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Anyone know if ABC can be had on TV with rabbit ears in lot right next to stadium?

PSU95alum

Well-Known Member
Jul 27, 2006
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Would like to travel with genny and TV, but don't want to haul the DirecTV. Parking spot is literally a few spots from the stadium between D & E (closer to D). Didn't know if stadium would potentially impede a signal or not. Thanks.

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You may be able to get it, but you would need a powerful antenna (80+ mile range). ABC is not broadcasted from State College.
 
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I had club seats for Maryland and was shocked at how strong and fast the wifi was. I was probably sitting under the only access point in the stadium.
Actually there are about 350 access points in the stadium, but it's still not enough.
 
It's been about eight or nine years since I tried but I used a yagi and a pre-amp to get WATM which broadcasts on physical channel 24 from Wopsy in Altoona in a lot east of the stadium and a bit down the hill. Chances are good you'll get it but no guarantee. (We went to DirecTV satellite only after that)

Another option that I have not tried is WNEP's digital translator which is licensed for physical channel 36 from Pine Grove mountain just outside of town. I don't know if it is active or not but can check later on tonight and advise.

I would not depend on streaming over a cellular or wifi connection - it is unlikely to work most of the time as there's just too many people in too small an area to provide decent service even though it has improved in the last year or two.
 
In 2004 a buddy who did RF in the Marines rigged up my truck as an antenna. Got like 4-5 channels.
 
Looks like they sell rabbit ears with a microUSB connector for phones/tablets. No idea how well they work though
 
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I can't get it via my RV antenna.
probably true, remember the over the air signal now is digital, so you have to have a digital antenna. And for the most part, if you can get any part of the digital signal, you can get all of it. Digital antennas can be bought for like $15 bucks, and they are just about all the same. Now that said, your TV has to be ready to accept a digital signal. All of this changed approximately 2007, so if you TV was built before this time, even with a digital antenna you wont be able to see anything. You will need to buy a converter for the TV Antenna, to change it from Digital to analog signal, which will degrade the amount of reception you get. This all said, most TV built after like 2008 get digital signals, and many of them are 12v powered. Just look at the power plug in for the TV. If it has a 'brick' that brick is stepping down 120v ac to 12 v dc, so you could just plug it directly into your cigarette lighter if you wanted.
FWIW my boat was build in 2006, and I learned all of this the 'hard way'!! I have flat screen TV's on my boat, but they don't take digital signals!!
 
probably true, remember the over the air signal now is digital, so you have to have a digital antenna. And for the most part, if you can get any part of the digital signal, you can get all of it. Digital antennas can be bought for like $15 bucks, and they are just about all the same. Now that said, your TV has to be ready to accept a digital signal. All of this changed approximately 2007, so if you TV was built before this time, even with a digital antenna you wont be able to see anything. You will need to buy a converter for the TV Antenna, to change it from Digital to analog signal, which will degrade the amount of reception you get. This all said, most TV built after like 2008 get digital signals, and many of them are 12v powered. Just look at the power plug in for the TV. If it has a 'brick' that brick is stepping down 120v ac to 12 v dc, so you could just plug it directly into your cigarette lighter if you wanted.
FWIW my boat was build in 2006, and I learned all of this the 'hard way'!! I have flat screen TV's on my boat, but they don't take digital signals!!

There's not really such a thing as a "digital" antenna or an "analog" antenna for the purposes of TV reception. Any antenna capable of effectively receiving the desired frequency range will work, even if it's 50 years old. :) You are 100% correct, however, that your TV has to have an ATSC tuner for over-the-air digital - something many early HD and flat panel sets did not have. The real problem near the stadium is likely multi path - I don't know how well modern reception hardware deals with it but it used to be disastrous to OTA digital.

For the OP, we used a five gallon bucket with a 1.75" schedule 40 pipe that was about 2 feet long in it, filled it with gravel (holes drilled in the bottom for drainage) for a mount and placed the DirecTV HD dish on that. If you're serious about doing it often, buy an extra dish and LNB off eBay and make it portable - we did that by separating the LNB arm from the dish itself and making it quick connect by drilling the holes out and using a linchpin to reconnect them in the field together with a pigtail coming out of the LNB arm. Redneck engineering but didn't take up too much room, was robust in the wind, and only took about five minutes to set up and point, especially once you had done it and knew about where it had to go to start with. We had every channel available in the package on any of the 3 satellites that way. Worked really well.
 
There's not really such a thing as a "digital" antenna or an "analog" antenna for the purposes of TV reception. Any antenna capable of effectively receiving the desired frequency range will work, even if it's 50 years old. :) You are 100% correct, however, that your TV has to have an ATSC tuner for over-the-air digital - something many early HD and flat panel sets did not have. The real problem near the stadium is likely multi path - I don't know how well modern reception hardware deals with it but it used to be disastrous to OTA digital.

For the OP, we used a five gallon bucket with a 1.75" schedule 40 pipe that was about 2 feet long in it, filled it with gravel (holes drilled in the bottom for drainage) for a mount and placed the DirecTV HD dish on that. If you're serious about doing it often, buy an extra dish and LNB off eBay and make it portable - we did that by separating the LNB arm from the dish itself and making it quick connect by drilling the holes out and using a linchpin to reconnect them in the field together with a pigtail coming out of the LNB arm. Redneck engineering but didn't take up too much room, was robust in the wind, and only took about five minutes to set up and point, especially once you had done it and knew about where it had to go to start with. We had every channel available in the package on any of the 3 satellites that way. Worked really well.
hmmm really? then why the heck did I swap out my antenna on the boat?? What was I thinking??
 
There's not really such a thing as a "digital" antenna or an "analog" antenna for the purposes of TV reception. Any antenna capable of effectively receiving the desired frequency range will work, even if it's 50 years old. :) You are 100% correct, however, that your TV has to have an ATSC tuner for over-the-air digital - something many early HD and flat panel sets did not have. The real problem near the stadium is likely multi path - I don't know how well modern reception hardware deals with it but it used to be disastrous to OTA digital.

For the OP, we used a five gallon bucket with a 1.75" schedule 40 pipe that was about 2 feet long in it, filled it with gravel (holes drilled in the bottom for drainage) for a mount and placed the DirecTV HD dish on that. If you're serious about doing it often, buy an extra dish and LNB off eBay and make it portable - we did that by separating the LNB arm from the dish itself and making it quick connect by drilling the holes out and using a linchpin to reconnect them in the field together with a pigtail coming out of the LNB arm. Redneck engineering but didn't take up too much room, was robust in the wind, and only took about five minutes to set up and point, especially once you had done it and knew about where it had to go to start with. We had every channel available in the package on any of the 3 satellites that way. Worked really well.

^^^ This. BTW, if you have an older hr20 receiver (silver colored) it has a built in antenna tuner. If you have a newer receiver just tell DirecTV you want an AM21 (or is it AN21) over the air tuner. They plug right into the back of your receiver. Either setup can get you two additional antenna markets that work just like your regular dtv channels. As far as antennas, antennaweb.org has all the info you need. How you point your antenna makes a big difference.
 
FWIW I checked tonight and I don't see WNEP's translator being active. It's no guarantee it is not but I live in Lemont and do see WJAC and WPSU's transmitters on Pine Grove from here no problem.
 
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