Too rural for cable and DSL connections does not necessarily mean too rural for decent OTA. The critical thing here is clear line-of-site (considering trees, hilly terain etc) you may need to invest in an exterior antenna, and possibly an inline amp, but you should be within broadcast range, if you have all the right equipment.
One (of many) of my bitches about the DTV propaganda is having to buy a 'digital antenna'. That is crap. Some stations that are not on UHF now may end up moving, but not all. The uhf ant that was in service before is still 100% compatible with the new format. In fact, some that go buy one of those cheezy digital antennas, will be very put out when they find stations in their market that did not go uhf, and they dont have 'enough' antenna to rx them. The FCC and the industry really wanked the American consumer on this whole unnecessary digital conversion deal.
Ok, where's the smiley of the lil guy stepping down off the soapbox.......lol
AHHH....this lil guy will do just fine. Can he be my avatar???? :rant::rant::rant:
If you are looking for a sub service that is not part of the pizza pan scene, and a better value, there is a C band service via Skyvision you might want to look into. I think the whole setup is less than $450 delivered, and they offer pretty much all of what you will see on cable, less HD.
As has been pointed out, dont confuse Free To Air signals and receiption with piracy and theft of DishNetwork broadcasts using modified FTA receivers. Many have come to associate the mainstream and legal aspect of FTA with the subculture that has thrived on hacking DN for several years. The True FTA community has gotten a bad rap in some cases, and makes great efforts to distance itself from that group that modifys and uses these receivers to watch DN without paying for it. Hence the strong attitudes and the site's zero tollerance policy on discussions on how to hack satellite tv. If someone says the setup is for free DN, they are trying to get you to break the law. Period.
Locals are only available over the air (free) or thru one of the pizza pan systems via subscription. Beyond that, there is a large number of things on the FTA channels, but the best and most versitile system will be one that has multiple fixed or an automated movable dish.
This link is to an offsite list of much of the stuff you can view (or listen to, there are radio channels too) with an FTA box and the right dish setup.
http://www.global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html
He is also a member here and a re-seller of the Skyvision DSR410 system if that is of interest to you.
There is also a link to "The List" from the front page which is an FTA channel list that is provided and maintained by board personnel.
Except as noted, the pizza pan dishes are not usable for True FTA. A 30" with a linear LNB would be a minimum, and a 36" or greater would be even better for the weak stuff. If you ever see anything around that was used for the old Primestar service, and dont mind asking about removing it from someone's property or business, it is both big enough, and has the proper LNB on it.
As for the receiver itself, there are many out there all within different classes, with different features, but most are quite usable for this hobby. Post whatever Q's you have about a particular one you find, and I'm sure someone will be able to advise you on weather is is a good deal or not.
Welcome to the realm and Good luck.
