tv antenna

D

dobielvr

Well-known Member
Location
California
I have an old antenna on my roof, from when my parents had this house built. 1970 ... Can I use it for my new smart tv to get my local channels.

In my research and reading it sounds like I have to buy a converter box? of some sort, is that right?

I could buy a new one, but if this is easy enough for me to do...I'll go this route.
 

dobielvr said:
I have an old antenna on my roof, from when my parents had this house built. 1970 ... Can I use it for my new smart tv to get my local channels.

In my research and reading it sounds like I have to buy a converter box? of some sort, is that right?

I could buy a new one, but if this is easy enough for me to do...I'll go this route.
Click to expand...
I would try the old one first. There simply isn't that much difference when it comes to roof top antennas. Check all the connectors and cables and give it a try. You may need an adapter to convert the old style two wire balanced cable over to the type of coax connectors that newer TV's use. That can be typically be done just before the cable connects to the TV or converter box if you have to use one of them.
 

dobielvr said:
Ok...but how do I get to the wires?
Aren't they in my attic?

**no laughing at me :)
Click to expand...
It is possible that the cable goes through the your attic, or it may be go down the side of your house and come in through a window, or it may go to a signal splitter so that it can feed more than one TV. Did your parents have more than one TV or did they just have one in the living room? The answer to this question will tell me if we have too worry about tracking down a signal splitter.

Does the current TV get fed its signal from a coax connector on the wall? The answer to this question will tell me more about how the signal is distributed in your house.

The odds are pretty high that cable is still intact, so the first thing you should do is to go ahead and hook that cable to your TV to see if it works. If it doesn't, then you would move to the troubleshooting stage which would involve checking the cable and the connectors.
Can you tell if the cable attached to the antenna is the old two wire type? It would typically appear flat in shape and brown in color. The other type of cable is typically round and black in color.
The answer to that question will tell me more about what you are dealing with.
 
Pecos said:
It is possible that the cable goes through the your attic, or it may be go down the side of your house and come in through a window, or it may go to a signal splitter so that it can feed more than one TV. Did your parents have more than one TV or did they just have one in the living room? The answer to this question will tell me if we have too worry about tracking down a signal splitter.

Does the current TV get fed its signal from a coax connector on the wall? The answer to this question will tell me more about how the signal is distributed in your house.

The odds are pretty high that cable is still intact, so the first thing you should do is to go ahead and hook that cable to your TV to see if it works. If it doesn't, then you would move to the troubleshooting stage which would involve checking the cable and the connectors.
Can you tell if the cable attached to the antenna is the old two wire type? It would typically appear flat in shape and brown in color. The other type of cable is typically round and black in color.
The answer to that question will tell me more about what you are dealing with.
Click to expand...

I know that directv has black wires all along my outside bedroom wall, and then comes in the thru the bdroom wall.
(i no longer hv directv). We had 3 TVs.

I know nothing of what you're talking about. But I appreciate your help!
I hv Habitat for Humanity coming out to replace my 50 plus yr old water heaters, so I'll hv to ask them.

In fact, the guy who came out to inspect my home, pointed out my antenna to me...asking me if I wanted him to remove it. He said it was an android antenna?????, and I probably didn't need it.

I feel so stupid now for asking, and you took time to explain and ask me proper questions....sorry I couldn't be more informed and had the answers you needed to help me. Peace.
 
dobielvr said:
I know that directv has black wires all along my outside bedroom wall, and then comes in the thru the bdroom wall.
(i no longer hv directv). We had 3 TVs.

I know nothing of what you're talking about. But I appreciate your help!
I hv Habitat for Humanity coming out to replace my 50 plus yr old water heaters, so I'll hv to ask them.

In fact, the guy who came out to inspect my home, pointed out my antenna to me...asking me if I wanted him to remove it. He said it was an android antenna?????, and I probably didn't need it.

I feel so stupid now for asking, and you took time to explain and ask me proper questions....sorry I couldn't be more informed and had the answers you needed to help me. Peace.
Click to expand...
Please, please do not feel stupid about something like this. I am a electronics systems engineer and we often make the mistake of assuming that other people have made the same observations that we have.

Are you going to reactivate Direct TV, or Cable? I am guessing that the home inspector was making the assumption that you were using Direct TV because they often don't bother to remove the dish when that service is dropped.

Let me know if you need more input from me. Just don't let anyone sell you a "new" antenna at this point. I see so much baloney in some of these sales pitches that it irks me. Those old roof top antennas typically have a high gain and are perfectly suitable for "off-the-air" broadcast signals. There are very few channels that are actually broadcast. We only get four in our area (ABC, CBS, NBC and one weak public station), so we don't bother messing with an antenna these days. We did get quite a few channels when we lived in Northern Virginia, but not here in small town South Carolina.
 
Unless someone is out in the boonies, I don't see why a basic indoor TV antenna would not get the job done. That's what I have since I cut the cord about 4 years ago. With this Target $15 rabbit ears, I get 81 local channels. That includes all the regular broadcast channels like CBS and ABC. I get a nice clear picture on my smart TV.
 
Pecos,
No, i dont plan to use Directv...I have wi-fi.
While i was outside watering right now, and chking out the side of my house....i spotted the antenna wire, I think..lol.
Blk heavy duty cord coming down from the roof thru the stucco, and on the end...a silver splitter. There wasnt any cords or wires coming out of the splitter...it just hung there.

Another cord coming thru the wall into the bedroom was there also. It's situated right where my TV is.

P.S. when they were here, I was still using Directv......and they said my old antenna wouldnt work w/a smart tv. But then I got to reading....
 
dobielvr said:
Pecos,
No, i dont plan to use Directv...I have wi-fi.
While i was outside watering right now, and chking out the side of my house....i spotted the antenna wire, I think..lol.
Blk heavy duty cord coming down from the roof thru the stucco, and on the end...a silver splitter. There wasnt any cords or wires coming out of the splitter...it just hung there.

Another cord coming thru the wall into the bedroom was there also. It's situated right where my TV is.

P.S. when they were here, I was still using Directv......and they said my old antenna wouldnt work w/a smart tv. But then I got to reading....
Click to expand...
While I was taking a nap, it occurred to me that the first question that should have been addressed is: " how many broadcast stations are actually available in your area and are they sufficient for your viewing tastes?"

These two links will give you an idea of what is available to watch off the air for free. It has been a long time since I checked it for our address, and it does appear that a couple of new stations have been added. We are in a bit of a low spot and surrounded by trees which makes reception problematic for some of them. I noticed that the ones that have been added are UHF.

https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html
https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

The first site is a little easier to interpret, but it is also a bit optimistic.
This is the first place where we had to get cable service.
In Northern Virginia (Fairfax County), we got all we needed using an rooftop antenna that I actually installed inside the attic. On the island of Oahu Hawaii and in Monterey, Ca, regular Rabbit Ears worked fine.

Personally, I think that the price of cable and direct tv is just outrageous. If you can go for the free stuff.
 
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