I’ve had Spectrum forever and it seems the cost keeps climbing while the service and quality aren’t any better.
I’m considering dumping cable and going with a digital antenna. I have found one that claims it has a 1200 mile range. While I doubt the range is accurate, I do want something that will get local channels from both Norfolk and Greenville. I have streaming service already but I like having the local stations for news etc.

Any thoughts from anyone who has already cut the cord is appreciated. I’m in Kill Devil Hills

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Have you tried putting your address into a site such as www.antennaweb.org

They do a pretty good job of predicting which stations may be available. Of course, a great deal depends on how high you can mount an antenna and the elevation of your house above sea level, line of sight, etc
And if you spend a lot of money on an amplifier and stuff.

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If all your looking for with the locals is news, a lot of stations have free apps you can download if you're using a smart TV or firestick where they stream local news all day.

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No such thing as a “digital” antenna. Rf is rf, no matter modulation. Most stations have moved to UHF, so a 4 bowtie flat antenna in the attic has worked well for me, point it towards Norfolk. Use a small inline amp mounted at the antenna. Amazing number of stations and sub channels in most US markets.

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Yea, someone is hyping you. There is no such thing as a digital antenna. There could be an antenna that works better on a certain frequency than others, but down here you are cursed with distance to the transmitter. VHF and UHF frequencies travel the line of sight route, they don't bend (for the most part). So with line of sight I can talk to the space station hundreds of miles away, but it a straight line. Norfolk is only 60-70 miles away by using line of sight with the transmitter antenna at 900 ft it has a line of sight range of only 50 miles, so maybe if you lived in Grandy.

Bottom line is you could maybe get a few channels but not many and not well.

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As to the "digital" antenna "claim" I'm thinking the seller is just saying that his offering will capture the .1 sub channels and labeling that "digital". Meaning, IF anyone could even pull in an OTA (over the air) signal your TV (if tuner equipped) would present, say channel 10 (Wavy) as 10.1, 10.2, or even a 10.3.

But, as anyone trying this knows, as Tim advises, unless you have a 300 foot tower, you ain't getting squat beyond a few super weird "local" channels.

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You should easily get stations from Norfolk. I pick up stations camping at Oregon Inlet with a crap antenna 6 ft above ground. Put a antenna 35 ft up in a attic of a beachhouse, and you’ll do fine. Looks like they are running some 1000ft plus towers. And while the signal is line of sight it does bounce packets, plus beam tilt can help. 60 miles is nothing. I pull n signals 70-90 miles away in a wooded hilly area.

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From the Internet

People also ask

How many miles can you get from a TV transmitter?

They transmit on frequency channels in the VHF and UHF bands. Since radio waves of these frequencies travel by line of sight, they are limited by the horizon to reception distances of 40–60 miles depending on the height of transmitter station.

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Here is a site I found that shows my location and the nearest tv transmitter. The only stations you might get here are the ones in green.

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Not knowing what you're paying now, have you priced Spectrum (and any other local ISPs) for just Internet? We just did this at home...dumping "cable" channels (actually Verizon FiOS) for just Gig internet and subscribed to DirecTV Over Internet. Exactly like cable with locals, etc. It requires 2 year contact but a lot of extras like unlimited DVR. With taxes and fees $123 mo.

They also have "DirecTV Stream" which is virtually the same thing when no contact but about $10 a month more.

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WAVY tower is 280 meters = 918 feet.


WAVY-TV
[1]
Portsmouth/Norfolk/
Newport News/Virginia Beach, Virginia

City of license Portsmouth
Branding WAVY TV 10 (general)
WAVY News 10(newscasts)

Slogan 10 On Your Side
Channels Digital: 31 (UHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)

Subchannels 10.1 NBC
Owner LIN TV Corporation
(WAVY Broadcasting, LLC)

First air date September 1, 1957
Call letters' meaning WAVY and logo are references to Atlantic Ocean or Chesapeake Bay and also sounds like "navy" [1]
Sister station(s) WVBT
Former channel number(s) 10 (VHF analog, 1957-2009)
Former affiliations ABC (1957-1959)
Transmitter power 1,000 kW
Height 280 m
Facility ID 71127
Transmitter coordinates 36°49'14?N 76°30'41?W? / ?36.82056°N 76.51139°W? / 36.82056; -76.51139
Website wavy.com

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We just did this at home...dumping "cable" channels (actually Verizon FiOS) for just Gig internet and subscribed to DirecTV Over Internet. Exactly like cable with locals, etc. It requires 2 year contact but a lot of extras like unlimited DVR. With taxes and fees $123 mo.

They also have "DirecTV Stream" which is virtually the same thing when no contact but about $10 a month more.

Is that $123 on top of your internet? If so, yikes! You can get YouTube TV for $83/mo which includes your locals. I find that new price to be outrageous. When I first signed up for YTTV it was $55 and that wasn't an intro rate. It's been on the climb ever since. $83 was my breaking point. A week ago, YTTV and I parted ways so I'll find out at the end of my current billing cycle if I really need it.

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I've been a "cord-cutter" for over 10 years. I live in northern Kitty Hawk and we are right on the edge of receiving OTA from Norfolk/Portsmouth. About 65 miles from their broadcast antennas. I built a 30+ foot mast that just peaks over my roof. Previous posters are correct, there is no "digital antenna". They are the same as my Dad had in upstate NY in the 70's. All the digital magic happens in the box or TV.

On my mast I have an antenna. Right at the antenna I have a "pre-amp" that boosts the signal before it travels down the cable. Any amp that is inside your house next to the TV is useless.

I have a antenna rotator that you can point at the TV station. About 320 degrees to Portsmouth. The stronger stations like PBS (2) you don't need to point. I've tried to pull in Greensville (about 260/250 degrees) doesn't really work.

Even with all this I only get an ok signal about half the time. Spectrum internet is over $80 and always climbing. I do not pay anything else for TV, no subscriptions for me. I bought my first Roku 10 years ago. I think it's the best streaming device. Lots of Youtube (not YT TV).

If you have to have certain things like ESPN, you're screwed, you will pay one way or another.

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After 20 years with Charter then Spectrum we cut their internet, cable TV service. We had lowered our package for TV channels to the barebones and were still paying $240.00 per month. We switched to Brightspeed on a whim with their less than $50.00 a month fiber only service. No TV service with Brightspeed. I have to say there are about 4 cable channels I sorely miss. Being the Luddite I am I haven’t fully figured out streaming services. I just watch what my wife watches most of the time. Finally we have Spectrum cellular service that increased $10.00 per phone because we no longer have their internet and TV cable services.

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We just did this at home...dumping "cable" channels (actually Verizon FiOS) for just Gig internet and subscribed to DirecTV Over Internet. Exactly like cable with locals, etc. It requires 2 year contact but a lot of extras like unlimited DVR. With taxes and fees $123 mo.

They also have "DirecTV Stream" which is virtually the same thing when no contact but about $10 a month more.

Is that $123 on top of your internet? If so, yikes! You can get YouTube TV for $83/mo which includes your locals. I find that new price to be outrageous. When I first signed up for YTTV it was $55 and that wasn't an intro rate. It's been on the climb ever since. $83 was my breaking point. A week ago, YTTV and I parted ways so I'll find out at the end of my current billing cycle if I really need it.

You need internet to use YouTube TV so factor in that cost. The price I mentioned for the service including all the little taxes, etc. all the providers track on. My internet is $80 with Verizon here in Newport News.

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Look into Silicon Travel......$80/month.....it uses Spectrum cable then converts to wifi.....plus the wifi is 5-10 x the speed of Spectrums...(no idea how they do that but we have had it for 4 years now)....with a Roku tv you will get the local channels plus the national networks. Then u can use your own streaming subscriptions for everything else...renters can sign in on their own accounts and watch what they want.....the have a local office and service tech's that can handle everything that comes up.

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You need internet to use YouTube TV so factor in that cost. The price I mentioned for the service including all the little taxes, etc. all the providers track on.

Correct, but what I was asking is if your $123 is the price of DirecTV alone. If so, WOWZERS! If you're paying $123/mo for internet AND DirectTV then you need to hold on to that unicorn.

I dropped DirectTV about 5 years or so back and was paying ~$120/mo at that time for it with 2 TVs. This was the dish/box setup. After AT&T bought them they were less willing to accommodate my ~16 years as a customer and they started jacking up the rates so I bounced. Before AT&T they'd always drop my rate back to ~$75 if I committed to 2 years and autopay. AT&T came along and accommodated my request once only after an email to one of their VPs I found on the site. After my promo period expired, no more negotiating from them.

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