FREE TV Part I

Before we moved into our new home, my husband and I had decided that we wanted to minimize expenses, well who doesn’t right? We had been discussing for years how outrageous our utilities were especially cable. However, my husband was very scared and resistent to give up his cable because he might miss a football game or he may not be able to enjoy the channels and shows that have become a part of his everyday life (my husband like many men are creatures of habit, change is not their friend). As for me, I welcome change, I think it’s fun and exciting! Anyways, so we did the math and he his mind was easily changed. We were literally spending $120 a month on cable alone, not including internet. Folks, that’s a total of $1,440 per year we were spending on cable. So let’s break that down a bit further. According, to Census Bureau 2015, “the median household income for Tennessee is $47,275. The real median household income peaked in 2007 at $48,431 and is now $1,156 (2.39%) lower”. So, if we are making $1,156 less than we did in 2007 and our cable bill continued to increase and we pay $1,440 per year on cable we are actually in the red $284 just with our cable bill alone, depressing I know. L But you do have options!! Enough with the stats, let’s talk about the good stuff.

The first thing we did was to research and establish our needs. We knew we at least wanted to be able to watch our local channels for the sake of news (channels 2, 4, and 5). A lot of what you need to look at in this component is your exact location and your actually distance from where your local channels are being broadcasted from. In our case we are located about 60 miles from Nashville, TN, so we need a device that is going to pick up 60 miles, plus. This actual component I am speaking of is your old school Antenna’s, that’s right I said ANETENNA! You remember the bunny ears back in the day or at least I do being from a rural area. Now instead of these antenna’s being analog they are actually in HD. That’s right we now get local channels in HD and they are as clear as they were with a cable provider and they are FREE!! There are many different types of antennas to choose from and like I said, you will need to identify your families’ specific needs and go from there, do your research! For us we needed an outdoor antenna because we live in the ground. I’m going to tell you, I was very nervous about purchasing this antenna because honestly your reception is all based on your location. I would recommend (not that I’m an antenna expert) that if you are let’s say for example, 58 miles from the broadcasting location you will need a 60 plus mile range on the antenna you buy. Good rule of thumb is to round up to the nearest ten. We personally chose the RCA outdoor/indoor antenna RCA Indoor/Outdoor Amplified Flat Antenna Model # ANT800Z, mounted outside it’s range is up to 65 miles and cost us $69.99 plus tax. FYI… they usually carry these in stock at Lowe’s.

Eagerly to test out our new antenna, we immediately came home and figured out we needed to mount it on the outside house. For us it is mounted on the west side of our house facing due west. Make sure you follow the directions that come with your antenna about its install, then make sure you run a channel scan on your TV (this will be under in your menu options). Running a channel scan is critical and the directions we received did not tell us to do this my husband just knew to do so. Also, I would like to mention that with the new HD antenna’s you can no longer use your old boxy TV’s. You have to have an HD TV and/or flat screen, another money racket but I don’t make the rules! You may have to adjust your antenna several times and run several channel scans in order to figure out and maximize your channel availability. With this set up we receive a total of 22 channels, including 2 and 5, me tv, 4 PBS channels, and host of others. The first few days we had used the antenna we were able to pick up channel 4 but now its obsolete but I’m not a channel 4 person so I wasn’t worried about it however, in part II I will explain how you can get NBC.

There are pro’s and con’s to everything, that’s what you have really understand about all this. I’m not going to sugar coat it, there are draw backs. However, for us personally the pros outweighed the cons. If saving money is a high priority for you then this set up could possibly be for you! To be continued………………….. Stay tuned!

Until next time, HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY. Follow me on FACEBOOK at https://www.facebook.com/aBeautifullifewithHeather/

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