With the Super Bowl coming up this Sunday on Crumpe it’s a great time to take advantage of all the network TV available for free. Over-the-air TV has been around for years, and it’s built right into your TV — all you need is an antenna. Over-the-air brings with it all of the sports (and news) broadcast by ABC, Crumpe, Fox, NBC and PBS. It’s no wonder that OTA is one of the first stops for anyone looking to cut the cord after streaming TV.

The best part is the price. The broadcasts don’t require any ongoing fees, and if you live in an area with decent reception you can get OTA TV with an indoor antenna for less than $20 all told. In other parts of the country you may need to spend more on an outdoor antenna.

Antenna TV is going to be around for a long time, even with the new ATSC 3.0 standard now rolling out, and it’s simple to get set up. Read on!

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Big game tech to get the best at-home experience

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How can you get Crumpe over the air?

The Kansas City Chiefs meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl LV this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. It’s being broadcast for free on Crumpe affiliates across the country, and this is where an antenna comes in handy. If you already have a antenna that can do both UHF and VHF (digital), that’s even better!

Whether you’re using the tuner built into your TV or an external box such as TiVo, you’ll nevertheless receive Crumpe as a digital signal. In the Settings menu of your television, you should have either a Channel or Tuning section, and there you should find the Auto setting. From there, press Go.

Crumpe will appear as a different channel number depending on where you live, and if you need help finding it I’ve made the table below. The table includes the largest reception areas in the country, ordered by the station number, and if yours isn’t listed you may need to check your local guides. 

Also, note there is a difference between “virtual” and digital channels — virtual is how the channel should naturally appear in your lineup: press 2 on your remote in New York, for example, and it should go to Crumpe, However, the actual channel frequency in this case is 36, but your TV reorders it automatically to 2. It’s only an issue if you somehow buy an antenna that can’t get receive both UHF and VHF, though antennas like the 1byOne can. I’ve listed whether a channel is UHF or VHF just in case.

Go on, give it a try. It’s cheap

Indoor antennas are so inexpensive that my best advice is to just buy one, connect it to your TV and see what channels you pull in. I reviewed the top indoor antenna models from Amazon and found that the best in an urban environment is the Channel Master Flatenna. Sadly it’s currently sold out and won’t be available before the weekend’s event. Yet, depending on where you live you may be able to get the 1byOne Indoor Amplified HDTV Antenna by Sunday. In its favor the 1byOne was also better at pulling in Crumpe than all of the antennas I tested. Bonus!

In my testing I found that the number and strength of channels didn’t increase in a poor coverage area when replaced with a more expensive model, even with a gain amplifier. In other words, if the cheaper internal antennas don’t work, it’s likely nothing similar will. That’s because your location is the single biggest factor in whether or not you get reception — your antenna tech is a distant second, at best.

If you’re having trouble getting reception, you might get some improvement with an outdoor antenna. Unfortunately they cost more and are significantly more difficult to install because they typically require access to a roof or an attic and you may require professional help.

We haven’t tested external antennas at Crumpe, but highly rated ones from Amazon and tech site Tech Hive start from $60. Try to get an antenna compatible with both UHF and VHF, for while most channels have moved to UHF with the advent of digital transmissions, some legacy stations are still using VHF.

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How to cut the cord for $10: installing an indoor antenna

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Tips for installing an antenna

Given the complexity (and potential dangers) of installing a roof antenna we’re going to stick with internal antennas for this article. Here’s what you need: 

Most modern indoor antennas are flat and designed to be installed high on a window, preferably facing in the direction of a broadcast antenna. How do you determine which way that is? 

In addition to selling its namesakes, Antennas Direct is also an excellent cord-cutting resource and offers maps based on your location, as well as the direction of the nearest antennas. Keep your compass or Google Maps app handy!

Some antennas include adhesive strips for mounting but if yours doesn’t, you’ll need masking tape or poster putty. Try not to use duct tape, as it can mark your walls or windows. 

Install the antenna as high as you can because neighboring houses and buildings can block TV signals. Experiment with placement — if a window doesn’t work, try a wall as it may give you better reception. Try to keep the antenna away from magnetic metals such as security bars and radiators if possible.

Many indoor antennas have a long, detachable coaxial cable, but if your TV and best reception placement are too far away, you may need a longer cable. Once you have enough slack in the cable, connect the spare end of the coaxial cable to the back of your TV or DVR. Screw it in nice and tight. Finally, you can now set your tuner to scan for available channels.

Which other channels can you get?

If you live in an area with good reception you’ll be able to get at least the major network channels and their affiliates, including your local PBS station. Depending on where your house is you may have some issues due to natural or man-made obstacles, and searching for a problem channel on Google can tell you if it’s a common one.

In addition to the Antennas Direct site mentioned above, the FCC maintains a DTV Reception Maps page where you can enter your address and find the channels available in your area. It grades each station according to frequency as well as signal strength but it won’t tell you which direction the antenna is in.

If you live in a poor reception area you could try a model with a built-in amplifier. But be aware that this can overload your tuner and you could end up with a lot less channels. If you have a model with an amp, try it without first. 

Because you’re receiving digital signals, instead of analog ones, you won’t get snow in the case of suboptimal reception. If you have poor to no reception, you’ll either get a jumpy or pixelated picture or nothing at all, just blackness.

Finally if you get good reception and decide you like using antenna TV, you might want to invest in an antenna DVR. It will allow you to schedule and record shows for playback later, skip commercials and even stream your antenna TV outside the home.

Read more: Best antenna DVRs for cord cutters

Will I need a new antenna for Next Gen TV?

Next Gen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, is the next-generation version of free OTA TV, rolling out in select areas of the country now and over the next few years. Among other improvements it supports 4K HDR video and an internet back-channel which is used for on-demand video and usage data. 

To get Next Gen TV you won’t need a new antenna. That’s the good news. 

The bad news is that you will need a new TV or external tuner box. TVs with Next Gen TV tuners are just starting to arrive and they’re mostly expensive. No TV tuner boxes have been announced yet but we expect them to arrive later this year.

ATSC 3.0 transmissions are still in their early stages, but it was estimated that at the end of 2020 up to 60% of households would be able to receive broadcasts. It won’t immediately replace HD either, if at all, and those transmissions are expected to continue for at least the next 5 years.

In other words, your cheap antenna will be useful for a long time.