• th3dogcow@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It is surprising to realise that this is not more common. In Japan, basically every home and apartment comes with rooftop antennas and coaxial connections in multiple rooms. No need to pay for cable TV (BS and CS) unless you want to get more channels.

    • SmashingSquid@notyour.rodeo
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      1 year ago

      A lot of places in the US are too far for using antennas. In my area all you can pick up is a religious channel and a channel named infomercial tv.

      • justTouchit@discuss.online
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        1 year ago

        80% of the US population lives in urban areas. An amplified antenna can pick up channels for many of those further out. Won’t work for everyone of course.

        • Fondots@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I live almost exactly 20 miles from most of the towers in my area, if I got rid of all the trees and buildings in my way I might even have line of sight to the towers

          Unfortunately my main TV is in the basement, and even with an amplified antenna I can’t quite seem to pick up more than 1 or 2 channels, and I don’t quite care enough to put up an external antenna on my roof.

      • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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        1 year ago

        Well… You could, you just have to get it as high as you can manage. Lookup a radio horizon calculator as most broadcast antennas are 400+ feet above ground.

    • Cheez@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s one of those weird things that a massive amount of people in the world use but not Americans, so it ends up in articles about this hot new gadget that will change your life.

      btw have you ever heard about heat pumps?