This $12 TV antenna helped me finally cut the cord

This $12 Tv set antenna helped me finally cut the cord

Philips Modern Loop Rabbit Ears Indoor TV Antenna

(Epitome credit: Tom'due south Guide)

Cutting the cord is easier than e'er these days. Easier not piece of cake. I very nearly gave up on my cord-cutting strategy until a $12 Tv set antenna turned it all around.

A few months ago, I finally canceled cable, after mulling over several dissimilar live TV options and ultimately deciding to go with Sling. The streaming service offered the all-time combination of value and features, equally well as a specific list of must-accept channels including the circulate networks (ABC, CBS, Pull a fast one on, NBC and The CW).

While YouTube Tv and Fubo TV are great services, I crunched the numbers and found that getting Sling TV service, along with its AirTV Anywhere device, would save me the most over the long term. The AirTV Anywhere hooks up to an Hd digital antenna and pulls in local aqueduct feeds.

I had never used an Hd digital antenna earlier, but it sounded similar the latest technology, so it should work perfectly, right?

(Narrator: Information technology did non work perfectly.)

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New doesn't mean meliorate

To become with the AirTV Anywhere, I got an amplified HD digital antenna that retails for around $50. The antenna looks like well-nigh of the models you'll discover if yous search for "digital antenna" on Amazon. It'southward a flat, sparse, 12x13 inch slice of plastic that feels like a poster.

Installing both devices was easy. I was able to use Sling's mobile app to quickly find local channels and add them to my guide.

And then, technical issues began to crop up around recording shows on the broadcast networks. For example, ane episode of ABC's The Bachelorette never got recorded, while some other was very glitchy.

At the time, I chalked it up to the fact that a tempest had been raging exterior during the glitchy recording. Antennas are notoriously unreliable in poor conditions. They selection up signals that are sent through the air, from towers. Along the way to your house, the signals fence with buildings, mountains, trees and other obstructions, not to mention any rain and wind. All of that can issue in an erratic and fluctuating broadcast.

I also alive on the footing floor, and well-nigh antenna experts recommend placing 1 as high as possible — on the roof, fifty-fifty. Alas, that'southward not feasible in my urban dwelling. However, I did put the antenna right in front of a window.

As the weeks passed, I had more problems with watching and recording ABC. At i signal, the feed was completely garbled. This was unacceptable come up September, when I absolutely must be able to lookout and record Grey's Beefcake. I began to reconsider my choice to go with Sling over YouTube Television set and Fubo. I even started to miss my mortal enemy, Spectrum Cablevision.

Possibly cord-cutting was just not going to cutting information technology for me.

Something old is something that works

Not set up to completely requite up, I wondered if this antenna wasn't powerful enough, so I perused our list of the best TV antennas. The top-rated Mohu Foliage Supreme Pro is lauded for its built-in amplifier and solid reception. Yet, it costs effectually $fourscore and I hesitated to invest in another antenna, only to discover it doesn't perform any meliorate than the 1 I already had.

So, I did some sleuthing online. And I discovered the ABC feed in my urban center is VHF, not UHF. Many flat digital antennas aren't great at picking up VHF signals (despite what they say in their product descriptions).

What I really needed was something nosotros had when I was a kid: a rabbit-ears antenna.

Indoor rabbit ears antenna by a window — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

For younger readers, a rabbit or bunny ears antenna features two telescoping rods attached to a base. The rods can exist diffuse and swiveled to point in different directions.

Technically, in that location'southward non really whatsoever divergence between a "digital" TV antenna and the a rabbit ears one. The signals are on the same airwaves they've ever been, and the differences between modern digital broadcasts and older analog signal involve the tuner, not the antenna. "Digital" is more than of a marketing term than anything else. Same with the "Hard disk drive" on any "Hd Television Antenna."

As a child, I remember adjusting our television ready's rabbit ears whenever the picture got grainy or began to flicker. In desperate times, nosotros'd experiment with miniscule movements of the ears until — success! — the moving picture was articulate.

With those fond memories in mind, I purchased a Philips Modern Loop Rabbit Ears Indoor Television receiver Antenna for $12. I placed it by the window, hooked it up to the AirTV Anywhere and reset the local channels.

Now, a month later on, I oasis't had a single problem watching or recording ABC or any of the other local channels — even during the torrential downpour brought by Hurricane Ida.

New tech doesn't always equal the best tech for all situations. Equally someone who lives in my particular metropolis, in my particular dwelling house, an OG rabbit ears antenna worked the best. Simply your mileage may vary if yous alive in a suburban or rural area and take roof admission. When it comes to cord-cutting, there really isn't one solution for everybody.

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Kelly is a senior writer covering streaming media for Tom's Guide, and so basically, she watches Goggle box for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, Goggle box Guide and other outlets. When she's not watching Idiot box and movies for work, she'due south watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.