40" 'dumb' TV - not a lot of choices

[zeno]

That was a common big screw up. Even the early Sonys did it.
You have to read the manual before buying. In my area the stations
are in 4 directions. You have to point the antenna first hoping its on
the sweet spot. Then wait for a channel scan. All your old saved
channels are gone. I miss NTSC !

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

Yes, Insignia is Best Buy's house brand.

My In-laws have an Insignia 39". The speaker is timid but the picture is OK.

If your OTA TV sites are not all in the same direction, avoid this set. It has no manual tuning mode, no add-channel mode, and entering an RF channel won't work. Scanning is the only way to acuire channels.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by zeno

That was a common big screw up. Even the early Sonys did it.
You have to read the manual before buying. In my area the stations
are in 4 directions. You have to point the antenna first hoping its on
the sweet spot. Then wait for a channel scan. All your old saved
channels are gone. I miss NTSC !

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Get a Zenith DTV converter box go into the menu manually tune the carrier observe the OSD signal strength meter while peaking the antenna then transfer the antenna back to the crappy internal one in your TV.

[zeno]

Tom OM
I gave up on OTA. With ears I only get one station & one other sometimes.
In NTSC days ears would reach out over 100 miles. A big antenna would
get ME, NH, VT, RI, MA, Conn & at nite NY, NJ & PA. all from the average
elevation. Well thats progress ? ........
You know what they say "if its digital its got to be good".

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Get a Zenith DTV converter box go into the menu manually tune the carrier observe the OSD signal strength meter while peaking the antenna then transfer the antenna back to the crappy internal one in your TV.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by zeno

Tom OM
I gave up on OTA. With ears I only get one station & one other sometimes.
In NTSC days ears would reach out over 100 miles. A big antenna would
get ME, NH, VT, RI, MA, Conn & at nite NY, NJ & PA. all from the average
elevation. Well thats progress ? ........
You know what they say "if its digital its got to be good".

73 Zeno
LFOD !

I miss NTSC too...We are probably in the company of most of VK on that.
I'm mostly cable and internet on TV viewing, but I like to DX and play around.... also the family cabin only has access to OTA so I had to get good at grabbing weak signals.

That cabin is so far out in the boonies that the girl who the news says was adbucted and held captive for months was being held a few miles away from there.

Unless you have VHF DTV carriers or are not far enough out to qualify as fringe, rabbit ears are not much better than a foot of random wire jammed in the center of the ant jack...If you want an indoor DTV UHF ant go with a 70s bowtie chop the twinlead off and solder a balun to the feed point with the shortest leads possible.... I was able to best a new expensive amplified antenna relatives bought for the family cabin by a good margin with that 2 buck rig.

BTW if OM was supposed to mean old man I'm still a long way from reaching that title.