Are Pedestal Indoor HD Antenna's any good and will they solve my reception issue

[Moondoggy51]

I watch the main network broadcast channels thru Directv but I have a Local Channel Connector (LCC) that allows me to watch the "extra" channels that the local stations broadcast over the air like ME.TV, etc. When i first got the LCC I was told that I could save money by taking an old piece of coax that's about 2 feet long, cutting off one end, pulling the wire mess down about 5 inches and stripping off the insolation of the copper center wire. It surprised me but it actually works pretty good on most channels but a few the signal is too weak. I tried going out and bought several of the flat square antenna's hoping for better reception but didn't have any more luck than the cut off piece of coax so I returned them all.
In the year since I first installed the LCC and my little antenna something has happened as I believe that some of the channels I originally received may have changed frequency???? and when I try to view them today I get a message saying the signal is too week. So here's my problem.

Our HOA says we can't put up an outside antenna and the wall where the TV sits is on an outside wall preventing me from easily installing an antenna in the attic.
My wife does not want any type of antenna's installed up high on the wall or in an adjacent window where unsightly wires would show.

I was looking out on Amazon.com and found several pedestal type antennas that claim to be able to receive channels from 230 - 280 miles away that would sit on the TV stand behind the flat screen TV. My guess is that any of these would be acceptable to my wife but I don't know if any of them would be any better than the cut off piece of coax I'm using today. Here's a couple of links to these units and was wondering if anyone had any experience with any of these models or anything similar. .

Amazon product ASIN B08L9J36ZWhttps://www.amazon.com/Forlovv-1-TV...MVJ10Q7TEGD&psc=1&refRID=0X3YZFZG1MVJ10Q7TEGD

Amazon product ASIN B08PV9B6GD
Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Jim5506]

Firstly, anyone who says you can receive channels beyond 40-50 miles, especially indoors is lying to you and I would not depend on their product claims to be any better.

Indoor reception is always more difficult that outdoor because the building itself reduces signal levels, sometimes dramatically.

Try inputting your exact address to RabbitEars.Info. You can zoom in on the map and become very presise with your location. It gives a good estimate of available TV signals.

 

[Moondoggy51]

Firstly, anyone who says you can receive channels beyond 40-50 miles, especially indoors is lying to you and I would not depend on their product claims to be any better.

Indoor reception is always more difficult that outdoor because the building itself reduces signal levels, sometimes dramatically.

Try inputting your exact address to RabbitEars.Info. You can zoom in on the map and become very presise with your location. It gives a good estimate of available TV signals.

Thanks for the link to RabbitEars. There are only two stations that I'm having a problem with. One is WKRG TV which is showing a field strength of 99.65 (Good)/Signal Margin of 60.29 and is 36.4 miles away and WALA TV which is showing a field strength of 74.08(Fair)/Signal Margin of 38.08 and is 34.5 miles away. I've been able to pick up WKRG in the past but I've never been able to pickup WALA and if a new antenna would allow me to pickup WALA i would be almost assured of once again picking up WKRG. All of the others are OK what do you think my chances of finding any indoor antenna that could be hidden behind my flat screen TV are now?

 

[primestar31]

Thanks for the link to RabbitEars. There are only two stations that I'm having a problem with. One is WKRG TV which is showing a field strength of 99.65 (Good)/Signal Margin of 60.29 and is 36.4 miles away and WALA TV which is showing a field strength of 74.08(Fair)/Signal Margin of 38.08 and is 34.5 miles away. I've been able to pick up WKRG in the past but I've never been able to pickup WALA and if a new antenna would allow me to pickup WALA i would be almost assured of once again picking up WKRG. All of the others are OK what do you think my chances of finding any indoor antenna that could be hidden behind my flat screen TV are now?

WKRG is UHF channel 20, so a small antenna should work. WALA however, is VHF RF9, which means you need a much larger VHF antenna to receive it solidly.

 

[907TECH]

You aren't being given much to work with. Build a fullwave loop or a dipole for your VHF station, it MAY work but it is not a very strong station WALA.

 

[Jim5506]

At the distance you are from the towers, your best bet for indoor reception is to use an outdoor antenna inside, and I don't mean one of those cheap Chinese knock offs with a built in amplifier.

Choose an antenna from a major manufacturer, not one that claims 100 mile reception (LIES).

Perhaps an RCA ANT752Z Mini Yagi Outdoor HDTV Antenna from walmart for $39 then if that is still not good enough add a pre amp to try to compensate for it being used indoors.

Any solution that works indoors at your distance from the towers will not be pretty, so you must decide TV or pretty.

Best case is to put an antenna outside, which your HOA cannot refuse as long as you have a space that is not a common area on which to mount it - that may be the problem.

Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule | Federal Communications Commission (fcc.gov)

 

[TheKrell]

Any solution that works indoors at your distance from the towers will not be pretty, so you must decide TV or pretty.

Well, there's reasonably neat looking, and then there is butt ugly like we used to see in the 60's. IMHO mine is pretty decent-looking:

Before that, I had the Wingard Sensar II fondly referred to as the "batwing":

Then there are the the totally enclosed antennas like the one Dish used to give out to those who lost their locals:

You don't have to put up an eyesore like this:

...although that one is reasonably compact. I can't imagine that one pulling in a station 50 miles away, though.

 

[rabbit73]

Our HOA says we can't put up an outside antenna and the wall where the TV sits is on an outside wall preventing me from easily installing an antenna in the attic.
My wife does not want any type of antenna's installed up high on the wall or in an adjacent window where unsightly wires would show.

Hello, Moondoggy51.

Pretty severe restrictions from your wife and the HOA.

Since the signal attenuation from the building construction is unknown, you must be prepared to do some additional experiments. If you want to try one of the Amazon antennas before considering using a conventional outdoor antenna indoors, I suggest trying the first one because it appears to have a whip antenna for VHF channels like WALA as primestar31 mentioned. I'm not at all certain it will be adequate, but it will satisfy your curiosity and you will be able to return it and advance to a more suitable, but less attractive antenna.

One is WKRG TV which is showing a field strength of 99.65 (Good)/Signal Margin of 60.29 and is 36.4 miles away and WALA TV which is showing a field strength of 74.08(Fair)/Signal Margin of 38.08 and is 34.5 miles away.

I don't know your exact location, and you haven't given the link to your rabbitears.info signal report, but this report seems to match fairly closely your reception description:
RabbitEars.Info

 

[Trip]

Our HOA says we can't put up an outside antenna

If you own or have exclusive control of your roof, your HOA cannot prevent you from putting up an antenna.

Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule

Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule

www.fcc.gov

- Trip

 

[Tower Guy]

My opinion is that The Krell’s last option may be your only option.

You could try hanging it from the ceiling in a closet and running wire from there to the TV set.

 

[solarvic]

Well, there's reasonably neat looking, and then there is butt ugly like we used to see in the 60's. IMHO mine is pretty decent-looking:

Before that, I had the Wingard Sensar II fondly referred to as the "batwing":

Then there are the the totally enclosed antennas like the one Dish used to give out to those who lost their locals:

You don't have to put up an eyesore like this:

...although that one is reasonably compact. I can't imagine that one pulling in a station 50 miles away, though.

If I had to pick out an antenna I would pick out the televese antenna. Don,t think it is so ugly. There is another post that dish put on someones satelite dish,s and it was hardly noticable.