Free HD signals are easy to receive–and they are glorious.

As someone who’s recently used a variety of cable and satellite TV providers, one of my main complaints was the picture quality. Many of the HD channels have that “compressed” look to them. In fact, the only provider I’ve used that didn’t have compressed video quality for HD channels was Verizon FIOS, and that’s because the operate their service on a brand-new, fiber optic network that’s not available in many locations.

A lot of people may assume that cable or satellite providers are giving them the best possible picture quality, but you know what assumptions make. Many people may be surprised to find out that the best picture quality is available for free, using what’s called over-the-air (OTA), or sometimes free-to-air (FTA), HDTV.

But it’s not just picture quality–there are several benefits of OTA HD. To summarize:

• It’s free HD–your only costs are the antenna ($100-$400)
• You’ll receive an uncompressed, high-quality picture
• You’ll get programming from networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and TheCW
• You’ll also get digital sub-channels, which provide more content than old-school OTA TV
• Most new TVs display some programming info
• You’re sticking it to the cable and satellite companies

This post will expand on these benefits and more. Read on to find out how you can enjoy OTA HD at home.

Antenna Installation

As said, all you need to receive these glorious free HD signals is a good digital antenna. You may be thinking, “isn’t this like back in the day when I used to use an antenna and the signals would fade in and out?” The short answer is, “absolutely not.” With the transition to digital television a few years back, over-the-air signals now perform much better. Heck, the free HD signals don’t even drop out during severe weather, as opposed to satellite. So if you live in tornado alley like me, with an OTA set up, you can watch weather coverage during the worst of storms. Try doing that with your satellite dish.

The Winegard GS220 antenna is designed to pull DTV signals from up to 40 miles away.

By now, hopefully you’re asking, “how do I get free HD signals?” It’s pretty simple–you just need the right antenna. But remember, I’m not talking about a pair of rabbit ears from Radio Shack that sit on the top of your TV. While those might work for someone who lives extremely close to all of your local broadcast affiliates television transmission towers, it may not work for most. For example, I live in a the northern part of a large metro area–Dallas/Fort Worth. While I’m in a highly populated area, the broadcast transmission towers for the major networks in D/FW are located along the southern edges of the area. Thus, I’m around 30 to 35 miles away from those towers. To get free HD signals from that far away you need a larger antenna installed in the attic or on the roof of your house. The antenna can be wired via high-quality coaxial cable into your house’s existing cable system, so the signal will come right out of your cable outlet.

There are two ways of going about getting this antenna. There’s the easy way, and the hard way. Of course, the hard way saves you money.

Let’s start with the easy way. Having someone install your antenna is always a good idea if you’re not an expert at this sort of thing. The best place to start is a website like Service Magic. There you can search for someone to install a TV antenna, and find contractors in your area. The website even allows you to read ratings from other customers. This is always helpful as you want to make sure you have someone who knows what they’re doing.

A knowledgeable contractor should be able to recommend an antenna type for you, and will probably have one on hand. He or she will also know where to install the antenna–on the roof, in the attic, etc. They’ll have it installed in a manner of hours, and you’ll be up and receiving free HD signals with almost no hassle. If you’re willing to spend anywhere from $200-$400 dollars, this is the way to go. Remember, if the contractor can’t answer the question, “what type of antenna do I need to pick up OTA signals from my house?”, it’s probably a bad sign. And don’t EVER let a contractor leave without a demonstration that the antenna picks up all the free HD channels in your area.

One other IMPORTANT note: you’ll need to be sure that your TV is digital TV ready. This is KEY. Some older HDTVs are not DTV ready, and require a converter box to receive free HD signals. Convertor boxes that process HD signals can run more than $100, so in that case, you might even want to think about getting a new, inexpensive HDTV. For example, I discovered that one of my HDTVs was not DTV ready, so I re-purposed it as a computer monitor and  replaced it with a great little Vizio 30 inch that I picked up from Wal-Mart for about $350 last year.

Now, onto the hard way. For those of you who are good with installation, you might be able to to this yourself. You’ll probably be able to save a good chunk of money by doing things this way. Again, I stress, if you have any hesitation about your skill level, PAY A PROFESSIONAL. It’s always embarrassing to have to call someone to come clean up your mess. I experience that year after year trying to fix my sprinkler system!

The first thing to do is assess your situation. You’ve got to find out what kind of antenna you need to receive free HD. The best way to do that is to surf on over to AntennaWeb.org. Click on “Choose an Antenna,” input your address, answer a few questions, and you’ll see something like this:

This information tells you what type of antenna you’ll need to receive your desired channels. For example, you can see that I live about 30 miles from all of the major affiliates in the Dallas area. If you click on the links under “antenna type,” you’ll see what kind of antenna you need to receive these channels. I really only need a “small, multi-directional” antenna, according to AntennaWeb, which is what I own. All antennas are actually classified by color, so if you’re out at the store shopping for an antenna, make sure you buy an antenna with the right color classification to pick up the channels you need. AntennaWeb has a great page on antenna types that I suggest you read.

I personally use a Winegard GS220 antenna that was installed by my contractor.  On their website, you can see what type of antenna you’ll need by looking at the color classifications. My antenna works great–I get every free HD channel in the Dallas area and the picture never drops out. On a really clear night, I can even receive signals from the Oklahoma/Texas border, which is about 80 miles as the crow flies.

There are other considerations once you’ve purchased your antenna. Are you going to install in the attic, or will you put it on top of your house? Do you want to wire it to one television, or feed the signal into you’re house’s cabling system? Will you need to buy coaxial cable and splitters? For example, I have a rather tall, two-story home. My antenna is installed in the attic, away from the elements. Since all my cabling infrastructure runs from the outside of my house into the attic, this is a perfect setup for me. For you, it may be different. Again, if you don’t know the answer to these questions, you definitely need to hire a contractor like I did.

Free HD: What’s On?

Once you’re up and running, it’s easy to find out what’s on OTA HD. There are several sites that provide programming information, but the consensus among techies on the Internet is that TitanTV is the best channel guide out there. Simply surf on over, select the guide for broadcast networks in your area, and you’ll be able to see what free HD programming is available.

You should remember to rescan your channels every few months, as something new might pop up, especially if you live in a populated area. Last time I scanned my channels, I had close to 70 show up. Granted, many of those are shopping networks, Spanish-language, and religious based, so if those aren’t your cup of tea, it’s easiest to remove them from your channel memory so you don’t have to flip through them all the time!

One of the cool things about OTA TV signals are digital subchannels. You’ll find that channels now aren’t just formatted “2, 3, 4, etc.” They’re formatted “2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc.” On the subchannels, networks will air additional programming. For example, here in Dallas, ABC broadcasts in HD on channel 8.1, airs a local weather station on channel 8.2, and airs other programming on channel 8.3.

Another great thing is that DTV signals include some channel information. While you may use may use an online channel guide like TitanTV, you’ll still have the ability to see a program name and description on your television screen:

Best of all…

You’re now receiving sterling, free HD broadcast television without paying a dime. All it cost you was the price of a good antenna. If you’re willing to ditch cable and find other ways to watch TV, such as OTA HD, you’ll adjust in no time.

For more information on ditching cable, read my guide to watching TV online (on a budget, of course).