Got fed up with high cable TV bill that seems to go up with every bill and decided to cut the cable TV.. To accomplish this I needed to stream in TV and found that DirecTV NOW was a good value for $35.00 per month and they gave me the Apple TV 4 set top box for free for paying for 3 months up front ($149.00 for Apple TV 4 alone).. My streaming requirements were I wanted Discovery and History channel and wife wanted Hallmark channel so we were all set for replacing cable TV except for local channels. Tried an inexpensive flat panel and picked up between 12 and 20 channels but had to keep moving antenna so I wanted something more permanent and also get OTA channels in strong on 3 TV's so roof antenna was the best solution. With my oldest sons assistance installed a roof tripod down to a coax grounding block then into the cellar to a 4 channel distribution amplifier to the 3 TV's.. To make for a water tight install i bought a pitch pad kits with lag bolts.. I was only able to bolt into one roof truss and sent my son into attic to hold up a scrap piece of 2x6" held flat to roof sheathing and tightened up lag bolts.. Very sturdy! To make this code compliant I needed to add an 8' ground rod then run a #6 awg copper wire to the other side of the house and bond this to the house ground rod and also ran a #8 awg copper to the antenna mast\tripod (code requires #10 awg). I Googled installing a ground rod as I never liked standing on a ladder pounding in a ground rod with a sledge hammer as it's dangerous and difficult. Found a YouTube video installing by making a water drill using a 10' copper pipe with a hose adapter then hook up to water.. Had the ground rod installed in under 15 minutes! Here are the install pics..
That's great Ray What's the final total on channel with the roof mounted antenna? EDIT: just looked at the pic which shows the total me: About getting that GR in the ground...I've seen it done with a hammer drill, with excellent results
66 channels but a couple NFG so around 60 real channels.. I have done hammer drill and this method is better and only cost $17.00 for pipe and 1/2" ball valve.. This also makes for a better ground due to damp soil plus no real damage to ground rod.. Last 2' banged in with claw hammer.. Very easy!
Here's the thing.. Many people including myself don't own a large SDS hammer drill and the water pipe method is easy to do if you know how to sweat pipe together.. Drove in 6' in less than 10 minutes with no hammer! Of course if you have rocky soil all bets are off..
Yes, indeed! Glad it's working out for ya's Ray- oh, and the wiring is all nice and neat, so extra to you
Thanks! Yes we love it.. A lot of work only set me back $200.00 for everything including tools! Payback very short time..
If anyone is considering installing an antenna go to TV Fool and enter your address to see what channels you can pick up.. They also tell you the magnetic compass settings for the TV towers.. I installed American made antenna, tripod and mast pipe made by Winegard..
Yep, cut my cable wire a few months ago. Nice to have an extra $100+ each month. We get about 48 channels and I just installed the antenna in the attic. Works great. Marty
That explains why my neighbor could never get his unused grounding rod out of the ground. He kept tripping over it and hitting it with the weed whacker. He also could have cut it below soil level too. Nice install Ray. The amplifier makes a difference. We have a small antennae and never had cable. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon fill our needs as well as local channels for news.
