A Year Without Cable, Week 15: When OTA is DOA

I very nearly lived the dream.

A few days ago, I purchased a Mohu Leaf Ultimate antenna. Mohu is a pretty well-known name in the cord-cutting universe, and the Leaf Ultimate (or Leaf 50, depending on where you’re buying it) is supposed to be one of the company’s best products, with a claimed 50-mile range.

That 50-mile range, from my apartment, should mean access to around 15 channels, including all the major networks you’d get with basic cable: ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. And with the other product I purchased, the HomeWorx HW-150PVR, I should be able to integrate over-the-air TV with my Xbox One and have the ability to record programs onto an external hard drive.

The reality? With everything set up, I picked up one station — WHTM 27, my local ABC affiliate. All other stations, including those a mere 8 to 9 miles away, just wouldn’t come in.

The issue wasn’t limited to the Mohu product, either. I purchased another antenna — a GE model with a claimed 40 mile range — and wound up experiencing the same issue. I picked up the ABC affiliate and nothing else. I tried moving both antennas all around my home, and finally did manage to pick up some additional channels by moving my indoor antenna outdoors. But still, I was not getting every channel I was supposed to, and the antennas were not pulling stations within their advertised ranges.

There could be a number of factors at play, including electronic interference in my home and issues with the terrain outside of it. But should that be dropping what is supposed to be a 50-mile antenna down to a barely 7-mile antenna?

Who knows. But let this experience serve as a lesson that you can’t really believe what you read on the packaging. And this unsuccessful attempt at free TV really shows me what a valuable product Aereo was, and why cable companies thought it was such a threat.

What do you think? Have you set up OTA TV and had better luck than I have? Leave some tips below.