Locals from two nearby cities- Central Texas

[ScooterS]

In a few months we will be moving from Austin to New Braunfels, Texas. Local news for NB comes from San Antonio. Our home isn't built yet, but I believe that we are on the edge of San Antonio OTA and the ragged edge of Austin OTA signals. The two cities are in (almost) opposite directions from our new home. I'm wiring the home for low profile OTA antennas pointing both directions. We are in a very HOA restricted community and I don't want to push things too far. I should also have space in the attic for a larger antenna (antennas) if that is better. I will have OTA coax running to the primary TVs as well as the dish run, if needed.

We really like our Austin stations, particularly KXAN.

So, here is the question..... What is the least painful way to get both sets of locals and integrate them with our Hopper?

 

[rvvaquero]

I highly recommend that you watch some of these videos. They are very informative. He even suggests products which he has used with success. He has a video answering your specific question about joining the signals from two antennas.

The Antenna Man

 

[Jim5506]

Location, location, location. It all depends on exactly where you are in New Braunfels. If you are down near the river, not so good. If you are on the north slope of a hill, might be good. I'd run an exact location on TVFool.com using the maps mode (right side of the page) and see how strong KXAN is at your new home site.

 

[907TECH]

I took the liberty of running a rabbitears report for your location, you have several VHF high stations, in opposite directions. Same with UHF. You will need some decent gain, and in this case an antenna rotator should be considered along with a preamp. If you don't want a rotator, you will probably need two medium gain combination VHF high/UHF antennas, the Winegard HD7694P is one of the few combo Yagis available perfect for this situation. There are not that many combo VHF high/UHF antennas (with gain, there are plenty that have just a VHF dipole you will find that not suitable probably). The report was run for a height of 20 feet. An attic install may prove difficult you will lose a lot of signal. You can probably get the UHF stuff with a "low profile" antenna (whatever that means), but not the VHF high stuff. I tend to engineer for a decent fade margin, many folks say don't get any more antenna than you need, I preach don't get less antenna than you need. This is best case, noting the comments above about exact location it could make a difference. RabbitEars.Info

 

[ScooterS]

Thanks all! Is there any way that I can get the locals from the two markets integrated into my Dish Hopper and guide? I'd prefer not to have to switch inputs to my OTA tuners on the TVs if I can avoid it. I know that I can do it for San Antonio, but can I do it for the Austin stations as well, if they are received OTA.

 

[Bobby]

Thanks all! Is there any way that I can get the locals from the two markets integrated into my Dish Hopper and guide? I'd prefer not to have to switch inputs to my OTA tuners on the TVs if I can avoid it. I know that I can do it for San Antonio, but can I do it for the Austin stations as well, if they are received OTA.

If you were pulling both San Antonio as well as Austin stations without moving the antenna, like combining two antennas, yes, both will integrate into the Hopper guide fine. If you have to use a rotator, as suggested above, then no, it would be one or the other.

 

[Tampa8]

Thanks all! Is there any way that I can get the locals from the two markets integrated into my Dish Hopper and guide? I'd prefer not to have to switch inputs to my OTA tuners on the TVs if I can avoid it. I know that I can do it for San Antonio, but can I do it for the Austin stations as well, if they are received OTA.

I am not familiar with the Hooper OTA tuners, with my VIP yes you can because you can manually add channels in addition to automatically doing it without losing the channels you have already scanned.

They do make combiners for antennas for the exact situation you are in. With that you would be able to get both markets on the Hopper even without manually adding or need for a rotor. Picking the right antenna for your location is a big step in getting all the channels. You may need an antenna amplifier on one or both.

One Example

Winegard 2-Way Dual TV Antenna Coupler Combiner (CC-7870) from Solid Signal

Winegard 2-Way Dual TV Antenna Coupler Combiner (CC-7870) This Winegard signal coupler effectively couples and/or combines signals from two antennas. This eliminates the need for a rotator while allowing everyone in your home to watch any channel they want. It also takes 75-Ohm coax cable from...

www.solidsignal.com

 

[Bobby]

I am not familiar with the Hooper OTA tuners, with my VIP yes you can because you can manually add channels in addition to automatically doing it without losing the channels you have already scanned.

They do make combiners for antennas for the exact situation you are in. With that you would be able to get both markets on the Hopper even without manually adding or need for a rotor. Picking the right antenna for your location is a big step in getting all the channels. You may need an antenna amplifier on one or both.

One Example

Winegard 2-Way Dual TV Antenna Coupler Combiner (CC-7870) from Solid Signal

Winegard 2-Way Dual TV Antenna Coupler Combiner (CC-7870) This Winegard signal coupler effectively couples and/or combines signals from two antennas. This eliminates the need for a rotator while allowing everyone in your home to watch any channel they want. It also takes 75-Ohm coax cable from...

www.solidsignal.com

Hoppers don't allow add channels unfortunately. So, you would need to do a channel scan any time you rotated to the other city and then wait for the guide to populate.

 

[Tampa8]

Hoppers don't allow add channels unfortunately.

I thought so but was not sure. Why companies (not just DISH) take steps backwards I will never know. That isn't even a money saving change.

 

[solarvic]

Jim I just did a tv fool search tonight and the frequencys havn,t been updated for years. The rabbit ears site is a whole lot better. I am going to check out rabbit ears for myself. I have some vhf frequency in pittsburg pa. I hope to still be able receive. My rotater failed and Am waiting for spring to come before I fix it. Have a new ham radio rotator to put on it. Amazon has a couple stellsr lab antenna that are only for vhf.