Getting local channels?

Question

I live in the city where the only television choices was either 80$/monthly cable or 25$/month dish so I went with dish only to find out the Dish didn't come with local channels. But I'm an NFL fanatic which means I can't watch football on Sunday now...Is there any other way to get local channels without paying a termination fee and getting the cable? Possibly with an amplified antenna? Are there any other things I'm not thinking of?

I live in Harrisonburg VA Zip: 22801

I live in a 3 story apartment housing complex. I live on the top floor and I can put an antenna on the balcony if needed.

Answer 1

In most areas of the US you can get the local channels for free with just an antenna.

As to what kind of antenna you need, that depends on your location.

If you add your zip code and describe where you can put an antenna, you would have a much better shot at getting a correct answer.

You can enter your location at the web site below and get a good idea of what it would take to receive over the air (OTA) TV.

An even better way is to ask your neighbors what works for them.

In the last two places I lived you could get a very basic cable for about $10/month. This was just the broadcast networks plus a couple of other channels. Cable companies do not advertise these packages. You have to look for them.

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ZIP code 22801
NFL football on NBC

There are several NBC stations you can try to receive. I suspect that eventually you will want to get digital channel 32 which is about 37 miles away. If you don't have a digital TV, there will be cheap converter boxes available starting in Jan 08 for older analog sets..

I'm guessing that a good antenna to start with would be something like a Channel Master CM 4220. You could add a Channel Master CM 7777 preamp if necessary. The guys who hang out at the forums listed below can probably come up with better ideas.

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Of all the stations you could receive, only one is in the VHF band. Analog channel 3 - ABC - about 18 miles at 50 deg. *
All the rest are in the UHF band.

As best as I can figure out, NBC broadcasts on:

analog channel 21 13 miles at 3deg*
analog channel 29 37 miles at 143deg*
digital channel 32 37 miles at 143 deg*
analog channel 28 6 miles at 120 deg*

*To get better numbers here, enter your exact location at the first two links below.