who else watches TV using an antenna?

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i had to drop cable due to a drastic increase in my health insurance premiums, a 500% increase so cable was the first thing to go. i found that with the current HD-digital tv broadcasting system in place now, i find that dtv reception for anybody more than about 20 miles from the transmission tower is iffy at best. i found that at any height less than 20 feet above the ground, the antenna would "see" only one or two stations at any given location, and i would have to physically move the antenna a few feet to either side to get the other stations, pointed in a different direction. and this is several hundred feet above sea level! so i had to pay a guy major $$$ to climb a 100' tree in my backyard to put a huge honking "deep fringe" antenna atop the tree just to get all the channels within 50 miles. under the old analog tv broadcasting system, all i needed was rabbit ears. this new digital system sucks big wind, IMO - reception conditions have to be PERFECT [flat ground with no hills or trees or buildings between the towers and one's home antenna] just to get any digital signal at all- and instead of getting a weak and snowy picture, there is just a blank screen unless everything is perfect, with nothing in between. they call this the "cliff effect" - IOW, below a strong clean signal level, there is no reception period.

The tv in my room uses rabbit ears, the stand is a bit broken, but I get most of the normal chanels, although they can be fuzzy or loose colour. The reception can aslo change depending on where I am, like my own wlwctrical field effects.

You didn't put 'Outdoor aerial on a bit if string indoors'

I have a 15 element with folded dipole & reflector wedged by the window in my kitchen, works well enough but I occasionally lose signal when a motorbike or car with noisy ignition passes as I have a number of high buildings near me the picture is far better now it is digital.

TV?

Oh, you mean youtube?

I don't get a broadcast feed because of the mountains and cable is way overpriced in this area. I didn't bother to get the digital upgrade so I don't get anything on the television at all. I watch DVDs. Bonus: it's been years since I've seen a commercial!

I would normally have said that I don't watch TV, but I spent this evening watching the semi-finals of the Eurovision contest on my PC, which has a USB TV device connected to the aerial on our roof.

Usually, though, I watch one half-hour show each week (which is on free-to-air TV) - the Australian show Spicks'n'Specks.

I have never watched most popular sitcoms. I did watch Daria when it was on Australian TV. We now have it on DVD so I am watching it on my PC.

you must live very close to the transmitter towers.

I don't watch television, but when we got a new digital television set to watch DVDs, my wife insisted on getting a modern digital set top antenna. It seems to work fine for her.

it would seem you must live close to the transmitter also. with dtv, anything past 20 miles out or so means you must have elevation and/or an extraordinarily sensitive receiving antenna and dtv tuner.

I use netflix and hulu for my television needs. But I use to have an antenna in the late 90s and early 00's.

I have an HDTV and the newer signals are harder to pick up. But I still get enough channels and the picture quality can be stunning. Cable/Satellite is way over priced. I'm not paying for 60 channels I'll never watch just to get 2 or 3 "useful" channels.

I suggest using hulu.com(free) and Netflix streaming(it's about $10 a month). If you use tv for news and sports this isn't terribly helpful but it works if you are just looking for entertainment and can program your own viewing.

where i live out in the sticks, all that is available is dsl-lite, at under 1.2 kbs which doesn't meet the throughput standard for hulu. but i would definitely get hulu if i had the bandwidth. i resent having to go to the literal lengths i went [deep-fringe antenna atop 100' tree out back, 150' of rg-6] just to get fewer than 10 channels consistently. when the wind blows, most of my channel reception blows away with it, as the tree sways. when it rains or snows, reception gets blocky as well. digital is just too finicky and totally non-robust. the FCC could and SHOULD have chosen a better system. but as usual, $$$$$$ ruled the day rather than practicality.

Sorry to hear that, but if you are getting "fewer than 10 channels", that is pretty much the normal isn't it? ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, and PBS is what you are going to get for broadcast signals unless you live in a really major market. What other channels were you expecting?

aside from CBC/CTV, there are independent stations [unaffiliated with any formal network 'cept for religious broadcasters] whose analog broadcasts i used to get but not their digital ones. a pair of rabbit ears used to get me all but the bellingham and canadian stations as well as channel 9- with deep fringe antenna atop 100' tree, below is a listing of analog versus digital stations received-

KVOS-12, bellingham, an independant station- analog signal viewable, digital signal MIA;
CBUT-2, vancouver, CBC- came in a little weak but still color and viewable, but digital is MIA;
CHEK-6, vancouver, CTV- ditto
KCTS-9, seattle, PBS- always weak south of seattle but MIA now.
KCKA-19, centralia, PBS- ditto;
KONG-16, seattle- independent but associated with KING-5, both on the "cliff effect" edge [prone to frequent drop-off of reception];
KING-5, seattle- NBC- strong analog but dtv on the edge;
KOMO-4, seattle- ABC- strong analog, now one of only two consistently strong and stable digital stations;
KWPX-33, bellevue- ION- ok analog but now fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up;
KWDK-42, tacoma- DAY- ok analog but fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up;
KIRO-7, seattle- CBS- fair analog but now on the edge;
KUNS-51, bellevue- independent- ok analog but now on the edge;
KMWQ-22, seattle- MNT- ok analog but now fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up;
KSTW-11, tacoma- CW- strong analog but now fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up;
KCPQ-13, tacoma- fox- strong analog, and now the only other strong and stable digital station but i hate fox! ;
KTBW-20, tacoma- TBN- ok analog but now fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up;
KBTC-28, tacoma- PBS- ok analog but now fair dtv signal with some pixelization/lock-up.

as you can see above, out of the 17 stations that i used to get ALL-of, now i get only 8 stations that don't ever drop-out. NBC, CBS, PBS and CBC/CTV are mostly or totally OUT. now what kind of crappy service is THAT?

It is about 10 miles away at Crystal Place

My whole family does cuz we're cheapskates.

In fact we have an outdoor atenna in our living room so my dad can quickly alter it whenever the picture on our HDTV gets scrambled...needless to say it doesnt help when people are moving around.