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[SECorBust]

DIRECT TV - new subscriber here

No local channels available in Lee County.  Provider says he can get a waiver and that I can buy them separately for 2.50 each.  It will take 30 days and they'll snail mail me whether I can buy them.  Not excited about putting a big wirey coat hanger antennae on my house to get locals.  The two games I want to see tomorrow are on ABC and time is ticking away.  Help please!!!

I am thinking about getting a converter box and rabbit ear antennae to get ABC Columbus approx 30 miles away.  Anybody got any suggestions on this?

Suggestions?  I thought I had this covered.  Why can I not get local channels?  I tried to change my address to get the programming that I needed.  He said that that was against the rules.  Dang it man.  I wanted to watch VT take their beatdown from my house!!!!!!!

[w00k]

1.  Go to a bar
2.  Google "Team 'A' vs. Team 'B'" stream

[GeauxTo]

Move.

[Robzilla]

First of all, do you have a HD tv?  If so, all you need to do is run an outside antenna or even put one in your attic.  Run it down to your HD tv and you'll actually get a better picture quality than Direct TV could probably give you. I have Dish and I bought the locals package for an extra $5.  They didn't give me the HD locals so the picture looked like garbage.  I bought an antenna and popped it up and viola I have local channels in HD.

All the local stations were forced to switch to a digital signal a few months back.  If you get an antenna with your HD tv, you should be able to pick at least some of them up including your ABC affiliate.

[damnimgood]

Two Words....Dish Network...

[WDavE]

Go to HDTV Antenna, Satellite, Internet, Mobile, Digital, UHF, VHF, RV, HD, Television Manufacturer - Winegard

Purchase the Square Shooter model number SS-2000.

I live more then 40 miles from the local transmitter sites in my hometown market. This antenna sits on my fireplace mantle right next to the TV and I get all the locals. I am a Dish Subscriber and it comes in handy when either of those services go into rain fade. I just switch to off air.

If your TV does not have a ATSC receiver built in you will need one of the digital convertor boxes.

QAM is for tuning cable channels and NTSC was the old analog.

For friends and relatives I have installed about thirty of these antennas. The worse thing that I have had to make it work is to place it in the attic at one location. Height and receiver level is what you have to deal with.

Most antennas have look angle of about 15 degrees on either side of the front of the antenna. (Think of an inverted triangle look out from the front of the antenna to where ever the stations are) This Winegard antenna has a beam width of 61 degrees. Which is very good if all the stations in your market are not located in the same general direction from your house.

This antenna can also mount on your current dish mount.


The rules for getting waivers for your locals was governed by the big four networks and the local stations have no say. Originally, both Dish and Direct were providing out of market network feeds to their subscribers which was illegal and they knew it. The big four (ABC,CBS,NBC and Fox) sued them and won. The rules for the granting waivers was written by the networks. I am a engineer by trade and also a registered  consulting engineer with the FCC and my mother stayed pissed at me for several years because I could get her one.:brick:
Its very hard to prove you need a waiver and cost quite a bit to have done.

One more thing: They are now installing this antenna in a lot of RV's due to their small size and ease of tuning. You might find one local to buy at a RV dealership.

Edited by WDavE, 04 September 2009 - 10:48 AM.

[Nikon]

Get digital cable?

Cable > any other source, ALL DAY!

[WDavE]

I moved off cable... After Ivan my cable did not come back for four weeks. No power, No cable. My existing outdoor antenna also got demolished.

With Dish/Direct?SquareShooter I can power the dish and antenna up via my generator.

The antenna that I listed about is an indoor/outdoor antenna that works well indoors. My house would have to blow completely down before it became useless.

[SECorBust]

Thanks WDavE I think I'll try the ss-2000 even if I have to Jerry rig it up for tomorrow.

[aufan]

Charter has people by the balls here in lee county. Like everybody said--either go to cable or get a new hdtv that has a tuner--it will pick up on its own

[jdevers]

All of these options require too much time, go to AntennaWeb, determine which stations you can get from your address ( I searched for Opelika and was pretty amazed to not see ANY local stations...but I obviously don't know you exact address), if there are UHF ABC stations available immediately go to Opelika or Auburn whichever has the nearest Radio Shack and buy 40" Boom Length, 17 Elements Outdoor Antenna for UHF-Only - RadioShack.com and the converter to make it coax and point it where Antennnaweb said to.

Shame on you for not being prepared for college football season. =)  I put this same antenna up several years ago in our attic during July because I wanted to make sure I had all the bugs ironed out before the season started.  Since then Dish offers our locals in HD so it isn't an issue.

[THE_KRIEG]

go to a bar homie!

[WDavE]

SECorBust said:

Thanks WDavE I think I'll try the ss-2000 even if I have to Jerry rig it up for tomorrow.

You won't have to.

Two cables to hook up you need only know in which direction the station your interested is located from your house.

I have had them work while sitting on the floor and just facing the right way.

If your tuner or TV has a signal strength meter you just tune it to get max. signal. This antenna weighs about two pounds and is about 1 foot by 1.5 rectangle.

This was originally designed for the military and then they found out it worked well in TV reception with a few modifications.

That market sits right between two different markets. Montgomery and Columbus.

It is almost 50-50 to which market gets credit for those counties between each rating book.

Since most of the Montgomery broadcast towers are located south of Montgomery (12,8,32). I would probably try to receive the Columbus ones.

P.S. I built the channel 8 and 32 towers and stations. WKAB and WAKA

Edited by WDavE, 04 September 2009 - 04:17 PM.

[Ralliartist]

how do you think I feel? I live in germany, all I get is AFN.

[Tider27]

Digital cable is the best way to go honestly, you get your local channels plus everything else dish offers.