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Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna (Paywall)
Wall Street Journal ^ | 8/2/2017 | Ryan Knutson

Posted on 08/03/2017 5:04:40 PM PDT by RightGeek

Cord-cutters accustomed to watching shows online are often shocked that $20 ‘rabbit ears’ pluck signals from the air; is this legal?

“I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists,” says Mr. Sisco, 28 years old. “It’s been awesome. It doesn’t log out and it doesn’t skip.”

Let’s hear a round of applause for TV antennas, often called “rabbit ears,” a technology invented roughly seven decades ago, long before there was even a cord to be cut, which had been consigned to the technology trash can along with cassette tapes and VCRs.

The antenna is mounting a quiet comeback, propelled by a generation that never knew life before cable television, and who primarily watch Netflix , Hulu and HBO via the internet. Antenna sales in the U.S. are projected to rise 7% in 2017 to nearly 8 million units, according to the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group.

Mr. Sisco, an M.B.A. student in Provo, Utah, made his discovery after inviting friends over to watch the Super Bowl in 2014. The online stream he found to watch the game didn’t have regular commercials—disappointing half of his guests who were only interested in the ads.

“An antenna was not even on my radar,” he says. He went online and discovered he could buy one for $20 and watch major networks like ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS free.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: AFreeBird

Old DVD players with tuners in them will work to bring in stations on a TV that has no tuner.


61 posted on 08/03/2017 6:08:25 PM PDT by Rebelbase (Climate Change: The Imminent Crisis That Never Arrives and the gravy train that never ends.)
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To: RightGeek
I used to be able to bring in Baton Rouge La. form 1300 miles away until uncle Sam, the crazy uncle in the attic, destroyed TV reception. Now there is one station in spanish which does me no good.
62 posted on 08/03/2017 6:09:16 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Charles Martel

Sorry

Radio Shack went bust.

And before you ask:

No

You can’t go there and test your vacuum tubes.


63 posted on 08/03/2017 6:10:52 PM PDT by NY.SS-Bar9 (Those that vote for a living outnumber those that work for one.)
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To: Salvation

I have a Terk antenna on top of my tv($40 at Walmart),

and I get the big four.... ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, plus about 7 other rinky dink channels. I’m happy with it.

I can watch most sports, local news and weather, Judge Judy, and one of the rinky dink channels gives me my Law&Oder Criminal Intent fix.

Me TV also gives me Columbo and Perry Mason. lol.

It helps that I have a big window in my TV room.


64 posted on 08/03/2017 6:12:56 PM PDT by Conserv
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To: Charles Martel

Former owners of our home had one like that, wish we had not moved it. We still have the tower. If only I could figure out how to get the antenna channels from the tower to current TV’s. We get awful reception.


65 posted on 08/03/2017 6:14:26 PM PDT by madison10
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To: yarddog

We have a boat in Ventura Harbor with 2 tvs and 2 antennas. They get a heckuva lot of channels. Problem is most of them are Mexican, Indian, and Asian. Lol. We get a few of the network channels and some good ones with old shows on them. Our fave channel is ION.


66 posted on 08/03/2017 6:14:33 PM PDT by sheana
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To: Dilbert San Diego

We get digital channels with our antenna.


67 posted on 08/03/2017 6:15:31 PM PDT by sheana
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To: RightGeek

Probably illegal.


68 posted on 08/03/2017 6:15:33 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (I don't want better government; I want much less of it.)
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To: RightGeek

Free TV!?!

No...you pay for it in Brain Cells!


69 posted on 08/03/2017 6:23:01 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: PAR35

You serious? Or joking?

Lots of disposable income, excellent marketing let bottled water make inroads. It used to be an expensive status symbol and kept moving toward mass market.


70 posted on 08/03/2017 6:23:07 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Conserv

I use a Terk set outside the companionway on the deck of our boat. We get quite a few channels on it. Subtract the foreign stations and religious channels and it’s probably about 10


71 posted on 08/03/2017 6:23:10 PM PDT by sheana
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To: Charles Martel

I remember the one growing up in the 80s.

IIRC, it went away in 93 or 94 when they got a dish.


72 posted on 08/03/2017 6:28:18 PM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: Carthego delenda est

Don’t forget that flyback transformer.


73 posted on 08/03/2017 6:30:43 PM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: madison10
This should give you some idea of how to set up the antenna tower. In many cases, an electric rotor isn't needed - many of the HDTV antennas are omnidirectional. An antenna tuned for longer distance (and an electric rotor) may be needed if you're really out in the sticks.
74 posted on 08/03/2017 6:34:34 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Progressives are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
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To: stylin19a

Newer TVs are digital they have digital tuners channel scanners etc. Over the air TV is digital and of higher quality, definition then cable or satellite because they do not have to compress the signal.

I have a good antenna about 30 feet in the air. It pulls in over 20 channels - all the main stations plus.


75 posted on 08/03/2017 6:35:48 PM PDT by Mechanicos
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

When water fountains were segregated, everyone drank from the water fountains. When integration came, businesses tried those water fountains with the little pointed bottom cups. Then folks migrated to the bottles. Fluoridation may have been a minor factor.

Lunch counters/Soda Fountains used to have glasses. Integration started, and some of the storekeepers would throw away the glasses that certain of the customers used. That’s why fast food joint went to paper cups.


76 posted on 08/03/2017 6:35:51 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: AFreeBird

One of my kids once asked me if cars had fins when I was little. I said “Yep.”

And I remember a gen+exer saying “Paul McCartney was in a band before WINGS?”


77 posted on 08/03/2017 6:38:52 PM PDT by Terry Mross (Liver spots And blood thinners.)
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To: NY.SS-Bar9; Charles Martel

There are still 70 Radio Shack stores open and you can also buy online:

http://investorplace.com/2017/06/radioshack-store-closings-2017-see-list-of-70-locations-that-will-remain-open/

https://www.radioshack.com/

Not saying it’s the best place to go.


78 posted on 08/03/2017 6:39:25 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Kill: TWITTER, FACEBOOK, CNN, ESPN, NFL, NPR)
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My house being equidistant within Hartford, Providence, Worcester and New London, my extreme deep fringe system with rotor and preamp picks up +40 stations. All digital and high signal strength. Buried RG-216/U to get it from the shed roof out back into the house, about zero loss even with high UHF. Watching the Dallas v Arizona football game on it now while watching the Red Sox on Atlantic BroadBand.


79 posted on 08/03/2017 6:41:27 PM PDT by USCG SimTech
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To: RightGeek
Boy will they . be shocked at this!

[PDF] Yagi antenna design - NIST Page

DIY 4G LTE Yagi Antenna in 10 Steps for $10 http://www.k7mem.com/Electronic_Notebook/antennas/yagi_vhf.html

80 posted on 08/03/2017 6:52:46 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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