Antennacraft HBU33 VHF/UHF Antenna in Allentown, PA

PopcornNMore

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 20, 2005
3,635
128
Gibsonia, PA
After purchasing a TerkTV32 UHF antenna and receiving 24 digital channels with excellent reception here in Pittsburgh, PA I decided to purchase an Antennacraft HBU33 high band VHF / UHF antenna for my parents this Christmas who live in Allentown, PA roughly 34 miles from Philadelphia.

I picked this antenna after reading the many excellent 5 star reviews I had read online and because it was rated for 60 to 70 miles I knew receiving the local Philadelphia channels would be no problem even if installed within their attic.

On Christmas Eve Day I went up into their attic and installed a cheap pair of rabbit ears to a video monitor and scanned in 10 digital channels with very good signal strength. The channels broadcast from Allentown, but I had great hope for the Anntenacraft HBU33 knowing that channels can be received using cheap rabbit ears.

After assembling the Antennacraft HBU33 in the attic I attached the coax to my monitor and performed a scan. I was expecting 30, 40 or more channels after reading that so many use this antenna in their attics having excellent results. To my surprise it scanned in only the same 10 channels and the signal strength wasn't much better than when using the 99 cent pair of rabbit ears. I aimed it toward Philadelphia (161 degrees) and received NO Philadelphia channels. I then aimed it toward Scranton and received NO Scranton channels. After about 4 hours of re-aiming I still only received the same 10 channels that the cheap rabbit ears receive.

I then brought it down into the garage and still only received 10 channels. being frustrated I placed it onto their back porch and performed a channel scan. A total of 23 channels were received including Philadelphia and Scranton, but the signal strength wasn't as good as I had expected.

Due to a snow storm on its way we returned to Pittsburgh last night, but I intend to go back soon and mount the antenna onto the roof of their back porch.

My dad said it's probably due to the metal roof shingles that are on top of the old asphalt shingles that is blocking the signals, but this doesn't explain why the Allentown channels are received from the attic having a high signal strength.

Overall I'm disappointed. I was hoping to install this antenna in the attic so that it won't be damaged due to the weather and my parents don't really care for the neighbors seeing a huge antenna mounted on the roof.

Any suggestions? Does anyone else live in the Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) area and have the antenna mounted in their attic? If so, do you receive channels from Philadelphia? Perhaps I should add a preamp?

I'm also thinking that perhaps since the attic was extremely cold I didn't take the time needed to adjust properly. I might purchase a preamp and give the attic installation another try before attempting to install it outside. My parents would probably prefer the attic installation. I just worry that a preamp would over amplify the Allentown channels.
 
First of all, the mileage ratings are generally meaningless to individual applications. The gain specs of the antenna are the best barometer of how it will perform. If you can post a TV FOOL report, it will give us a better idea of the signal strengths available at that location. (The address will not show up on the report)

Given that you are about 40 miles from Philly, mounting outside will likely be necessary to receive those stations reliably. No matter what you do, WPVI will not work the with HBU 33 since it is a low VHF channel. A larger full band antenna will be required to get ABC 6.

A preamp will only make things worse as the strong local stations will likely drown out any of the more distant weaker signals.
 
popcorn
I have that same antenna here in Minneapolis. While I'm only 28 miles to so from the Mpls towers I need mine to be mounted outside to work. Once outside it works really well and I have it split to 4 spots (2 HDTV's and 2 converter boxes)

no static....I pulled up a tvfool for Allentown and it looks like lots of 2edge and red results
TV Fool
 
Static...I do know about channel 6 being in the low band, but thought perhaps it might be able to be received using this high band VHF antenna just like how my UHF only TerkTV32 antenna receives VHF channel 13.

Iceberg...I agree that perhaps the best thing to do is to mount the antenna outside without using a preamp. If mounted high enough I should be able to receive all the Philadelphia channels without any dropouts.

I just purchased an Antennacraft UHF only antenna (MXU59) to use here in Pittsburgh. I wish I had purchased this same antenna for my parents now knowing that channel 6 can't be received using the HBU33 and channel 9 only shows religious programming.



Thank you guys for the help.
 
I was going to install this antenna using a 39" Winegard J mount (Winegard Direct.com - Winegard DS-3000 39" J-Mount for DBS Satellite Dish / Outdoor TV Antenna (DS3000) | Winegard [DS-3000] #DS3000 DS-3000 DS 3000 winegard DS3000), but now see that it is not recommended for antennas having a boom length of longer than 40" and this antenna has a boom length of 80". :(

I was hoping to keep this a simple installation, but it's turning out to be more work than I expected. The big problem is that I was hoping to avoid having an antenna being seen from the front street which my parents don't care for. I was hoping to use the J mount on the back porch roof which would be less or not visible from the front street.
 
If I were you I'd install a antenna pre-amp which would help bring in the signals. Good one's will have high gain and a low noise output and being digital and probably not having stations near you the change for adjacent interference will most likely not happen. Now if you add a inside amp with the antenna then you could over drive it and have channel problems. Myself I use both and unless I turn up the gain to much on the Bonder Tongue I never have an issue.
 
Years ago, before the digital age, I lived in the Lehigh Valley. From my experience your best bet is to aim for Wilkes Barre/Scranton stations rather than Philly. In the city of Allentown, South Mountain blocks reception from Philadelphia. WB/S has a better line of sight.

At that time all WB/S stations were all UHF and came in very well. There was also a translator station for WNEP in Allentown. Since then WBRE and WYOU stations moved down to VHF. I don't know why those stations chose to do that, it seemed like a dumb move since people in the area usually only had UHF antennas on their roofs.
 
I was going to install this antenna using a 39" Winegard J mount (Winegard Direct.com - Winegard DS-3000 39" J-Mount for DBS Satellite Dish / Outdoor TV Antenna (DS3000) | Winegard [DS-3000] #DS3000 DS-3000 DS 3000 winegard DS3000), but now see that it is not recommended for antennas having a boom length of longer than 40" and this antenna has a boom length of 80". :(

I was hoping to keep this a simple installation, but it's turning out to be more work than I expected. The big problem is that I was hoping to avoid having an antenna being seen from the front street which my parents don't care for. I was hoping to use the J mount on the back porch roof which would be less or not visible from the front street.

the antenna is light enough I think it will work fine. I thought about bolting mine to an existing FTA dish mast I have but the UHF part would hit the dish ;)
 
I made an antenna last year to have something while the main one on the roof was down for roof replacement. It worked OK in the attic under the old roof, but when the new sheathing and shingles went on, down went the reception. When I tested it outside on the roof, I got everything I could get with the main roof antenna. I reinstalled the roof antenna and added a preamp, and get 30+ channels, the nearest being over 30 miles away. If you can get it outside it will make a world of difference.
 
I just ordered a Winegard DS-3000 39" J mount for the installation which will be outside in order to achieve the best signal strength and the most channels possible in their area.
 
Pictures

Pictures attached:
 

Attachments

  • 045.JPG
    045.JPG
    69 KB · Views: 604
  • 047.JPG
    047.JPG
    101.4 KB · Views: 865
  • 048.JPG
    048.JPG
    73 KB · Views: 658
  • 049.JPG
    049.JPG
    65.8 KB · Views: 554
Top