A Discussion On HDTV OTA Reception

KatyAccountant

I am tired of paying excessive amounts of money to watch mostly local stations and am looking for an antenna solution.

I purchased an RCA flat indoor antenna and tried it on my one HD TV. I am able to receive just about all of the channels that I wish except for the local CBS affiliate.

I live in Zip Code 77449 and when I look at the signal strength map I found from a link on this site it seems that I should be able to get Channel 11 just as easily as most of the other channels but such is not the case. Another friend a bit north of me has the same issue.

I see a number of different antennas listed here but I've not heard of any of them before and have no idea where I would get them locally.

All I see at Best Buy and Wal-Mart are GE and RCA. Radio shack has it's own brand.

Is an outdoor antenna my only hope? Would an in the attic one be sufficient? Wal-Mart has an indoor/outdoor antenna Number 700R but the box doesn't indicate how far it will receive signals.

My other issue is finding an installer. If I put up an exterior antenna I do not want to try to do that on my own.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

rbinck

I live in that same zip and so does my son. I have a Radio Shack VHF-UHF outdoor mounted to my patio cover at about 12 feet above ground and get all of the local stations. My son has a Channel Master Stealthtenna mounted about 12 feet above the ground also and he not only gets the local stations solid, but Bryan Ch 3 on the back side! I built a 4-bay bowtie antenna that I used for awhile just mounted in my closet that got all of the UHF stations always and the VHF stations (8 & 11) most of the times. I think if I had mounted it in my attic it would have gotten them better.

Anyway, if you don't have radiant barrier in your attic, I would guess, but don't know for sure, that a good outdoor antenna would work fine in our area. If you get a good outdoor antenna and then it does not work in the attic, then it could be moved outside.

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KatyAccountant

Did you install the antenna yourself? Or can you recommend an installer who will also drop the wiring so I can hook up all three of my TV's to this antenna?

I used to have comcast, I don't suppose that I could use whatever cable there may still be in my attic for this?

Nope, no radiant barrier, so hopefully I will be good to go soon.

thanks again

rbinck

Yes I installed it myself. I'll PM you an installer.

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KenD1950

After reading this I am wondering, I can receive channels up to -57.8dBM if I want to receive a channel that is 87.7dBm do I just add a power amplifier of at least 30.0dBm?

gonjkb

Reality. We're talking about physical sciences and there is standard variation in physical processes that are attributable for such perturbations.

jcovey713

Great post. Thank you for the advice.

stereocraig

I never could understand why somebody would spend good money on an antenna, only to shield a good portion of the incoming signal, in an attic.

stereocraig

Dead link.

wizwor

Because it works? I have never been on the roof of my house and will never go up there. If antenna reception required roof top work, I'd still have cable.

My walk up attic has sufficient space for a bunch of antennas. I have two installed right now. A 91XG runs almost north/south pointing out the south peak of my home. A Y5-7-13 points northwest out of the north peak of my house. I have suspended the antennas from the roof structure using string at the best possible height, location, and angle to get the best reception. The antennas are unaffected by weather and I can tweak in my underwear.

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chessievideo

Well, in my case, I am a single mom, and I would have to pay someone at least $100 to mount the antenna on the roof. It is working perfectly in the attic, so frankly, I don't see any need to spend money when I don't have to.

stereocraig

I guess I can somewhat agree w/ the last two posters to an extent.

For some of us though, it goes way beyond just a common desire to receive run of the mill
,cable ghetto trash.

I view it as a challenge to attempt to receive as many channels for free, as possible, since I have NEVER paid for television viewing.

wizwor

Holy smokes! Good luck with your challenge. There is a little of that in me, I suppose, but this is mostly about watching television for my family. I can afford cable, but prefer to watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it. When we lose cable, I still have OTA for news and entertainment. When I get up at 3:00am, there is something to watch besides infomercials. Free is great. I have used the money previously spent on cable to buy DVRs, BD players, and streaming boxes as well as boxed sets of my favorite sitcoms and an extensive library of movies. It happens that the picture is better, but I would not switch for the incremental improvement.

We get a lot of channels. My goal, however, is to get the channels I watch without dropouts and pixilation. Making all of this happen without getting on the roof, using a rotor, or providing training for family members presents a different challenge. I think I've pulled that off.

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stereocraig

That's exactly how I started out.
Getting channels I liked, but some had dropouts and pixelation.
As soon as I cleaned those up, I would get a whole new set of channels, but they would pixelate and dropout, too. So the process starts all over again. LOL!

I'm even receiving stations that don't show up on my report.

wizwor

Been there. My DTVPal DVR is always on the prowl for new challenges. I regularly get Maine stations and sometimes Rhode Island stations pop up. ION transmitters seem to be everywhere.

My tinkering slowed when the channels I watch became rock solid (which required removal of five oak trees on my horizon). I have one channel in Derry that I would like to get better, but I'm otherwise satisfied. Last night I ordered a second 91XG ($62 shipped from Amazon) and a splitter combiner. I'm going to move the front section of the new antenna to the front of my existing antenna and point the resultant 43XG at the shaky station. Hopefully, the added gain from the extended 91XG will offset the loss of the combiner and I will get WBIN's three channels.

If you look at my fool polar chart (halfway down http://thebeersoncomcast.wordpress.com), I'm pointed right at 32 and 35 and 36 seem to be just outside the beam of the 91XG. Splitting the difference makes everything a little less solid.

Generally, the life cycle of an antenna installation (especially at the fringe) goes from enthusiasm for the possibilities to excitement of early success to frustration of fine tuning to [dis]satisfaction.

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