Is it possible to get over-the-air free HDTV without an antenna?

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There are reports out there of people who get free, over-the-air HDTV channels without even hooking up an antenna. I’m not talking about an internet-based system like Locast. I’m talking about, they just switch the TV to “Antenna,” and they don’t have an antenna connected. Yet, they get reception.

How can that be, you say? Isn’t an antenna necessary for reception? Well, yes it is, but you there are some cases where it can look like you don’t need one. They’re rare, but they’re possible.

Your TV acting as an antenna

What you have to realize is that pretty much everything is capable of receiving some signals. Some materials like plastic do such a poor job that there’s no sense in calling them antennas. However, the metal components in your TV, unless they’re properly shielded, are going to receive some RF broadcasts by themselves. This includes the actual connector where you’d normally put an antenna. So, if the signals are strong enough, you’ll probably get some reception without hooking up an antenna at all.

How strong would they have to be? Let’s say you were within 2 miles of the broadcast towers and could actually see them from where you put your TV (like if the TV was in front of a window.) That may seem like a pretty unlikely scenario but it’s not totally impossible. In a case like that, you might actually overdrive your TV by putting a big antenna on it.

I can tell you from personal experience that “way back when,” I lived downtown in a large city and had a view of the top of the skyscraper where the broadcast towers were. It was about .9 miles away (and 60 stories up.) Not only could I get a few channels without an antenna, I actually had to put an attenuator on my cable so that I could watch TV without distortion. I’ve known other people in a similar scenario.

In a case like that, there are probably going to be some channels you get without an antenna and some where you need an antenna. You can play around with aiming and with attenuators to see what works best in your scenario If you’re really serious you might want to even experiment with notch filters to cut down the amount of signal on some frequencies while letting through others. Usually this isn’t necessary… some careful aiming usually does the trick.

Cable TV connection acting as an antenna

I’ve found at least one case where someone got TV reception by connecting old cable TV wire to the TV. I was pretty doubtful of it, but I suppose it’s possible if there isn’t any other signal going through that wire.

Shielded cable by itself isn’t going to get you any reception, because, well, it’s shielded. But I suppose it’s possible that the cable was connected to some sort of unshielded splitter or something that allowed for some minimal amount of signal.

Don’t count on it

Like I said, it’s possible for one of these really rare conditions to give you reception without connecting an antenna. It’s not likely at all and it’s certainly not something you should count on. Really, the best thing to do if you want great reception is choose an antenna from Solid Signal. If you’re not sure which one you’ll need, fill out this form and real antenna technicians will reply with a list of all the parts you’ll need. If you need real in-person help, call us at 888-233-7563 and someone from our US-based call center will walk you through everything you’ll need.

 

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.