On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:47:45 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

How do you improve HDTV reception?

Bigger, higher, better, antenna.

My best reception is with the NYC official station.
(254592, no 7,13).
I'm using a Supersonic portbale with an antenna tha came with
a USB TV receiver.

The USB dongle type of HDTV receivers are worse than awful. They
usually don't have enough sensitivity to work in marginal situations,
which includes your indoor arrangement. As others have suggested, an
outdoor antenna and coax will work. Adding an antenna mounted
pre-amplifier will do even better, but may not be necessary.

I can't even find a decent cheap antenna.

Antennas are not rated for decency.

We used to have dozens of stations before HDTV.

You still have the stations. What seems to have changed is your use
of an unspecified model USB HDTV dongle, which might be lacking in
sensitivity. Find someone with a portable HDTV and try it at your
location. If it works better than your USB HDTV dongle, there's the
problem.

No way I'm getting cable.

Not even coax cable such as RG-6/u? Fear of coax cable is a rare
disease, but easily cured by using twin-lead instead.

We are proud we are the only house without cable.

Welcome to the wireless generation. No wires, no cables, no TV.

My late dad refused to ever let me get a VCR.

VCR's are so 20th century. The 21st century does DVR (digital video
recorder) such as Tivo. The big advantage to me is that I can view
shows when I fell like, not when it's broadcast. Also, I can fast
forward over the commercials.

I lived without a TV for about 15 years. I was too busy getting into
trouble and making money to waste time watching TV. However, as I got
older, I also became lazy, and eventually bought a small junk TV. Like
any addict, that led to a VCR, DVR, satellite dish, home theater,
numerous boxes, antennas, Hulu, UCTV, and a tangle of cables.

On a cost per minute basis, TV is a rather expensive pastime. I watch
TV about 2 hours per day, or about 730 hrs per year. I pay about
$800/year for DirecTV. Ignoring the cost of hardware, that's about
$1/hr. I could do better with Netflix.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558