Does anything here give you ideas..

"Most of the television we watch is available free, over the air and in high definition to boot. A simple antenna will get you all of the major networks plus other regional channels. What does that equal? Most key sporting events and every network TV show."

The catch: Your reception depends on how close you are to a TV tower. Generally, roof antennae fare better than the indoor variety.

See the rest of the article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550304577138841278154700.html

search youtube for coathanger antenna

Never heard of it, check this out!

A Stealthy HF Coat Hanger Antenna

http://www.kr1st.com/hfcoath.htm

A good article Zep :~) The price is right and technical requirements are minimal it seems.

I suspect he is rather more than just a television junkie regarding knowledge though. I wonder what those other 5 wires control? One looks like a ground wire (third from the left)

To say that I am disappointed in the quality of the responses to this post would be an understatement. Disgusted would be a more accurate description.

There were many different aspects to look at in this situation yet instead we had a few comments on a side issue of minimum value... a coat hanger antenna. No comments on other players in this field like Walmart, blockbuster etc or plus or minus points on the extent of Netflix's database etc or the role that Roku is playing plus many other issues.

I expected a heck of a lot more from this crowd and it was not forthcoming. Too bad I guess.

I for one seldom watch TV, so this thread had little or no interest to me even though I read it thoroughly. For TV (or entertainment) fiends, there seemed to be some good ideas. Not for me.

Paulsm wrote:- To say that I am disappointed in the quality of the responses to this post would be an understatement. Disgusted would be a more accurate description.

I read your piece as more of a blog than a plea for help. You seem to have researched the issue quite well. Having skimmed through a second time I fail to find a question mark following any comments you made, thus the blog aspect.

A couple of interesting items I have discovered about the Roku box.

One - You can go to the computer and on the netflix website select particular channels to add to your instant q. They will then display when you bring up your wireless network with the netflix channel.

Two - Private channels are allowed on Roku. This greatly increases the selection process and opens the door for making cutting the cord to cable so much easier.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the trend to move away from cable. What they offer these days for a lot of money is pure garbage.

In the original post, I got the impression that MLB & football were important to you...but you never mentioned them again. Now that baseball is in full swing, how is that working out for you? I don't know how much baseball you watch, but I watch a lot-most of it thru FS Detroit & FS Ohio. If I cut the cord I would lose that, and I'm going to make a guess that none of that content is available on the alternatives you mentioned. Am I wrong? I also watch a lot of college football, most of it on ESPN/ESPN2 and I would also lose that if I cut the cord. If not for sports, I might be willing to not only cut the cord but forget about the alternatives as well. With the current level of program quality and the amount of ads we have to endure, watching television is almost not worth it anymore.

I think the most common cable alternative people use is one of the satellite providers, Dish or Direct. Many phone companies also offer a TV signal.

Everyone has different spending priorities. I hate cliches, but for the same money as that daily coffee at Starbucks or for what people pay for their cell phones, you can have cable or satellite service.

Or search youtube for how to make a digital tv ccoat hanger antenna.

I use a Roku with Netflix and Hulu Plus.
Hulu Plus has a lot of shows that are web only. So I plan on
hooking up a computer to my TV and watching them that way.
My TV has a VGA input to use it as a 42inch monitor.

I can offer a posting I copied from Facebook.
It was started by my computer guy. David's Computers
Now that i' ve cut the cord on satellite, I'm using my old iPhones as tv receivers to watch tv shows recorded to my Mac (TiVo-like). I found a cool app called Tango remote to control fast forward, pause, play, and volume. Works really well.

David's Computers
Its a cheap Chinese built antenna. (Supersonic sc609)Which of course I sell at the store. I sell them for $40, but can be found on the web for lots of different prices. It is rated for 120 miles, It has a small power amp and outputs to 2 tvs out of the box. I've spent hours testing this setup and found tons of tweaks to perfect the signal. It almost doesn't matter what antenna you use. You can NOT install any of them on this side of the mountain without an amp. Walmart sells the amps for $24.98. I then split the signal coming out again to however many tvs you have. (I used the existing wiring that was originally installed in my house for cable tv and connected the output from the amp to the input on the splitter.) The most crucial part of the install is the angle at which you mount the antenna. Almost all tv stations in Chattanooga are between 168-172 degrees on a compass, so that is where you start (point the front of the antenna there) then do the tilting. Almost all antennas are designed to be mounted at 90 degrees. It does not get enough exposure to the signal at that angle even with an amp. I have found the angle that works for me is to tilt it back about 45 degrees then tilt to the right at 45 degrees as well. I found a website that graphs this signal ratio pretty well. www.tvfool.com

(Wish I had found it before all this work, but that's the way it goes.) These angles vary depending on where you are. Most tvs have a strength meter so you can perfect the exact angle to your setting. Hope this helps. I have less than $100 in my setup and it can be done for less. Best part no monthly payments!!!

David's Computers
The antenna does not have to be anything HD labeled by the way. They all pick up HD, even the junk ones. (So please don't spend a lot.) The web based stuff I'm talking about is using devices like a Roku, Apple TV, Boxee Box, Google TV or a App based Bluray player. This gets you lots of alternatives like Netflix, Hulu, etc. Use the web to pick-up the slack. I use an HDHomerun as well to channel this tv signal to all my computers, which then makes every computer (both my Macs and PCs) into dvr systems just like I did with DirecTV.) This box cost around $120 and was outside the scope of the antenna project. It's cool anyway. It is a cheap way to have dvr for the system since you already have a computer.

(name deleted for privacy)
Sounds a lot like what we have but...we are going to have to get an amp. We have trouble picking up 9.1 and 9.2. It also shows a 53 but nothing comes in. I'm wondering I we need to go higher with our antenna too? FREE HD is wonderful!

David's Computers
It's the angle and the amp both. I'm in a hole where I live. My antenna is only about 15 feet in the air. The angle allowed me to pickup those channels and the amp improved the quality of all the signal. I set my parents up with this and we are picking stuff up from North Georgia. Their antenna is strapped to the front of their porch about 8 feet off the ground. I expect to pick up even more when I put it on their house.

David's Computers
Oh yeah here is the list of channels I'm getting: 3.1, 3.2, 9.1, 9.2, 12.1, 12-2, 45.1, 45.2, 53.1, 53.2, 61.1, and 61.2.

(name deleted for privacy)
We can't get 53 yet...it says it's there but just black...but we get a bunch of 23 channels that we don't really watch.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.tvfool.com

While I enjoy a wonderful country life, it does have its downside.

My only source for high speed internet is satellite. With that comes the bandwidth cap of 10G a month. With 5-7 users in this house - that eliminates any video streaming.

We do have a 30' high tower mounted TV antenna that gets a pretty good digital signal, but during periods of bad weather (and sometimes good weather) we get no signal at all.

We also have our TV package delivered via satellite, which also drops its signal during periods of bad weather.

Our budget for these services is significantly higher. $600/year just for the limited internet service alone.

Although I have an indoor antenna hooked up (a cheap one) I really have not proceeded any further with this. I can pick up the channels I need for baseball with this and perhaps even for football. More and more of the games shown on free antenna tv are now being slowly moved to cable only where they generate more income for the baseball association.

Lately I have been focusing on downloading youtube and other videos and then transferring them to the roku box. There is a free site that all you have to do is play the youtube video and then copy the url address and paste it into the space provided by the free site. They will download the video to your computer.

I have looked at a number of sites that allow you to play these on the roku box but I think the most simple way is to use the usb port on the roku. I assume that roku then gives you the ability to set up folders with either videos or pictures. Shutterfly allows pictures only on the roku box. My current roku box does not have the usb port so I will have to upgrade which is a reasonable cost.

Cable Alternative.
Construction Time - 1-Hour
Cost - Zero
Works -Like a Charm

Got one of these too?

I have enjoyed the disucssions here. I am on the quest to find what I will be able to do in my new RV. The main issue will of course be first getting a wifi signal from something. I do have an ATT air card which has a 5GB cap, I have my cell phone but have the minimum data plan on it currently and they do not offer an unlimited.
I have a zyxel portable router that can make a hotspot from a wifi signal.
11n-compatible Wi-Fi router supports DSL/Cable and 3G connectivity, and a unique failover capability; should your wired connection be interrupted for any reason, the MWR222 will automatically switch to a 3G/4G wireless signal via the users Mobile Broadband Adapter modem.
So now I have the ability to have enough wifi in the RV to use any of the devices I want to use.

but I need to search out other cheap(ha!) sources to obtain an internet signal on the road. I know some places we will stay do provide free wifi and using my own portable router will make that wifi secure, but for those places out in the boondocks that don't provide wifi, I will need some kind of access. My ATT air card at 5GB cap sure won't allow much streaming of anything.

Any thoughts?
I have been looking at Roku and other boxes and with the usb port I definitely could download plenty of my own content to have available to view for the times I am not able to gain decent access to anything.
The RV does have a roof top antenna and it is wired for cable for when we are at a site with cable.

I do have direct tv at home and I know they do offer an on the road version to be able to use you current direct tv account with RV direct tv equipment, no idea of additional costs.

the zyxel I have
MWR222

Yes, the USB port on the ROKU will let you view video, pictures, or listen to music. The video has to be in a certain format but there is a free program that will do the conversion for you. I have hooked up a flash drive to my ROKU box and even an external hard drive.

Pooh Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: What media file types does the Roku 2 USB Media Player channel support?

You don't need a Roku box if you're looking to play content from an external drive. Many DVD/Blu Ray players have USB inputs (as well as with internet streaming), and some TVs have it built in too. Also, PS3 game consoles offer many of the same capabilities.

I mention these only because many people may not know that what they already have can do these other things. It's not necessary to buy something additional. Unless you want to, in which case, that's another approach.

With Netflix and Hulu and some TV via my computer I seldom use any of the players and boxes anymore.

Forgot to mention in my post of Thu, Aug 16, 12 at 13:54, immediately above, I think, that I use a 32 in TV as a monitor on the computer that I use for Netflix, Hulu and the like.

Raven, when we used to travel with our RV, we took one of our Dish Network receivers with us, and for $5 per month additional, could use it on the road and get all our normal satellite programming. You can do the same with Direct, so contact them and find out exactly how you can do this. If you're paying for TV at home, it makes sense to use the same while on the road. Oh, you will need a dish to set up and point in the right direction, but this was no problem at all. You can find used dishes lots of places, and it doesn't even have to be the same brand, at least that was our experience. We've stopped RVing now, but I think the basic things still apply. You will notice lots of RVs with dishes set up. Some even have them built in on the roof in addition to the regular antenna.

Also, Raven, you will find that most private campgrounds offer wi-fi either as a "freebie" or for a very nominal fee. However, if you visit state and national parks, you will need to rely on your air card, assuming that ATT has a good signal in that area. Often in the boonies you might just forego internet for a while. There's so much else to see and do anyway, I never wanted to sit inside the RV when I could be out exploring. Of course, bad weather is another story!

Thanks, I think I will go the direct tv route since we have it at home and can easily take along a receiver. I do have to get an HD direct tv dish. If we do that and keep the Internet use more limited I think we can get by with the plan we have. Or I could increase the cap on my smart phone for data and use it as a hotspot.

I am sure I won't be spending much time online while traveling but email and some searching will be essential.