# Got rid of cable, now on rabbit-ears



## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

Rogers started making noises about pulling the plug on analogue cable last year. For me they actually did the deed on Wednesday. It was the kick I needed to set up the antenna I've had sitting on a shelf for months. Turns out we pick up everything we need and Rogers is now down a customer and a $42/month revenue stream.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

:encouragement: ... I wonder if shareholders are ever concerned with customers fleecing the Robbers. Management couldn't care less, that is s a known.


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

Good move. We got rid of cable (Cogeco) 3 years ago. I put up a rooftop Channel Master antenna and get all Canadian content off the CN tower.

For all other content there's Kodi


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

I remember back in the day,only had two channels,and outside antenna,B&W floor model TV

Well done


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## ykphil (Dec 13, 2009)

We haven't have cable for several years but still keep a TV in the living room mainly to hide a pathetic wall repair job I did...I tried to see if we could get at least one or two local channels and tried several antennas from BestBuy, but none found any channel. What model/brand of antenna did you use?


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

1980z28 said:


> I remember back in the day,only had two channels,and outside antenna,B&W floor model TV
> 
> Well done


I remember those days. We had a rooftop antenna with a switch so we could switch from the Ch 13 reception to the CH4 reception of the antenna. 
Our B&W 21 inch Westinghouse TV loved to eat tubes too.

A few years ago, we were on Rogers cable because I also subscribed to their cable internet...when that became very expensive, and signal drop outs occured due to old cable infrastructure in our area,
I switched to Bell Wi-Fi internet.

When that became too expensive, Iswitched to Bell satelllite and Rogers internet. Bell satellite also had LOS (loss of signal) when heavy rain storms or wet snow built upon the dish in the winter time.

When that became too expensive for me, switched to a another intenet provider,who's trouble shooting service was non-existant...dropped them too!

Finally, a couple years ago, I decided to go OTA (off the air), buying a Wineguard flat window inside antenna, and using Teksavvy for my internet and VOIP home phone.
Bought my own modem and ATA adapter, so all I pay is a small monthly fee for DSL Internet and Home phone. 

so far, at least they are more economical than all the others.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

ykphil said:


> We haven't have cable for several years but still keep a TV in the living room mainly to hide a pathetic wall repair job I did...I tried to see if we could get at least one or two local channels and tried several antennas from BestBuy, but none found any channel. What model/brand of antenna did you use?


 I use a Wineguard indoor amplified antenna. You have to find the right location for it to get the most channels. I mounted mine in a large living room window and pointed it at the camp fortune tv tower.
get about 11 stations..CBC, CTV, Global, CHCH and TVO..the rest are French stations. 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...8MUmFnHKZHBULaCY-GKKIul6F3xZSXwJ3ChoC0xfw_wcB


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## dave2012 (Feb 17, 2012)

We are almost ready to cut the cord ourselves... but very reluctantly, only because Rogers doesn't seem to want our business (see below).

We do enjoy watching mainly network tv and the odd movie BUT...

Rogers technology isn't much better than it was in the 80's more than 30 years ago. It's actually slower, the boxes totally unreliable, the 85 button remote is ridiculous and I'm tired of being forced to scroll through 999 channels to find something decent to watch. Yes I know you can program your favorites (if you have 4 or 5 hours to program the pathetic box), but they constantly shuffle channels around so that is useless. We used to get lots of HD channels, but over time most are just VHS quality. We missed the AMAs in the fall. I ended up having to watch them in VHS quality the next day. Pathetic... You find something to watch, and then spend the next 15 minutes trying to find the HD equivalent... if it exists. Recordings may or may not decide to record, and don't dare try to watch something that is currently recording! The box can't handle it and will crash. They must be using some old Intel 8086 processors in their crap boxes lol. Looking for a program? Good luck with the 1980's search feature!

I see they are starting to advertise 4K lol. How about stop broadcasting in VHS/SD first! lol.

It boils down to the Rogers experience being so frustrating that its just easier to watch Netflix, Crave, YouTube, Vimeo... ANYTHING other than cable. Just waiting for the day the Networks are available on Apple TV!

Ps. Our remotes take a beating! lol

Carverman... does you Wineguard work for all/most of the channels? According to http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/ , it looks like we should be able to get about 30 channels here OTA.

Do you have to change the antennas position for different channels? Which way do you need to face it? Thanks!

Dave


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

ykphil said:


> We haven't have cable for several years but still keep a TV in the living room mainly to hide a pathetic wall repair job I did...I tried to see if we could get at least one or two local channels and tried several antennas from BestBuy, but none found any channel. What model/brand of antenna did you use?


If you're in Yellowknife you should be able to get one station easily. Not sure if they upgraded to Digital TV there but if they did, it could be your TV is too old to receive the new type of signal.


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## Ag Driver (Dec 13, 2012)

Deleted


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

We're not big tv watchers. We have one of those amplified indoor antennas. Get 4 channels I think (obv no US ones). CBC broadcasts in digital (HD?) and so for the odd hockey and olympics, it works out fine. We have netflix that we share with another couple for whenever we want to watch a movie or tv series, which is rare.

I don't know how people have the time to watch TV.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

^


> ... I don't know how people have the time to watch TV.


 ... just as much time as they have using/surfing the internet these days.


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## AirPro (Mar 31, 2014)

I cut Bell home phone 3 years ago in favour of VOIP and replaced ExpressVu with mix of OTA and online streaming 2 years ago.

Welcome to the club, the future looks pretty bleak for the cable and satellite providers http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cord-nevers-cord-cutters-tv-1.3308072


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## ykphil (Dec 13, 2009)

cainvest said:


> If you're in Yellowknife you should be able to get one station easily. Not sure if they upgraded to Digital TV there but if they did, it could be your TV is too old to receive the new type of signal.


My shitty drywall repair behind the unplugged TV is at our condo, near downtown Calgary. I'll order that Wineguard indoor amplified antenna and see if it works at our location, if not I'll return it like I did with the others. Could also be our TV being too old to receive the new signals as you suggest.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

ykphil said:


> My shitty drywall repair behind the unplugged TV is at our condo, near downtown Calgary. I'll order that Wineguard indoor amplified antenna and see if it works at our location, if not I'll return it like I did with the others. Could also be our TV being too old to receive the new signals as you suggest.


If your TV is over 8 years old and a CRT, then it probably doesn't have a digital tuner. I think they still sell digital tuners, but they are hard to come by. That means your TV would be best suited to playing VHS tapes or DVDs.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

It doesn't need to be a CRT either. Our TV is a 2001 rear projection, no digital tuner.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

why the hell do you need cable when you can torrent for free practically everything or download some streams soft


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## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

dotnet_nerd said:


> Good move. We got rid of cable (Cogeco) 3 years ago. I put up a rooftop Channel Master antenna and get all Canadian content off the CN tower.
> 
> For all other content there's Kodi


Does the CN tower reach west of Thunder Bay?


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

LBCfan said:


> Does the CN tower reach west of Thunder Bay?


You're joking right??? TV signals are line-of sight.


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## naysmitj (Sep 16, 2014)

dotnet_nerd said:


> You're joking right??? TV signals are line-of sight.


Depends on how high a hill are you on?


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

naysmitj said:


> Depends on how high a hill are you on?


LOL!!!

Thunder Bay to Toronto, as the crow flies, is 930km.

For your antenna to see the horizon at that distance it would need to be 70km high. Thats *kilo*meters


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

If you're wondering which stations you'll get go to tvfool.com and use "Check your address ...".


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## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

Cut my cable 12 years ago ever since I got myself a digital tuner TV. First I made a homemade coat hanger antenna similar to link below.Very easy and only take couple hours to finish this. Result is I can receive CBC, CTV, TVO, GLOBAL, ONMI and City in HD after move around to find the best location for this. Later I bought a powered 'Terk' indoor antenna, which I can pull in PBS and US channel 23 and 23.1 also. You definitely need to try first. I took mine to a few friend's home and only half of them successful. Some live in highrise can even pull in ABC, CBS and NBC with the homemade one ! 

http://www.diytvantennas.com/bowtie.php


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

My son bought me an antennae for Christmas and I installed it in the attic. It wouldn't do for those who need specialty or sports channels but we're not big TV watchers. I get about 11 channels which suits me fine. My son also hooked up a computer to the TV and some networks have their own sights (eg. BNN) where you can watch their shows over the internet. Youtube also has a lot of light entertainment for those times you just want to put your mind into neutral, such as best moments from Britain's Got Talent, etc.

One thing that did seem strange is that after I initially installed the antenna I had about 14 channels. However, I figured out that I had installed them with the back side of the antennas facing the signal so I went up to the attic to change that, figuring I may as well have it right and maybe I would even pick up another channel or 2. I should have left well enough alone because now I get about 11 channels. When I'm motivated enough, I may swap it around again but we appear to get all the channels we watch so I'm in no hurry.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

dave2012 said:


> I
> 
> Carverman... does you Wineguard work for all/most of the channels? According to http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/ , it looks like we should be able to get about 30 channels here OTA.
> 
> ...


Even though it is a flat sqare shape amplified antenna, it is VERY directional.
So if you set it up just right and point it at the Camp Fortune OTA tower (North East), you will get 11 to 14 TV stations, IF they are broadcasting any content at the moment.

I used to get CHRO and CITY, but it seems that they are no longer broadcasting from the Camp Fortune tower, so I don't get them any more. 
They may be broadcasting OTA from other locations, but it's not easy to find them. 
The Wineguard really needs a good window location, unobstructed by trees, since the signals are digital. 

Moving it around is a lot of work, since you may need to extend the cable from the antenna amplifier to the digital input of your TV.

Where I am located I get 11-12 Channels with reasonably good clear reception, Ottawa CBC (ch 4), Global 1 and Global2, French (Channel 9) CHCH 11, CTV 13, TVO,l and about 4 French stations. 
There used to be 3 more, but they don't seem to be broadcasting any more from that site.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Spidey said:


> One thing that did seem strange is that after I initially installed the antenna I had about 14 channels. However, I figured out that I had installed them with the back side of the antennas facing the signal so I went up to the attic to change that, figuring I may as well have it right and maybe I would even pick up another channel or 2. I should have left well enough alone because now I get about 11 channels. When I'm motivated enough, I may swap it around again but we appear to get all the channels we watch so I'm in no hurry.



11 channels is all I get too. 
Back in November there was Zero channels OTA for about 2 weeks. . I think they were doing some technical adjustments for signal strength on the tower at camp Fortune, but never warned us.
I thought for a few days that the "big 3 TV providers" had decided to cut the broadcast signal completely, and force us to go to their cable again, 
but fortunately the signals were back after 2 weeks of no TV OTA.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

carverman said:


> Moving it around is a lot of work, since you may need to extend the cable from the antenna amplifier to the digital input of your TV.


Setting up the antenna is easier with two people, especially if you're on the roof or in the attic. I used a wireless webcam to watch the TV's signal strength meter on my tablet while I adjusted the antenna in the attic. Unfortunately, not all TVs have signal strength meters which can be a real PITA when trying to adjust the antenna for weaker stations.

Here's a station list for Ottawa -> tvfool report for Ottawa

You'll get a better idea of stations and directions of their signals if you put your actual address in with your city name.


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

I've cut my cable to the bare bones that I can still get treehouse and some specialty channels for my parents in law who are filipino. This is about $100/month. I use chromecast to stream the odd show from youtube. Probably going to add netflix this year.

has anyone come up with a way to get kids channels like treehouse or disney jr. on the cheap?


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

YouTube Kids has a bunch of kids shows. Netflix has a decent selection as well, I believe - and you can password protect profiles so your kids can't watch your profile and can be limited to kids shows only on their own profile.


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## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

We still have the tower at one house and there really is nothing missing from it, you get close to a dozen channels, some HD. Most times its more about chillin on the couch and just turning on a show. When it comes to the specialty programs, 2 min. plug in laptop, search videos or open up netflix. Don't miss $100-$200/month tv and Bell phone keeps getting trimmed but it is a necessity.


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## Hawkdog (Oct 26, 2012)

what would people do without the net nowadays 

isn't CBC getting pulled from the airwaves?


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