by Texas Homesteader ~
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When we moved to the country we discovered TV reception was poor at best. But we didn’t resort to a monthly cable bill – see all the ways we easily enjoy television entertainment!
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Saving Money On Television Entertainment
One of my pet peeves is paying for something that used to be free. When we moved to the country one thing we discovered was that TV reception was poor at best.
Everyone told us we would have to get a cable or satellite subscription if we wanted to watch TV. As you can guess I immediately went on a mission to defeat that issue.
When we lived in the city we had an antenna
in the attic that provided excellent reception. That was before digital TV.
But once we moved here we were able to get acceptable reception with the same set-up.
Raising The Height Of The Rooftop Antenna
We tried mounting the antenna as high in the attic as possible. But it was very unreliable. Partially due to our solar decking in the attic blocking the signal.
I contacted a local TV service company who reported they could install an antenna on a 30′ mast and run the necessary cables for $600.
Heck $600 will get several months of cable TV! We almost caved in right then and there and subscribed to cable.
But we decided if raising the antenna was the problem we would mount it as high on the roof as possible.
After installing the proper bracket and pole to the peak of the roof and properly grounding against lightning we were able to get the antenna about 25 feet high. (our roof peek is about 20 feet high and the pole is another 5 feet higher)
BINGO!
How To Position Antenna For Best Reception
Once the antenna was up in the air and clear of our solar decking, the reception improved dramatically. RancherMan then went online and found the list of FCC DTV Station Maps.
Using a compass he pointed the antenna exactly where it needed to be to get the strongest signal from the closest stations.
We live approximately 75 miles from the Dallas towers, which is considered the fringe area. That means all of our station signals are weak.
But 90% of the time we have an 80%+ signal strength. So we have over 80 channels available. Not bad for a one-time investment of about $150.
Better Rural Reception With Antenna Power Booster
But then there was the issue of signal strength and this proved much more difficult a problem to solve. As you all know the digital signal is weaker and much more finicky than the old analog signal. But we refused to give up.
So we installed a *Power booster on the antenna. This helped our antenna reception substantially.
Streaming Shows & Movies To Your Television
We watch television via our antenna often. But as you know, broadcast TV is oftentimes less than tolerable now days.
Cable and satellite offer many more television entertainment options through many more channels. But as you know, a huge percentage of those channels are either repetitive or of little interest to many people.
Thankfully it’s easy stream movies & shows from the internet to your television using:
We have DSL internet and a wireless modem. So this is better than cable and is a one time purchase.
The Roku gives us access to hundreds of free internet-based channels, including movies.
Now don’t confuse this with cable. There are no “live” broadcasts through this device. But news is still broadcast after the fact through Roku. And countless shows are available on a replay basis.
One of my favorite Roku channels is Crackle. It’s essentially Netflix with a 30 second commercial every 20 minutes or so. And it is absolutely FREE.
There are also home improvement channels as well as cooking, DIY, documentaries, old movies and cartoon channels. And guys, there are hunting and fishing channels too.
Chrome Cast To Mirror Your Computer To Your TV
RancherMan loves his *ChromeCast. It’s just a small thumb drive-looking device that plugs into the TV.
It uses the WIFI to cast shows & movies from his computer onto our TV. So by casting from his computer to the TV, he & I can schnoodle up on the couch and watch movies using this technology.
But ChromeCast doesn’t work with Apple IOS and we have Apple tablets. So he’s also looking into an *Airplay dongle to be able to mirror our Apple Tablets to our Apple TV too.
Amazon Prime Lets You Stream Shows & Movies
We love Amazon Prime for free shipping. But your prime account also allows you to stream shows & movies. So we enjoy that feature often. I mean we’ve already paid for Prime – why not use all the benefits??
Plus there’s an added benefit of no commercials while we’re streaming many shows & sitcoms. That’s especially handy during the holidays when the same ole “If you loved her you’d buy her a truck for Christmas” commercials play over & over again!
Lately we’ve been streaming the Andy Griffith Show in the evenings – aaaahhhh, it was a simpler time for sure. And a nice way to wind down after a busy day.
And y’all – you can try *Amazon Prime For FREE!
So it might be a good way to see what all is available through them. And take advantage of that free shipping and streaming music too!
So if you live in a rural area don’t give up on affordable TV. And if you live in the city, still look into the Roku, AppleTV, ChromeCast and Amazon Prime options. Cut that cable bill – your bank account will love you.
~TxH~
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I have a few friends who have Roku and think we should switch – my husband is a big sports fan and doesn’t want to give up sports related programming…. sigh.
Yeah, it’s always hard for the sports fans to switch. RancherMan is a huge Mavericks Basketball fan and he’s been able to work around not having cable and enjoy most games, although there have been a few games he’s had to miss. ~TxH~
I love my Roku! I have it hooked up to Netflix and Amazon Prime so I haven’t played around with the free channels much, but now I’m going to check them out. Crackle sounds intriguing!
We cut the cable a little over two years ago and purchased a Roku. We love it!!! Can’t hardly tolerate going somewhere and having to suffer through cable tv.
Thanks for sharing on No Rules Weekend Blog Party!
Thanks for the information. We are looking forward to getting out of the city!
Question for you. We are moving to a small farm in Fannin County, near Bonham. What do you use for internet access? My husband will be working from home and will need the best high-speed access available.
Thank you in advance!
Gretchen, We use AT&T for our DSL. I can’t say I recommend them but they’re one of the few DSL options we have out here. (As long as you never have to call them for anything, the service itself works just fine.) Congrats on your move – how exciting! ~TxH~
We also live in North east Texas and we live off grid. We are so rural that we don’t have phone lines or the ability to get power! So we live off grid. And we have given u on tv lol so we use a generator to power a tv and dvd player and stick with dvds.
Hi Tami, It sounds like you’ve got a great solution for your family. We really wanted to be off-grid too & just couldn’t make it work financially. (although getting set up with the electric company was severely cost prohibitive, alternative energy options were just out of our reach) We compromised by paying the exorbitant fees to get electricity run to our home and then NOT using as much of it as we could each month. Our electric bills are shockingly low and we love it! I’m secretly envious of your off-grid status… So glad you stopped by! ~TxH~
We love your Roku. We now have two. You should check out the private channel nowhereman. This channel has many feeds for news stations, home, education, networks (we watch David Letterman top ten lists).
For Baseball Fans – You can watch live games through an MLBTV subscription on Roku. While this subscription is over $100 bucks, you get all the games for the season. (For non-subscribers there is a daily free game.) Much cheaper than when we purchased Extra Innings package through cable company.
We love nowheremman channel too! I didn’t know about the subscription for live games though, thanks for sharing. ~TxH~
We’ve been thinking about getting a Roku because we have a satellite dish and spend way too much on tv every month. I’ve never heard of Crackle before. Definitely checking that out!
thanks for info made the jump and now save another 90 bucks month
Hello there! Have you had your Roku for very long? We received one for Christmas a couple of years ago and after using it for 6 months, it just completely stopped working. We had the same model that you have in your picture, so I am curious if you have had similar problems. PLEASE NOTE that this was an isolated incident. My sister and her husband have had the exact same model for over 2 years and it works splendidly. Visiting from TALU.
Heather, we’ve never had any trouble at all with our Roku. If I were in your shoes I’d contact the manufacturer and let them know. I’ve found that most times the manufacturer is eager to make things right, or at least reduce the cost that would be involved in buying a new one. Good luck! ~TxH~
If you’ve only had the Roku for 6 months, I recommend contacting Roku about a warranty replacement if you haven’t already. I had a remote control go bad on my Roku before the one-year warranty was up, and they sent me a new one. Hope this helps!
Great timing! We dropped satellite two weeks ago because Dish wouldn’t give us new equipment and DirectTV frustrated me. So, we thought we’d just do without until a better deal came through. Now that we’ve been watching tv on the antenna and I’ve been debating over Roku or Hulu Plus through the HDMI cable, I don’t think we’ll go back to satellite or cable.
TV is never free: we are thrown the programs in return for our willing eyeballs to watch the commercials of “sponsors”. You can regard it as manufacturers’ direct access to our “Buy” button. And they push it all the time. What truly puzzles me is that we consent to pay (e.g. for cable) for the privilege of being presented with incessant commercials urging us to buy things we don’t need.
We don’t have TV in the house. I consider it our small act of civil disobedience: to cut away from the consumption machine. And it’s healthier for our children.
Wow! How cool is that? I’m so tired of paying for cable. Wonder if hubby could get his races?
Daisy, there are no live broadcasts from Roku and the likes that I’m familiar with, but we get the races over the air with our antenna on regular TV channels. ~TxH~
We’ve used Roku for a while now and we’re pretty pleased with it. Sometimes Hulu Plus loads slow but I can tell you that I have not regretted dropping the satellite yet. Between our HD antenna and Roku we have most everything we want.
I have looked into the Roku several times. My husband just won’t give up cable. He is a football and NASCAR fan, and just won’t give them up 🙁
We bought an HDMI cable and hook it up from our tv to our computer and watch shows that way. Most stations carry their shows except the newest one on their sites and then Hulu has lots for free. We also have Netflix and you can stream tons of movies and shows for under $8 a month.
Really good information. Way to persevere! TALU
Hi Stacy, We haven’t had cable for years. It’s an expense I would rather skip. It’s also a reason to stay glued to the t.v. and become couch potatoes. We have have a huge movie collection that we’ve had since my girls were young. Now my granddaughters watch them. We also watch movies and tv series on line which is great because we can watch it when we want to rather than work our schedule around the shows we watch. Project Free TV is completely free. They keep up with the television series but have not added any 2013 movies yet which is fine with me cause there are all kinds of other sites to watch movies free.
We haven’t had cable for years either Darlene, and I’m shocked, SHOCKED when I hear how much it costs! And those that do have cable are constantly noting they have many (expensive) channels and still nothing to watch. Like you, we like to be mindful of our TV watching times. I think TV offers a valid entertainment value, but oftentimes it becomes just a repeated vegetative state if you’re not careful. LOL ~TxH~
Wow! That’s great information. I’m going to tell my parents, and consider it for myself. I despise paying the prices for cable. Ug. TALU 😉
Bolton, it’s something we’ve fought against for years and I’m happy to say we STILL don’t have to pay for cable! LOVE IT! ~TxH~