Longview, TX antenna setup examples

[mister coach]

Hi... I'm fairly new to the OTA antenna scene. I would like to put one up because I am a huge football fan (college and NFL), and my locals are not offered in HD on E*. Anybody who lives in Longview or close, could you line out your antenna setups and what HD channels it gets? Thanks ahead for the help!

 

[Don_M]

Hi... I'm fairly new to the OTA antenna scene. I would like to put one up because I am a huge football fan (college and NFL), and my locals are not offered in HD on E*. Anybody who lives in Longview or close, could you line out your antenna setups and what HD channels it gets? Thanks ahead for the help!

Actually, anyone from anywhere should be able to help... but, you'll need to provide a ZIP code. Folks here can then search on sites like TVFool.com and AntennaWeb.org. By all means, take a look at both for yourself.

For a quick, generic search, I entered 75606 (the ZIP code for Longview City Hall) at AntennaWeb. It appears you'll need to start with a good sized VHF-Hi/UHF antenna and a rotor since the broadcast networks carrying football are all over the place for you -- ABC is out of Tyler; CBS is in both Nacogdoches and Shreveport; NBC is from Jacksonville; and FOX is in Longview, but from 20 miles out. An outdoor mount would be best in this situation, too.

 

[mister coach]

Thanks for the response! My zip code is 75605. I will note that there are 2 big trees near my house, but they do not entirely engulf it or anything like that. I have dish network also, so the trees are not extremely bad, but they are there.

FOX is the most important network to me because the Cowboys play on that channel 10 of their 16 games next season. Well here's the breakdown of the 16 games:

10 on FOX
3 on NBC
1 on CBS
1 on ESPN
1 on NFL Network



So, if I could just get Fox, I could live with that. Getting NBC also, would be great because I have ESPN HD on E*. That would cover 14 of the 16 games and I could live with that.


I am also trying to get an estimate of price also, so if you guys could point me to the better brands and what not, that would be great.

 

[mister coach]

On TVFool it looks like the FOX 51 broadcast and the NBC 56 broadcast are coming from fairly the same direction. Would I still need a rotor for just those 2 channels in HD?

 

[mister coach]

TV Fool and antennaweb are giving some results that differ from each other.

 

[Zero]

Over the Air Antenna Selector - Winegard Direct.com - Winegard TV Antennas and Accessories
Another link you can check.
I recommend CM-4228. It would be a good choice. You should be able to get NBC and FOX

 

[Don_M]

I will note that there are 2 big trees near my house, but they do not entirely engulf it or anything like that... I have dish network also, so the trees are not extremely bad, but they are there...

I am also trying to get an estimate of price also, so if you guys could point me to the better brands and what not, that would be great.

On TVFool it looks like the FOX 51 broadcast and the NBC 56 broadcast are coming from fairly the same direction. Would I still need a rotor for just those 2 channels in HD?

You wouldn't need a rotor for those two channels since they are only 13 degrees apart. TVFool also shows you can stick with a UHF-only antenna since all signals readily available in Longview are broadcast in that band.

Some possible antennas:

Antennas Direct 91XG (aka XG91)
Channel Master 4228

These are the best mass-produced antennas out there. Each is available at Solid Signal for under $80 shipped.

Less expensive, but still good gain figures:

Winegard HD-9032/PR-9032 (They're the same antenna; the PR is discontinued, but some places still have it in stock), about $55 shipped.

Google each model as you may be able to find them for less elsewhere.

 

[Don_M]

TV Fool and antennaweb are giving some results that differ from each other.

Not surprising. AntennaWeb tends to be very conservative. A lot of people posting here and elsewhere prefer TVFool for its accuracy and level of detail (even if it gets down to the stuff only true antenna geeks care about!).

 

[msadvertising]

I looked up Longview 75605 on antennapoint.com. Don is right; the Antennas Direct 91XG is an excellent choice with a range of over 50 Miles and a very high gain of 16.7 dB. Fox (KFSF) is only 24 miles from you on a compose heading of 211°. NBC (KETK) out of Jackson is 48 miles away on a heading of 224°. Also KYTX (another NBC station) out of Nacogdoches is only 49 miles on a heading of 204°. A 20° beam-width spread is well within the limits of the 91XG for all 3 stations.

I know the second NBC station is repetitive, but it may carry blacked out programming not carried by the other.

To avoid having to run another cable for your OTA antenna, you may piggyback your OTA antenna over the satellite dish (with a “J” pole attachment) and diplex the incoming signal onto your incoming satellite cable, if the OTA antenna can see the towers from your satellite dish location on your roof. At your TV set, you would reverse diplex (split ) the signals back to satellite and OTA.

 

[oljim]

I looked up Longview 75605 on antennapoint.com. Don is right; the Antennas Direct 91XG is an excellent choice with a range of over 50 Miles and a very high gain of 16.7 dB. Fox (KFSF) is only 24 miles from you on a compose heading of 211°. NBC (KETK) out of Jackson is 48 miles away on a heading of 224°. Also KYTX (another NBC station) out of Nacogdoches is only 49 miles on a heading of 204°. A 20° beam-width spread is well within the limits of the 91XG for all 3 stations.

I know the second NBC station is repetitive, but it may carry blacked out programming not carried by the other.

To avoid having to run another cable for your OTA antenna, you may piggyback your OTA antenna over the satellite dish (with a “J” pole attachment) and diplex the incoming signal onto your incoming satellite cable, if the OTA antenna can see the towers from your satellite dish location on your roof. At your TV set, you would reverse diplex (split ) the signals back to satellite and OTA.

Bad idea to use diplexers when you are looking to get good OTA signals from far off stations, they reduce signal. Run NEW RG-6 from antenna

 

[mister coach]

What is everyone's opinion on a Terk 38 antenna? It is CEA color coded pink and it is VHF and UHF.

I have decided that I would need VHF also since college football comes on ABC. Anymore help will be greatly appreciated!

By the way, I have been looking at buying off of ebay. Solid Signal sales through ebay also...

 

[mastermesh]

I know this post has absolutely nothing to do with what you are asking about, but since it's about Texas TV Stations, it might be more close than I think... If you go FTA in addition to OTA, Fox 64, Beaumont can be found on AMC4, at 101 Degrees West.

AMC 4 at 101.0°W - LyngSat
SatelliteGuys.US - 101.0°W AMC 4 Ku

Also, FTA is a REALLY COOL thing to get in to if you are in to watching sports since sometimes you just might be able to pick up some feeds that might be not so easy to find elsewhere locally.... of course, it's a bit like the wild west since channels come and go all the time, but it is a fun hobby.

 

[truckracer]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I have a friend who is from Longview TX.

His name is Ricky lynn gregg. When I saw Longview mentioned it made me think of Ricky's hometown.

 

[Voyager6]

What is everyone's opinion on a Terk 38 antenna? It is CEA color coded pink and it is VHF and UHF.

I have decided that I would need VHF also since college football comes on ABC. Anymore help will be greatly appreciated!

By the way, I have been looking at buying off of ebay. Solid Signal sales through ebay also...

Here is the review of the Terk 38. According to the review, the Terk 38 is actually a Winegard PR-7042.

 

[oljim]

Same for the Terk 32 it is a $79 copy of the Winegard 4400 that sells for around $30. Bottom line ONLY a JERK will sell you a TERK

 

[Don_M]

What is everyone's opinion on a Terk 38 antenna? It is CEA color coded pink and it is VHF and UHF. I have decided that I would need VHF also since college football comes on ABC. Anymore help will be greatly appreciated!

oljim nails it... Two big strikes against the TV 38: It's way overpriced, and you don't need its VHF-Lo characteristics for television reception as ABC is on RF channel 7, though that could be useful in case you ever want to feed signals to an FM receiver. Look at the Winegard HD-7084 instead -- it offers far more gain than the TV 38/PR-7042, and it's $15-$20 cheaper.

Solid Signal is a reasonably good supplier. By all means, deal with them through ebay, but stick with Solid Signal only. Most other antenna sellers there are pushing absolute junk that makes the TV 38 look good.

One other consideration as you ponder your choices: When you buy an antenna, it comes with a mast clamp, but nothing else needed for a permanent mounting. You'll need RG-6 cable, mast section(s), a wall mount, guy wire if you're putting the antenna up high, a rotor, grounding equipment, a couple of diplexers, and so forth. It's all available through Solid Signal, and locally from Radio Shack and the home-improvement centers.

 

[mister coach]

You guys have all been great. I'm looking at purchasing all of this stuff as soon as I have a little cash influx this month. I will probably have installation questions after this...

Here's one, can you install a mast on the side of a house without it going all the way to the ground? That my be a stupid question, but this will be my first time to install.

 

[ziggy29]

Here's one, can you install a mast on the side of a house without it going all the way to the ground? That my be a stupid question, but this will be my first time to install.

You can, but when I set mine up in May on the side of my garage, I personally chose to set mine into the ground for extra support. I have three heavy duty brackets bolted into sections of 2x4s I nailed between the studs for security, and then I buried it about 2' deep into the ground (with three 5' lengths of mast joined together). While I also have mine properly grounded into a rod, I figure the extra contact between the mast and ground can't hurt, either.

If the top of the mast will be more than about 5-6' higher than the highest support bracket, you may want to look into guying it for extra support (mine isn't, since the top is about 4' above the highest support).

 

[mister coach]

Here's another question:

If I buy the Winegard 7084p VHF/UHF/FM antenna. Will it get all of my UHF channels that TV Fool says I will get. It says it has a 45 mile UHF range. Most of my towers are about 48 or 49 miles away.


Second question, can an antenna be too strong?



Thanks once again guys!

 

[Don_M]

If I buy the Winegard 7084p VHF/UHF/FM antenna. Will it get all of my UHF channels that TV Fool says I will get. It says it has a 45 mile UHF range. Most of my towers are about 48 or 49 miles away.

The only way to be sure is to install the antenna, aim it at stations, run an RG-6 cable directly to your TV receiver and see. But the HD-7084 on a rotor should be a good choice for getting most or all of the 13 top stations in your TVFool report. It's arranged in order of signal strength, strongest to weakest. Reliable reception of the stations below that group would be very difficult. They're simply too far away. And if it has trouble picking up one or more of the stronger signals, adding a good pre-amp will help. But try it first without one.

Don't put too much stock in mileage claims. They're only valid among different models from the same manufacturer.

Second question, can an antenna be too strong?

Not an issue anywhere near you. It can happen, but mostly within 5-10 miles of a transmitter.

I've attached the 7084's spec sheet to this message, along with one for the PR-7042 as proxy for the TV-38, for comparison. The 7084 has both higher gain and a reputation for more durable construction than the 7042. And you can read a couple of HD-7084 reviews here.