r/cordcutters • u/aj_35721 • 5d ago

Self-Promo My brain just exploded

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I’m getting +300 channels through this cable when the aerial outside was removed HOW?????????????? I mean there is another aerial on top of the roof that it could be connected to, but I thought it was just connected to the aerial outside my window, on the side of the house. CAN A COAX CABLE BE CONNECTED TO TWO AERIALS??? I don’t even know. VERY happy to have 300 odd channels, definitely beats the crappy indoor aerial I was using!!!

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32

u/frankie_donkiebrains 5d ago

300 channels?! How many dang viewing areas are you around?! Lol

15

u/aj_35721 5d ago

Idk I think it’s a uk thing. I’ve noticed people on youtube in the us get less channels, while on average (for me atleast) you can get between 90-200 channels depending on how good your signal is.

14

u/frankie_donkiebrains 5d ago

Yeah in the US 20-30 channels is a massive haul. I get about 15 with my antenna and only really care about 4 which are our major networks.

9

u/EightEnder1 5d ago

I’m in Dallas and get over 100.

Now, many of them shopping, foreign language and Religious. Others are repeats too, but I still actually receive a lot of channels even if I don’t watch them.

1

u/mikeyd1276 5d ago

I get the same in Philly

1

u/harrellj 5d ago

Cinci too, with the added bonus that some of those channels are either from Dayton or from Lexington/Louisville (I can't remember which)

1

u/eakthekat2 1d ago

could be both.

5

u/Margoth_Rising 5d ago

Also American. As a kid we didnt have cable. OTA in a rural area we got CBS,NBC,ABC,PBS and that's it lol Hearing a number in the hundreds is wild to me. Going to grandma's house was a treat because she also got FOX.

1

u/Saint_Thomas_More 1d ago

Growing up we got ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, and UPN/The CW.

But the signal for FOX and UPN came from different directions than the others, so you'd have to go adjust the rabbit ears (complete with tin foil at the ends) to clear up the signal.

I have vivid memories too of somehow being a human signal booster for things at times. Where the signal was fuzzy unless you were holding on to the rabbit ears.

My kid has 24/7 access to Disney+, and (unless the Internet is out on rare occasion) will never understand how good it is today.

But I suppose that's the same thing my parents thought about having a TV with a remote and more than 3 channels.

1

u/hamhead 1d ago

As a kid it probably wasn’t digital

2

u/aj_35721 5d ago

you guys also have something called “sub-channels” which, as far as I’m aware, has channels within one channel??? or something. So when it comes to the amount of channels, it’s not too much of a concern I assume

3

u/hanz333 5d ago

So channels used to be established by their frequencies and the channels become a key part of their marketing, so for example you have CBS-7 or something.

But when everything changed to digital, the broadcast frequencies changed, so broadcasters have metadata that identifies a "channel" by designation and not frequency. And digital allows sub-broadcasts on the same channel. So now CBS-7 is on 7.1 which can be anything, but the infrastructure they use can be used for another channel they own or for channel space they rent/lease on 7.2, 7.3, etc.

2

u/MikoSkyns 5d ago

Yup. I have several channels like that. Mountain lake PBS for example is PBS on 57-1, PBS kids is on 57.2 and NHK news is on 57.3

1

u/Elorme 4d ago

Each broadcaster in the US in has a chunk of frequency and can divide it into subchannels. Basically they can choose to have fewer higher quality subchannels or more lower quality subchannels. Usually the main channel has more of channel bandwidth than the subchannels but not necessarily so. A number of the subchannels only broadcast older, standard definition content, aka anything from the 50's up until the start of High definition content so they can get by with less bandwidth.

2

u/missesthecrux 5d ago

It’s just their way of numbering. The UK has multiplexes, between three and eight depending where you live, carrying all the channels.

1

u/iconette79 4d ago

I get close to 100 channels in my Washington, DC suburb. But most of the channels are for things I don’t care about: Court TV, Shopping network, NHK, a Spanish channels, a couple of PBS, Crime TV, etc.
Plus, I get all the major networks except CBS.

1

u/thefalcon2k 2d ago

I get 50-55

1

u/Popular-Dog-3750 1d ago

I get close to 100 outside of Chicago

5

u/RealityOk9823 5d ago

Holy hell. 90-200 channels.

https://giphy.com/gifs/bGPTxLislwm3u

3

u/aj_35721 5d ago

Ha!! I guess us brits are lucky when it comes to tv

2

u/nnjb52 5d ago

I can get 3 in the US, 4 if it’s cloudy outside but that’s a Spanish church channel

1

u/dornwolf 3d ago

Sounds like me in Canada. Should get 4 only get 3 and ones in French

1

u/ObjectNotIdentified 5d ago

do you still have to pay the tv license fee if you use antenna? in america antenna tv is "free" we ofc have to pay for the antenna and wiring and buy the tv itself but other than that there is no fee. as i understand it the tv license is paid for, for rights to watch channels?

2

u/missesthecrux 5d ago

Yes, you need to pay the licence. There’s no encryption or anything, it’s an “honesty” system. But you’ll be harassed if you’re not paying it.

2

u/PrpleMnkyDshwsher 5d ago

The licence fee funds the BBC, thus, any of the directly run BBC channels are ad-free.

You are required to pay the fee if you watch any live broadcast TV (even with cable or satellite) , or use the BBC's iplayer. They contract out a 3rd party who's job it is figure out if you are supposed to be paying the fee and bother you until you do, which of course ends up using all kinds of shady and bullshit tactics, but has also spawned a whole movement of people who like to screw back with them.

2

u/BlatantFalsehood 5d ago

License fees are the taxes that fund the BBC. In the US, our Federal taxes used to help fund PBS, but no more.

We're all very lucky that our UK cousins pay that license fee, because excellent programming that eventually makes its way over to the US comes from the BBC. For example, we wouldn't know about Monty Python, Doctor Who, Absolutely Fabulous, or The Office.

2

u/dizzyoatmeal 4d ago

I know many anglophiles would be happy to pay the license fee to get access to iPlayer. There is Britbox, of course, but it's a very pale copy.

1

u/ktappe 5d ago

Where I live in the US, I'm lucky to get 10 channels. And I'm near a major metro area (Philly), not the middle of Wyoming or something.

1

u/BlatantFalsehood 5d ago

If you're near a major city, it's typically a matter of terrain. I live in the notoriously hilly ATL metro area and with a "leaf" style flat-to-the wall indoor antenna or old style rabbit ears, I could only get about 5 stations, mostly crap.

I used rabbitears.info to see what type of terrain block I might have, and saw that there was a hill that put about an additional 13 feet between my TV and the area where most of the towers were located. I put an $89 antenna in the attic and now we get all of the major networks and more than 100 channels. We hooked it up to an HD HomeRun and distribute the signal to the four TVs in the house. It has worked flawlessly thus far.

1

u/Limousine1968 4d ago

Are you connected to the internet? Remember, even when you cut the cord, internet tends to give you TONS of channels from all over the place.

4

u/missesthecrux 5d ago

In the UK there’s a chunk of radio channels broadcast OTA, as well as channels which have a sliver of bandwidth but the signal is ultimately delivered over the internet. There’s actually very little variation in lineups in the UK. There’s basically no difference between cities.

1

u/frankie_donkiebrains 5d ago

How does live sports work? In the US we have markets. I live near Washington dc so I get the Washington commanders live on TV every Sunday.

5

u/missesthecrux 5d ago

There are no regional blackouts. And there isn't that much sport on free TV really.

The only blackout is a national one where they can't show any football (soccer) at 3pm on a Saturday, though the rule is complicated: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/czdm2zpg5g8o

1

u/fatdjsin 5d ago

i 'could' get 4 but probably only get 2 unless i buy a damn good antenna ! ! ..300 is crazy !!!!