How do I get better reception with my rabbit ears or digital cable box?

Question

okay...So my digital cable got cutt off and I bought a pair of rabbit ears but only catch one station. Is there a way to improve the reception of my rabbit ears or use my digital cable box to watch local stations till I can afford to pay my bill?

Answer 1

There isn't anything that you can do with your cable box, it only works on cable signals.

I've pasted a previous answer of mine below, if it doesn't help, add some details to your question like: zip code, kind of builting the antenna is in, model #  of antenna......

--------------------------------------...

(This answer assumes you are located in North America)

There is a lot of "art" in adjusting rabbit ear antennas, but you can cut down on the guess work by knowing something about how antennas work.

-

Go to the first link and find out the direction, distance, and frequencies of your local analog TV transmitters

Look at your list; if there are any analog channels between 2 and 13, look at the second web link and adjust the length of the "ears" to the lowest channel #. The ears mostly receive (VHF) channels 2-13.

If all the analog channels are between 14 and 69, collapse the ears to their shortest length and leave them horizontal.

There should be a loop , dish, or figure 8 on your antenna; this mostly receives analog channels 14-69.

TV signals reflect off of flat metal objects, including aluminum foil backed insulation, metal window screens, and the wire mesh used in stucco & fake adobe construction. Building materials, concrete, dirt, and water absorb TV signals, including bags of salt water otherwise known as human beings. Salt water also conducts electricity, so if close enough they becomes "part" of the antenna.

After you absorb all these things, you are ready to apply the "art" of adjusting TV antennas.

Look at what is between your TV antenna and the line of site to the TV transmitter antennas. Is there something obvious like a refrigerator or aquarium in the way?

Two likely good locations are as high as you can locate the antenna (avoiding the bags of salt water problem) or in front of a window facing the TV transmitters (avoiding absorption by building materials problem).

If you can't get what you want with the rabbit ears and don't want to do a lot of research, for about $60 you can get a Winegard SS-3000 antenna which is about as good as a general purpose indoor antenna can get. Depending on the specifics of your situation, there could a few better choices. Maybe. Depending on the orientation of the TV transmitters and what your TV signal looks like now.......

--------------------------------------...

If your TV doesn't have a digital tuner, you will need a converter box between your antenna and TV after 2/17/09 when the analog broadcasts are going to be shut down.

Digital and analog TV use the same antennas, but unlike analog channels, digital channel # don't relate to the actual frequency the transmitter uses. The "real" channel a digital broadcast uses can be referred to as "real", "actual", or "RF" channel that is the same frequency as the equivalent analog channel #.

See last link for info on digital converters for older TVs