Indoor Antenna help?

Hey, guys Im looking for an indoor multi-directional antenna and need help. I cannot mount anything to my roof. I am on the second floor of a townhouse and according to antannaweb and tvfrool, I have either yellow or red reception areas. Any help? I have seen the db2, the CM4221 and the Terk HDTVa, but can these be used indoors? Are there any better ones than those? Any help would be great. My zip is 28590

Hi Gmen42,

You have a set of locals due south of your location which include two high vhf (WNCT, CBS, ch 10 and WTCI, ABC, ch 12) and four UHF channels (WITN, WEPX, WYDO, and WUNM). Do you have a window that faces to the south? The DB-2 and CM 4221 are UHF only antennas and will not provide a complete set of locals (ie, likely will **not** acquire WNCT and WTCI). Indoor antennas are very challenging and require lots of testing to find the best antenna and location. For starters, I like this antenna from radio shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103077 You have very strong signals in your area and cannot use an amplified antenna without overloading the tv tuner or antenna amp. The Terk HDTVa is probably not appropriate since it is an amplified antenna.

There is another set of locals to the west/northwest, but they are too far away (>60 miles) to reliably receive with an indoor antenna.

HTH (a little anyways)

Good Luck!

Rick

Hi Gmen42,

You have a set of locals due south of your location which include two high vhf (WNCT, CBS, ch 10 and WTCI, ABC, ch 12) and four UHF channels (WITN, WEPX, WYDO, and WUNM). Do you have a window that faces to the south? The DB-2 and CM 4221 are UHF only antennas and will not provide a complete set of locals (ie, likely will **not** acquire WNCT and WTCI). Indoor antennas are very challenging and require lots of testing to find the best antenna and location. For starters, I like this antenna from radio shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103077 You have very strong signals in your area and cannot use an amplified antenna without overloading the tv tuner or antenna amp. The Terk HDTVa is probably not appropriate since it is an amplified antenna.

There is another set of locals to the west/northwest, but they are too far away (>60 miles) to reliably receive with an indoor antenna.

HTH (a little anyways)

Good Luck!

Rick

WOW. Thanks for the detailed response Rick. :yippee: That helps alot. Just curious though, if my new HDTV comes with a QAM tuner, do I even need a Antenna or will the TV automatically pick up the HD channels? (I have cable with no box)

Gmen42,

You are a barrel of monkeys.

On the one hand, I believe that you had already tried something with a antenna, or you wouldn't have came here for advice.

My best advice is that no rabbit ears antenna, either amplified or un amplified is going to help you - if you are on the wrong side of the building.

In most for instances, the cable companies are going to a smart card type technology and most if not all channels are going to be scrambled in the near future. - They want paid for all the televisions in your home and they don't want people doing home installs - attaching more than one television or customer to a line without being paid.

So the answer is - if the cable company offers some type of receiver - for FREE, you best better get it before the offer ends. Or you will find out that the cable company will become belligerent when you ask for one for free and find out that they want $40 or more per a receiver after their offer has expired.

If you have cable, forget about spending money on a television antenna. Pay the cable - because indoors antenna's are a pain in the butt and you might spend good money after bad before you find something that works in your area.

You could fabricate some sort of outdoors antenna or you can move.

That is my opinion when it comes to indoor reception.

Hey Gmen42,

The number of clear QAM channels varies widely between cable companies. In the past I could watch 15 HD channels with my QAM tuner but now I can only acquire the locals. You may be in a for a pleasant surprise if you connect your cable to the tuner and scan for all channels. My LG has the option of scanning for analogs, digital, and cable channels or I can use EZ scan and scan for all. Double check your manual for the best process with your tv.


***ADD IN, by law, the cable companies are required to provide your locals in the clear. So, if even if they cut back on the number of channels in the clear, you should always be able to acquire your locals with the QAM tuner in your tv.

Good luck! :)

Best,

Rick

I use a Channel Bastard 4221 HD indoors and get good results with local stations. You will get good reception of any stations listed in Green on a TV Fool report with this method and also some of the stronger yellow stations. But if you need fringe or deep fringe stations then you will need an outdoor antenna.

Billiam,

Are you saying that you can acquire high vhf channels with the new CM 4221 HD?

Billiam,

Are you saying that you can acquire high vhf channels with the new CM 4221 HD?

One of my local channels is channel 7 and I get that in just fine.

Very interesting! I am playing with a DIY 4-bay design that can acquire high VHF. In my testing, I have found that I have breakups in high VHF channels when I use a narrow reflector (24") but not with a wide reflector (36").

When posters ask about high VHF reception on the 4221, I reply that it is a UHF only antenna, since it matches the manufacturer's claims and agrees with Ken Nist's modeling. Ken notes very large negative gains in high vhf for the old 4221. He has not updated his model for the new version. See: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Very interesting! I am playing with a DIY 4-bay design that can acquire high VHF. In my testing, I have found that I have breakups in high VHF channels when I use a narrow reflector (24") but not with a wide reflector (36").

When posters ask about high VHF reception on the 4221, I reply that it is a UHF only antenna, since it matches the manufacturer's claims and agrees with Ken Nist's modeling. Ken notes very large negative gains in high vhf for the old 4221. He has not updated his model for the new version. See: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html


You may be able to stabilize the breakups by putting the antenna horizontal instead of vertical. I just tried that recently and noted the multipath is reduced.

I just ran a new TV Fool report for my location and found that after June 12 this station switched to a UHF channel. But prior to June 12 they were broadcasting a HDTV signal on VHF channel 7. I am 15 miles away from their tower and prior to June 12 I was using a couple of different indoor antennas like the Silver Sensor and Philips model along with the CM 4228 and CM 4221 HD.

My guess is that if you are pretty close to a VHF hi channel, the CM 4221 HD should still work.

Thanks for the follow-up Billiam! Yes, I am close at 30 miles from the tower with a NM of 56 dB on ch 8. I'll give that horizontal orientation a try.

Best,

Rick