Tired of spending too much money on your Satellite TV bill? Well for around $50 you can purchase and easily install an HDTV Antenna that will give you quality HD TV programming. Of course you will not get as many channels as before using DirecTV, but there are hundreds of channels available broadcast into the airwaves for free from the stations you already know and love. This is a tutorial for most people who can no longer afford the cost of satellite television. Cancelling DirecTV or Dish Network will save you from $75 to $300 dollars a month. Admit it, most of the channels that you are paying your hard earned dollars for are completely worthless. Cancel the service, buy an HD Antenna, and get Netflix. You will not miss most of the TV you watch and you will be saving mountains of money per year. So ditch the monthly bill and follow our tutorial below for saving your money…
Step 1: CANCEL SATELLITE TELEVISION
Step 2: Buy an HD (High Definition) Television Antenna.
Here is the HDTV Antenna we purchased from Amazon for around $50 dollars.
(You may also need a coax cable splitter, antenna amplifier signal booster, or new coax cable)
Step 3: Remove the cone and place the HD Antenna on your existing Satellite Dish.
Step 4: Install the U-bolt that is included with the antenna and secure it tightly in place.
Step 5: Connect the already existing coaxial cable to the HD Antenna.
(The cable is already going from your TV from the dish, so just disconnect and re-attach to the hd antenna)
Step 6: Check all connections to make sure everything is secure and tight.
Step 7: There should already be a coaxial cable going into your home from the roof.
If it was disconnected then look along the side of your home for a connection like this and plug back in.
Step 8: The next process involves finding out which direction in the sky your local channels are in.
You will need to point your antenna in a certain direction for best reception depending on where you live.
Go to Antenna Web, FCC DTV MAPS, or Antenna Point and type in your info to find out which way to point your HDTV antenna.
Once you have the correct direction located, point your antenna/dish in that direction.
Step 9: Turn on your TV and set it to “Antenna” and let it “Find” the available free stations.
Then check the signal meter to see if it is strong.
If all is good you are done! Free HDTV!
HDTV That is broadcast free is from 720p to 1080p HD quality!
Of course you do not need an old dish to install a new HD Antenna.
You can install one in your attic too if you desire.
But remember that HDTV Antennas work best when attached to a roof and there are no obstructions.
Here is a small chart for “how to connect and combine signals from 2 antennas facing different directions” if needed.
Written by Keith Schneerer
Certified Appliance Tech · Founder, RemoveAndReplace.com
Keith has spent 30+ years repairing machines, starting as a military mechanic and later maintaining food processing equipment before moving into appliance repair. He founded RemoveAndReplace.com to share field-tested repair advice.
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Theresa,
I’ll admit that I didn’t look up your brand of antenna up at first. It sounds like you have an amplified antenna. Sorry i was thinking your antenna was non amplified. With your antenna already being amplified then the advice I gave you earlier would be bad advice. If you have a regular splitter (non amplified) lying around or could go run and grab one at an home improvement store (should be pretty cheap) or so, try that. From my understanding (and someone correct me if I am wrong) you should not have 2 amps on one antenna (I think in rare cases its ok) The 2 amps may be interfering with some of your channels, so see how it operates without the amplified splitter. Once you’ve done this rerun a channel scan and see if you get more channels this way. If you find the signal quality good on all of your TV’s return the amplified splitter.
Well, FlyTye I got the 4 way amplifier and connected it all up and got nothing. No power on the antenna. I grabbed the amp that came with the antenna and connected the cable from the antenna to it. I then connected a cable to the “out to tv” port on the antenna amplifier and then to the in port on the 4 way amp. The 4 way amp also has a cable connected to it’s “power in” port. It looks kinda messy but the light came on the antenna and I have perfect reception on my 3 tv sets. Of course all that work for 12 channels may be kind of a waste of my time and energy…
Yes on everything with the exception of the “gray power inserters” inside the house. I’m trying to understand what you mean by that. There should be nothing connected inbetween the antenna and the splitter(the amplified one). You should simply have the antenna>the line going out from the antenna> line into the “in” port of the splitter. Disconnect all swim units! Everything else I think we are on the same page on.
FlyTye…
The only problem is I already disconnected all cables from the 16 channel SWM unit and all cables from the direcTV 4 way splitter. Now if I understand you correctly you are saying leave the cable plugged into the SWM 16 channel unit where it says swm/power and plug it into the power section on my amplifier. Plug the antenna into the “in” port on the amp and the other 4 cables that lead into the house into the “out” on the amplifier. I think I have one, maybe two, gray power inserters connected inside the house–since that supplies the power to the SWM–would that be where I plug the outdoor antenna adapter into it? If that’s the case, I am not sure how that will work–but I can try it when the part gets here.
Also Theresa,
Just thought of something…..That swim unit is already being powered by one of you coax cables in your house. Just take whatever cable is plugged into the power side of the swim unit and hook it into the power side of your new splitter. Then trace wherever DTV has their plug(in your house somewhere ) and replace it with the adapter that came with your unit.
I just did a little reconfiguration with mine, but this should work for you if you don’t need to make any changes.
Theresa,
From the looks of it and the reviews on Amazon, what you’ve ordered should work just fine. It works exactly the way I described earlier with the exception of it being a four port splitter. Try it out and if you have problems (which I doubt) just return it for the one I mentioned- as it is a little cheaper and has more ports.
Good Luck :) It’s awesome not having to fork over $100 a month to Directv anymore!
I had ordered this one Antennas Direct CDA4 4-Way Output TV/CATV Distribution Amplifier before I got your response back. I hope it works. Please let me know so if I need to get the one you recommended I can do so.