Cutting the cable

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gnappi

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2017
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Location
Southeast Florida (Tri county)
It's been 11 years since I pulled the plug on cable. Their intrusive advertising (remember their sales pitch "Sure you PAY us but we do not have commercials?") made paying for cable just stupid, and I've never looked back.

My last 360 degree UHF antenna (Radio Shack ~$60) was 11 years old before it decomposed from the strong sun, rain and wind here in So. Flo. Pretty good all things considered.

To replace it, I bought a Winegard Metrostar antenna about 6 months ago and I'm extremely pleased with it. I live right in the middle of three metro areas (Ft.Lauderdale, Miami, and West palm beach) and I get some 60+ channels. No small feat.

Of course not all of the channels fit my viewing needs but well more than 30 do from ALL directions, I'd guess that I'm getting stations within 50 "air" miles from my home. Since no other stations are broadcasting beyond that I cannot attest to the extreme range capability of the Winegard.

My antenna is located right at the bottom slope of my roofline, I would expect better performance if I raised it above the roof peak, but as it is it's good enough to not care.

FULL TIME Genre channels I receive include PBS (2), Qubo (kids) oldies/classics (3), western, Sci-Fi, adventure/detective (3), shopping(3), Create, Weather, and more these easily justify losing cable.

OK, on the slightly down side, if you have a dish for TV, you'll immediately recognize the minimal problems. In heavy rain and cloud cover, reception gets sketchy from stations further away. That's it. There is ALWAYS more than enough viewable to not make it a big deal.

Oh, in the 11+ years since pulling the plug on expensive cable (I'm guessing nearly $5,000 saved), I've collected a wonderful DVD collection. Being a self proclaimed "Vidiot" I like being able to watch what I want AND have something tangible left rather than a cable bill. YMMV.
 

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