Free to air tv antenna setup in Columbia

Submitted by jujyfruit74 t3_106lctx in ColumbiaMD

Does anyone in Columbia have success getting free to air TV through an antenna setup from the Baltimore or DC market? What equipment are you using and do you have any advice on how to get it working (direction, roof vs indoor etc.)?

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Bramblinman t1_j3h60j2 wrote

I have a pretty old medium distance all direction rca antenna mounted about 12 ft in the air on a wall above my roof. It’s flat and about the size of a piece of paper.

According to antenna web I’m about 15 miles from Baltimore signals and 25 from DC.

I get channels 4,5,11, 20, and 50 pretty well I get channels 2, 13, 24,45,54,67 really well.

I don’t get 7 or 9 at all.

I think with a better antenna I’d get them all well.

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ooglefloogle t1_j3h7v2x wrote

I don't personally use it, but I see quite a few people at my apartment use the outdoor square looking antennas, so it must be decent.

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Rashaverik t1_j3hch93 wrote

I bought one of the indoor HD Antennas off Amazon that claim to get you 60 miles of signal, was very hit or miss for both Baltimore & DC channels. There's about half a dozen being sold under different names.

What I ended up buying on was a separate signal booster (most of the antenna packages come with a weaker booster) and it made a world of difference. No issues since. I will recommend that also hanging the antenna on an exterior wall (hid ours behind a bookshelf) seems to help.

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mysteryweapon t1_j3hn5j3 wrote

Generally the higher up you can get your antenna the better the results will be

I had mine mounted in my attic and got maybe 40-50 channels in total when counting digital sub-channels

Unfortunately I had to scrap it when I had solar panels installed, as the transformer from the panels introduced so much noise that it would essentially completely cut the signal during the day

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free_spoons t1_j3htra0 wrote

I got a $25 one from Amazon a couple of years ago and just stuck it in my window. Between the DC and Bmore channels I get fox/abc/nbc/CBS and PBS plus a bunch of weird channels like 23.6 or 5.2

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FineWinePaperCup t1_j3k2oeg wrote

We have this one: https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-4MAX-Outdoor-TV-Antenna.html

We tried inside antennas, but were very disappointed. I friend convinced me not to give up and mount one on the roof. We did and it did not disappoint. We get all the networks from DC and Baltimore. It’s pointed toward DC, because I read you want to point toward the furthest you want to receive. But same friend told me that’s not true. The only issue we have is on windy nights, when we get some stuttering.

Our house is one story. We have one large tree nearby (in front of it), but fairly clear after that.

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freecain t1_j3na7vx wrote

I've had okay results. My solution - I realized there was a 70s era "roof" antenna in my garage's attic already mounted. It can be powered... but I don't trust plugging it in, so it's unpowered right now. The coax cable (cox installed it - but I use Verizon for internet) ran right by it... so I just pulled the cable up, and screwed it directly into antenna and it ran directly down to my living room. I went through the TV's auto-scan settings and it picked up a whole bunch of stations. If you actually watch it (I rarely do) look for tv-guide related apps that tell you what stations/what's on.

You can install these roof mounted antennas in your upper attic too, it's just a matter of figuring out how to run the wire to your TV. The best approach is following your old cable you aren't using anymore and literally cut the cable (compression tools are less than $20, and many even come with the ends,. Antennas run less than $40).

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