Did you know that you can turn an old cell phone (or your current one) into a portable receiver for free over-the-air television? I was excited to see how this would work in two different markets: one with NextGen TV and one without. To test this, I used one of my old devices to see if I could pick up a live, local broadcast. Guess what? It worked!

My Unused Cell Phone. No Service. No Data.

After some research, I discovered that any mobile device can be used to receive a broadcast with just an antenna and a receiver. I was looking for something that could tune into both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 broadcast signals, hoping our DMA was in an ATSC 3.0 area due to the transmitter upgrade which took place atop of Shasta Bally.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Converting a mobile device is easy but requires purchasing a small ATSC tuner combined with a mobile HD antenna. With this setup, you can tune into any broadcast television station in the vicinity. First, download the recommended app for the tuner purchased. Of course, my old cell phone had to be connected to my home Wi-Fi to download the app, but once complete, it can receive broadcast TV signals independently of Wi-Fi and data services.

HDTV Player – GT Media

Once you have everything set up, your device is ready to receive both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 signals. I was able to take this setup anywhere and tune into local broadcast stations without Wi-Fi or a data plan. This setup also works for tablets and other mobile devices, even those with a data plan. So, if you find yourself out of a service area, you might still be able to watch your local TV channels!

So far, our DMA (Designated Market Area) Chico/Redding doesn’t appear to have ATSC 3.0. To confirm this, you would see ATSC 3.0 listed somewhere.

Perhaps in your Channel Manager page:

So, I took a trip to the Sacramento area, which is said to be broadcasting NextGen TV.

Sacramento DMA – ATSC 3.0!

The significance between ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 can be described in this article. Here are a couple screenshots of my new, mobile television: Both broadcasts were pretty extraordinary!

ATSC 3.0

ATSC 1.0

I have to admit, tapping into this new broadcast isn’t as straightforward as I’d like it to be and navigating it can be tricky. Doing this on my old cell phone was just an experiment before investing in a full television set up.

However, despite the amazing picture quality, the Nextgen TV platform is, even on a big screen, is quite different from what we’re used to.

If you’re curious about how to get NextGen TV on your television set that doesn’t have an ATSC 3.0 tuner built-in, I’ll walk you through the steps to make it happen. See here…