Mount Antenna In Attic?

Hello,

I just bought a HDTV and I'm currently a DirecTV user. Of course I'm itching to see HD. I've been to antennaweb and it stated I'd need a violet antenna to receive my stations (Indianapolis market about 45 miles west in Greencastle).

I really don't want to put up an antenna outside to receive OTA if I can do with out it. Is there a way to put it in the attic? Could I get a "better" than I need antenna and amp. and mount it in my attic? I thought I was through with outside antennas (short of my dish).

I would appreciate any insight you can give me. Am I just wishful in thinking this can be done? I know my Grandma had on in her attic but it was on a small 19" in B&W so quality wasn't really a concern.

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As stated 3 times in the WINEGARD catalog , putting an antenna in attic will reduce signal buy about 50%. All this looking for the magic way to get a signal , I feel sad.


I don't want to start a flame war here being a new member and all but that's exactly why I asked. Was it possible. A link to a WINEGARD catalog would've been nice. I can certainly find it for myself however.

All I was wondering is if I "over-bought" my antenna would it be possible. Of course I can buy one and check it out myself but I was hoping someone could answer that might have done it in a similar situation.

Nothing to be sad about...... well maybe that you meant by instead of buy.

Crawdad, forget bout MR. High in the sky. and rely on experience. You can get hd signal with friggin pair of rabbit ears. if you put a radio shack ant. in the attic, aimed properly you should have no problem. In other words the answer is yes to your question. Also try Xium.com , it's small and very impressive , 20 yrs experience says you'll be ok, just be carefull not to look up at the SKY, cuz you might get burned...

I seriously doubt you will get any OTA signals at all even with a very good pre-amp in an attic 45 miles away from the transmit towers. Even if you did manage to get a signal, which I am confident you won't, what do you think will happen when you have 12" of snow on your roof the night before the Superbowl?

Buy a high gain antenna, at least 12 dB, get it as high as you can, and you might still need a pre-amp, and keep the cable run as short as possible. Physics doesn't lie.

Good Luck!

I will agree with the out of the attic folks. So far in the Houston area every time we have tried to put an antenna in the attic, it has not worked out for us. The ABC station here is the problem. We can get just about everything else but ABC and PBS with antennas in the attic. PBS is less than a problem than ABC because of Monday Night Football, of course.


Here in Houston, and I must add that we are involved in practically all new construction, the radiant barriers used in the roofing will knock down the signal a lot. I don't know about the 50%, but I would not be surprised.

I have a small Channel Master Stealth 3010 with amplifier and I live about 30 miles from the station and I get all of the locals most of the time. There has been a few occasions I have got dropouts on the local channels in bad weather - rain.

My powered helical HDTV indoor antenna will get most of the stations except for PBS and ABC. Putting it in the attic didn't help. I use this antenna to try and determine what antenna we need to furnish all over our area. Based on how it performs, I can fairly well predict which roof mount antenna will be required.

ps. If the issue is looks, as it usually is, you might check out the Winegard Square Shooter at: http://www.winegard.com/offair/s2shooter/WC-811.pdf

also from http://www.winegard.com/tech_tips_print.htm
Installing your antenna in an attic? Do you have metal or aluminum backed insulation in the walls or under the roof? If this insulation is between your antenna and the TV signal, the signal will be blocked. You’ll have to remove the insulation or install the antenna in a different place.

Although the antenna is inside, the narrow end must point toward the transmitter of the TV station.

Thanks everyone. I ended up getting a Channel Master 4228 with a pre-amp. Mounted on the peak of one of the eaves. Didn't really want to but I guess it's not too noticeable.

I'm fairly impressed with two exceptions. There's a couple of stations that I can't get. UPN in Indy and WFYI also in Indy. Actually they're all in the 67 degree range according to antennaweb. I will sometimes pick up the UPN station but the PBS station hasn't ever shown up in any scans I've done. I'm going to do a little more direction tweaking and I'm also being pretty blocked up by trees right behind the house. Maybe once they fall I'll have the two stations I'm wanting. That is until next spring :D

Thanks again for your responses.

It maybe that those two are not up to full power on their DTV side. Our PBS station is not at full power yet.

Here's my experience with Digital so far.
I bough an inexpensive digital receiver from Wal-Mart and I've been experimenting with different antenna setups. I'm about 22 miles from the transmitters and I have some rather tall trees around.
I've had a small Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna in the attic I was using for regular broadcast and was surprised to see that I was able to get, counting the station's multiple broadcast on the same frequencies, 27 different digital broadcasts. For the ones that matter to me, Channel 8, 11, 20, 26, 39 are quite good, 2 has enough drop outs to be fairly annoying and 13 is basically not viewable.
Since all the stations except for channel 8, which is actually on channel 9, broadcast digitally on UHF, I tried the Channel Master 4228. This is supposedly Channel Master's highest gain UHF antenna. I think part of the reason I bought this antenna is it looks; it's not a typical yagi but an array that looks more like an electric bug zapper. At 30 feet atop a telescoping mast the reception is a little better than the old Radio Shack in the attic but still not solid on all the stations. I then bought the much cheaper $23.99 Radio Shack UHF antenna and with the same setup this antenna works better than the Channel Master, but I'm still not satisfied. I've tried with and without a pre-amp near the antennas and it seems to make a little difference for the analog stations but the digital drops out just as often.
My next antenna will be a WineGard UHF yagi that has more gain (bigger of course) than the Radio Shack yagi.