winegard antenna

[mfitz]

Has anyone used these around the lake? If so how many stations did you get. I don't want to get cable just to have on the weekends. I just want to be able to watch the news.

[Crusty]

TV (lack of) reception at the Lake varies greatly with your location. The FCC provides a "calculator" for your specific address:

https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

If they show anything for your location, you can click on the station and get a compass heading, as well as signal strength, etc. Note that they do not take into account things like trees and nearby hills.

If you are only interested in the news, many local stations live-stream their own newscasts. If you subscribe to cable at home, some cable stations permit live streaming over the Internet, once once they have authenticated that you are a subscriber.

You may also want to investigate a "sling box" (not Sling TV). A sling box sits at home and receives your cable TV signal. It then "slings" it to you over the Internet and you can watch it anywhere.

[rickzach]

I was chief engineer for a couple of Boston Market TV stations and I can say that even with my bag of tricks being full, the Lakes Region is tough due to the surrounding hills. Some areas in the north side of the lake can pick up some Maine stations. Likewise if you happen to be in an area like Broadview Condos in Gillford that have a straight shot to the northeast.

But for the most part and unless you live on a big hill, you may be SOL. We are full time residents but I just won't pay the high fees with all of the involuntary sports channels, shopping channels, Belgian music channels and Asian Movie channels.

May I suggest that you look into an UNADVERTISED option from DirecTV. But you need to specifically ask for it like an under-the-counter product. If you ask for the "Family Package" it includes just the local channels and a few cable channels for only $29.95/mo. For us it was perfect!

[Slickcraft]

Lots of prior discussion on this as a basic search will show:

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21608&highlight=antenna

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20667&highlight=antenna

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17018&highlight=antenna

That is just some.