest useable signal, and probably the rest will be OK.
The formula is
diameter = 4537 / (6*N+389)
My weakest signal is for "Channel 4" which is actually channel 48. So my optimal loop diameter would be:
6.7 inches
For Channel 30, the optimal loop diameter is:
8 inches
Apparently 7.5 inches is the common size of loop antennas prepackaged with TV sets. Some guy named Tandy figured out he could sell a piece of wire bent into this shape and further looped to make two screw terminals to attach to the 300 ohm UHF terminals on the back of TV sets (then). Next thing, he got so rich he bought Radio Shack.
One thing I've seen different answers to is "which way the loop should be arranged." Some say the loop should look at the station edgewise, because the loop responds to the electric field.
Wikipedia answers this question well. There are large loops and small loops. Large loops are self-resonant to the desired frequency (like the ones I just calculated) and have maximum response perpendicular to the plane of the loop. Small loops are much smaller than would be required for self-resonance and require capacitor tuning, and have maximum response within the plane of the loop--going horizontal if the feedline is at top or bottom, and vertical if the feedline is to the sides.
What you actually get in many of these flat antennas is something like a square loop with bowties in the middle. Bowties and other features can be added to optimize various aspects of the performance.
However, a simple loop by itself has wide band performance enough for channels 14-69, according to some on this thread.
Here is a discussion of the losses associated with different cables, adapters, and double female "barrel" connectors.
Results:
As I expected, my Channelmaster "Flatenna" works best very close to my existing Channel 9 folded dipole on the north wall of the kitchen. Apparently any antenna would have to be around there to work well. Atop the china cabinet, where I had plopped the Clearstream 2V, is not a good location.
There are similar good locations to the right of the folded dipole. But that is where I plan to add a pot rack in the future.
I got very good results combining the $20 Flatenna with my $2 modified folded dipole through a $10 "VHF/UHF" combiner. I decided to go with that combination after figuring out how to securely attach the flatenna to the wall (the "self adhesive" bits included were not good for that, but they were potentially good putting some space between the wall and the antenna, as is required because the bottom piece where the coax is attached bulges out otherwise). I secured the top of the antenna with double stick "carpet tape" which is very secure, and the bottom part with big blobs of Blu Tac which helped to provide the required distance matching the coax attachment bulge. And then, the coax itself goes through 3 AV staples, each of which could potentially hold the antenna on the wall if everything else failed.
Fearing that I would not be able to attach the Channelmaster to the wall, I had also purchased the single loop Clearstream model, which I intended to attach using a nylon strip wrapped around the top of the loop and nailed to the wall. (I trust nails far more than stickum.) However, that would be much more ugly than what I have now, which I (anyway) think is OK.
With this combination of antennas the Dish OTA receiver module was able to pick up all the local stations I had been aware of and cared about. There were occasional dropouts on "Channel 4" (actually transmitted on UHF channel 48) and even one occurred on "Channel 5" (UHF channel 39) though the strength on channel 5 was shown as 83-87 well beyond the point at which dropouts never occur on VHF channel 9.
When I switched over the the OTA receiver of my new TiVo Romio OTA, it was even better. I got zero dropouts on every channel, even channels I had not previously dreamed of picking up, such as 17, 35, and 60 (!).
In retrospect, it was a good thing I did my antenna tuning using the less-sensitive Dish OTA receiver because that permitted me to optimize the antenna better than the TiVo apparently needs. Also, the TiVO receiver doesn't show signal strength readouts as easily as the Dish OTA does.
After doing the antenna fine tuning, I cancelled my Dish service, now costing $150 per month. Cancelling the service required me to figure out "the receiver number" (shown on one particular info screen prefaced with R0, on the back of the Dish box itself which required me to make an iPhone photo in order to read, and actually, conveniently, on the top of the Dish box). I also had to re-figure the email address I had used to register, and my password, a process that took about 30 minutes. After doing all that, I found out I could not cancel service on the website anyway. I had to make a phone call and wait on hold for 20 minutes. In order to do that, I first had to figure out how to use the speakerphone feature of my iPhone, because I couldn't bear to hold the phone to my ear listening to the Dish advertisements for that long. Finally, once I got ahold of the Dish closing agent, I had to argue for another 15 minutes to actually get them to do the cancellation. As has happened many times before, they want to know why you are cancelling (because it costs so much, of course) and then they try to get you to stay on by offering lower and lower (temporary) prices.
It's too easy to say I'll never get a service like that again. I know (because they told me) that I've been a dish customer for 13 years, which, according to them, shows my "satisfaction" and "loyalty." Really, it shows my stupidity and unwillingness to confront the devil and get the job done. I've possibly spent around $15,000 on a service which has certainly not provided $15,000 of satisfaction. I'd barely used it at all for most of those 13 years, knowing full well I could get my favorite channel OTA for free.
I felt pretty much the same way when I cancelled my first Cable TV service in 1992. And yet, I signed up for cable again only two years later, and then cancelled that twice and got Dish.
Now I get about 60 channels (including subchannels) for "free forever" with a $499 investment in the receiver/recorder/menu hardware+software.
But, I'm strongly thinking about getting ad free Hulu for $11.99 per month. THAT's cheap enough not to worry about, and it gives any-time access to as vast an amount of programming as is available through many cable subscriptions. And their series Handmaiden's Tale.
I'm very happy so far in my first day's experience with TiVO. But I didn't include TiVO in the title of this post because Channelmaster makes a similar OTA device, which Consumer Reports basically said was as good as the TiVO at lower cost. Also many TiVO models are designed for cable or network and do not have OTA capability at all.
TiVO would be especially expensive if you buy the service separately, either by the month or lifetime. I'm very lucky in getting the Romio OTA basically at closeout pricing with lifetime service included. Romio is said to be "2013 technology" by some. However my unit is stamped with a "January 2018" manufacturing date code on the back.
AntennaWeb shows that I may be able to receive 61 channels from 23 over-the-air stations.
Update: It is now clear that "Channel 4" (actually UHF #48) is still experiencing intermittent pixelization. About every 3 minutes today. Perhaps it depends on weather. I may wish to test the one-loop Clearstream antenna mounted closer to my VHF antenna to fix it. I also have ordered new RG6 coax and a more expensive VHF/UHF combiner which might help.
But I also see from Antennaweb that Channel 4 is going to change it's frequency anyway next year.
It's looking like the TiVO will pixelize if there is a slight problem, but avoid dropping out. In comparison, the Dish OTA receiver simply drops out, for a minimum of about 5 seconds, when a problem occurs. I've never seen much pixelization with the Dish receiver. The dropouts are FAR more annoying, and perhaps that is the point, to make you think that OTA is useless and you must use the Satellite service.
Meanwhile, I've determined that TiVO will not apparently let me add the LinkTV apps which are available for AppleTV and Roku. It has about 30 built-in apps (including Hulu, HBO Now, and Youtube) and you have to make do with those (and others they might add in future). However I have also determined that LinkTV has many many programs (more than I could ever watch...) on Youtube and I can watch them through the TiVo that way. Also, I can watch DemocracyNow! segments on Youtube (but I haven't seen entire shows yet...perhaps if I "Subscribe" I will see them).
