Indoor HD antenna

[texasbrit]

Not quite sure what you are trying to do but remember the higher the better. Most people do a roof or chimney mount. You need to get the antenna above the roof line somehow. You can wall mount using special brackets or Channel Master do an eave mount, I am not quite sure what you mean by mounting in the ground.
You can get regular antenna mounting stuff (mast, brackets for chimney etc) at Lowes or Home Depot, Fry's or Radio Shack. Roof mount needs a tripod. Fry's stocked these last time I looked, Radio Shack may also. Or you could order one online with your antenna.

http://www.solidsignal.com/cat_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=Mounting Supplies

 

[texasbrit]

Hey, Charper1, you beat me to it by a couple of seconds with your Solid Signal comment! I can thoroughly recommend Solid Signal also - I bought my CM4228 from Warren Electronics because at the time their price was lower - and their shipping price!
I agree you should look at all the stuff you need and then see what the combined total is, including shipping...

 

[datrain]

Is anyone in this forum from the Staunton Virginia area?

 

[texasbrit]

datrain - you may get someone here but I also suggest you try a local forum, I think this one might be your area...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=386678&page=1&pp=30

 

[bigbsezwazup]

texasbrit, the mast will be from the ground to about 13' - 18' in the air with 2 brackets securing the mast to the side of the building and I will have the mast grounded to a grounding rod. We haven't decided to either pull new RG6 in the walls to service the house for the future, or just do a quick run right now for the only room with an HD-TiVo and wait until the weather cools down to pull new wire.

 

[shodobe]

I haven't really thought about my attenna until I read a few posts here. Right now I have Dish with locals but have an older mast, at least 10-15 years old that pulls in stations from Sacramento pretty good. I would like to get rid of the big, ugly attennae and replace with smaller unit. I like the looks of the CM4228 and just wondered if you can over buy a attennae. In other words if you are only about 30-40 miles from the stations and get get reception would buying a unit that goes out beyond 100 miles be better? I mean the prices are very good and I would have no problem buying the more expensive one, I just wanted to know if you can over-kill on the sizes. Thanks

 

[Rick0725]

at my home 12-19 from towers, installed a winegard hd8200P deep fringe combo.

do not have an overload problem, pristine analog, perfect digital with no dropouts, no multipath issues, no problems when the wind blows, etc. Use a winegard hdp269 preamp in place of a distribution amp, split 6 ways.

when the conditions are just right watching stations from hundreds of miles away are a treat.

But even with an an antenna that big, still have reception challenges with the low powered stations.

Over kill should not be a concern..unless you are right "on top of the tower".

purchase whatever you desire. the only situation that would become an issue is if you overamplify with an antenna already of high gain.

The cm 4228 is a strong uhf performer. Not saying you should purchase a hd8200p, just answered your concern about overkill.

In the general sense, the 100 mile terminology is not a direct means to judge performance ...it is more geared towards how the antenna fits in the manufacturer's product line. 100 mile reception is more than a stretch for even the best antennas under normal circumstances.

 

[charper1]

Man that HD8200p is great antenna too!

 

[hillblazer]

Hi, I live in a hilly area with a lot of large trees. Any suggestions for a good indoor HD antenna. Will this one work mounted in the attic? (Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna) Do I need the amplified version?

Thanks



* yellow - uhf WOWT-DT 6.1 NBC OMAHA NE 15° 21.1 22
* yellow - uhf KMTV-DT 3.1 CBS OMAHA NE 16° 20.8 45
* yellow - uhf KETV-DT 7.1 ABC OMAHA NE 16° 21.0 20
* red - uhf KHIN-DT 35.1 PBS RED OAK IA TBD 60° 52.4 35
* red - uhf KUON-DT 40.1 PBS LINCOLN NE 293° 16.7 40
* red - uhf KYNE-DT 26.1 PBS OMAHA NE 22° 18.1 17
* blue - uhf KXVO-DT 15.1 WB OMAHA NE 313° 4.2 38
* blue - uhf KPTM-DT 42.1 FOX OMAHA NE 313° 4.2 43
* blue - uhf KBIN-DT 32.1 PBS COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 42° 23.5 33

 

[jcrash]

FWIW - I was getting fadeout on a couple of my HDTV channels on my silver sensor.

I went to Walmart and bought a $20 signal amplifier, moved the silver sensor upstairs (where I already had a cable run) - and plugged the silver sensor into the amplifier and now I get 90+ signal strength on all my channels.

 

[texasbrit]

It might work OK but some reports say it is not as good an antenna as the non-amplified version. The "best" indoor antenna is usually thought to be the Silver Sensor (Zenith or Philips, again the non-amplified version is the best one for many people). The Terk HDTVi seems to be a clone of the SS, but with the addition of "rabbit ears" for VHF. You don't have any VHF digital stations, so UHF-only is fine. Antenna selection is an art not a science, indoor antenna selection is worse - all you can do is try what is available. You shoul get the yellow stations, you may get the red ones, you probably won't get the blue ones. I assume KXVO-DT and KPTM-DT are broadcasting low power since they are very close to you but are still "blue" stations, they may by now be on full power or will be soon, you can check the local reception forum for Omaha, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=144464&page=142&pp=30, for the latest news.

Your stations are in different directions so you may not get them without adjusting the antenna betwen stations which would be impractical if it is in the attic. Going to a better antenna will mean a directional one, which would probably need to be on a rotator....not good!!

I suggest you get a Silver Sensor or the Terk HDTVi and see what sort of reception you get, then post back here....

 

[hillblazer]

I just hooked up the Silver Sensor. I can't pick up the channels with the .1 like 7.1 or 6.1. The regular 42 and 15 come in better. How do I pick up the channels in the .1 frequencies. I have a Pioneer Elite Pro-530HD and the auto programming function did not pick them up.

Thanks

 

[charper1]

What heading is the antenna pointed (it is very directional and UHF only)

What is your zip code so we can look up your affiliate information.

 

[hillblazer]

My zip is 68059. I did a little research and I don't think my TV has an HD tuner. Bought it used. I will look into an HD tuner. Any suggetions on a good one?

Thanks

 

[charper1]

Make & model of the TV?

Your channel tower locations are all over the place. so a directional would need to be aimed each time. Note the freq assignments, as that is the real number that you MIGHT have to manually type in. (Not 100% sure how your set works)

For non-satellite set-top boxes I like the LG LSS-3100A/Zenith LST3100A.

Also try:
RCA ATSC11/RCA ATSC21
ViewSonic NextVision HD12
Motorola HDT101
Used (activated) Voom boxes


EDIT: Added the antenna web pic

 

[texasbrit]

Yes, if your TV does not have an ATSC tuner you will not detect any of the digital channels (HD or SD).
I use DirecTV and my receiver has OTA capability also so I am not an expert on stand-alone tuners but I am sure someone will have a recommendation.

 

[charper1]

The TV should have a NTSC tuner and that will pull analog signals. The ATSC is for the digital signals.

 

[zerodepth]

Hey guys, I'm new to this OTA thing.
Can anyone recommend me a decent indoor HD antenna? My zipcode is 20910.

* yellow - uhf WRC-DT 4.1 NBC WASHINGTON DC 216° 5.5 48
* yellow - uhf WUSA-DT 9.1 CBS WASHINGTON DC 218° 4.8 34
* yellow - uhf WFDC-DT 14.1 TFA ARLINGTON VA 216° 5.5 15
* yellow - uhf WHUT-DT 33 PBS WASHINGTON DC TBD 218° 4.8 33
* yellow - uhf WDCW-DT 50.1 CW WASHINGTON DC 181° 3.5 51
* yellow - uhf WJLA-DT 7.1 ABC WASHINGTON DC 218° 4.8 39
* green - uhf WTTG-DT 5.1 FOX WASHINGTON DC 223° 4.6 36

 

[charper1]

Zenith Silver Sensor. ZHDTV1 Your 50.1 is way off compared to all the others. You can also look into the Antennas Direct DB2.

 

[bigbsezwazup]

texasbrit and charper1, thank you for all of your help. I got the CM4228 and installed it on a 20' mast so it is up above the roof line and it is great. I pick up every channel except for 55.1 and the signal strengths on my HR10-250 are from the low 80's to high 90's. I actually tried it inside next to my TV, before I put it outside, to see if it worked better than an indoor model and it picked up more channels than I thought indoors. I am very pleased. Thank you.