I live in a very rural area in Tracy, California, I cut my cable for local channels, I need help?

Question

I already bought 2 antennas, none of them work unfortunately. I live next to a mall, but signals don't come clearly. I need a nice antenna that can be indoors/outdoors. I really am an American Idol fanatic but Dish says I have to pay for my receivers and that won't happen. Please, I need help.

Price range: $0.00 - roughly anything around $100.00.

I live very close to Best Buy, so that'd be nice.

Any other stores.

Please help.

Answer 1

you may need to buy an antennae booster. It hooks up between antennae and device needing signal. It plugs into outlet and boosts the signal to one you may be able to use.

Answer 2

You may be getting ghosting due to reflections of nearby buildings. If so you will need to get a both a directional antenna and a way to point it (tower and rotor), which dictates against a cheap and easy solution. Similarly in a rural location you have to worry about distance so again a rotor and high gain antenna are the way to go. I doubt an indoor antenna will work.

Given how they have fallen out of favour you may be able to find someone who will sell -- or even give you if you are willing to take it down -- a used tower/rotor/antenna .... if installation is an option for you.

The link is to a review/rating site for all sorts of antennas. Maybe one of these might work for you, but I can't offer any guidance based on experience. I gave up on antennas when I lived in the city because a rotor wasn't an option and ghosting was a major issue.

I'm rural now, but satellite -- my solution -- isn't cheap, so inappropriate for you.

Good luck.