OTA Antenna - Which One?

[Someone]

I'm looking for some advice. I'm a D* customer looking to put up an OTA to receive my locals in HD. I live in a single story house in a neighborhood with a LOT of tall trees. I'm not very handy myself and would probably rather just get someone to install an antenna. Placement is not an issue, though. Here's my results from antennaweb.org:


* yellow - vhf WLBT-DT 3.1 NBC JACKSON MS 231° 15.2 9
* yellow - uhf WAPT-DT 16.1 ABC JACKSON MS 235° 8.5 21
* yellow - uhf WMPN-DT 20.1 PBS JACKSON MS 230° 17.3 20
* red - uhf WJTV-DT 12.1 CBS JACKSON MS 229° 6.8 52
* red - uhf WDBD-DT 35.1 FOX Jackson MS 231° 15.2 41

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good HD antenna? And/or any suggestions for installing it? Thanks in advance.

 

[bhelms]

You have a mix of hi-band VHF and UHF digital channels, 9 - 52. If those frequency assignments are permanent you would need an all wave antenna to receive them all. However, one very good choice is the Channel Master CM4228 which is a UHF antenna that also provides decent reception of the hi-band VHF channels, so that one might be a good choice as well. You are apparently close to your stations (max. 17 miles) and they are all coming from essentially the same bearing (~230 deg.) so you probably won't need a rotator. I'd try a medium range all-wave antenna from Channel Master or Winegard, or perhaps the 4228 (which is actually a high-gain antenna). You might need extra help with added gain and directivity due to those trees and the 4228 could help with both characteristics.

Here's a silly question - Being that close to your stations, why not try an indoor antenna first? You might just luck out, and if that works it sure would be a whole lot cleaner and easier/cheaper than dealing with the full outdoor rig! Make sure you buy one from a place that will let you return it if it won't work for you. You might try a Zenith Silver Sensor, but that model probably won't work at all for Ch 3.1 (channel freq. 9) since it's UHF only. Here's some info on that model.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html

PS - You have listed local digital channels. Nothing here indicates that they are necessarily HD, however.

Welcome, BTW...

 

[texasbrit]

Use a CM4228. You could get away with something smaller if it were not for the trees and your single story house. CM4228 is great for UHF and OK for your only hi-VHF station (channel 9). You could just try it on a short tripod on the roof and see what happens. If it's not giving you enough signal then get it as high as possible (trees) , you should not need a preamp at those distances.

 

[teamerickson]

I would try for a directional antenna. All stations are within 6 degrees of other. The directional will provide a more stable and stronger signal then multi-directional. I've tried 4 antenna in the last month and I believe it's important to get it from a place with a no questions asked return policy (RadioShack, Crutchfield, antennasdirect.com). Here is a link to antennasdirect.com which I have found to be good.

 

[bhelms]

Agreed - directional will help with any multipath interference, common with the trees. Here is a link to an article about stacking 4228s. This will give you some idea with the gain pattern is like for a single antenna...

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/16bay.html

It's tough to return an antenna that you buy on-line or mail order, etc. due to the 2-way shipping costs and usual return policies. Check on that up front. Better to buy from a local store that will let you return it. RS is pretty liberal in that regard, maybe others...

 

[dashaund]

Yeah, I'd buy an indoor antenna from a local electronic store (Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc...) and give that a shot. If it doesn't work, return it! Directionals do work better, but a 4228 is almost a "standard." While it's not directional, it still has some direction...also handles multipath pretty well.

 

[Someone]

Here's a silly question - Being that close to your stations, why not try an indoor antenna first? You might just luck out, and if that works it sure would be a whole lot cleaner and easier/cheaper than dealing with the full outdoor rig!......


PS - You have listed local digital channels. Nothing here indicates that they are necessarily HD, however.

I have a standard indoor antenna that I bought from RS that can only pick up one channel. I just assume (and maybe I'm wrong about this - I don't know) that having an indoor HD antenna would produce similar results.

Also, I know that the local CBS, ABC, and NBC broadcast in HD. Just not sure about the FOX.

Thanks for all your help guys. Now if I can just decipher all of this and figure out what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it.

 

[charper1]

Get you a heading compass like THIS ONE, and antenna from Radio Shack like THIS ONE, and install it near or above the roof line (higher = best), or MAYBE in the attic (avoid the attic if at all possible). Begin your aiming at around the 231° mark and adjust for best results.

 

[bhelms]

Some additional thoughts: There is really nothing special about a particular antenna that would make it more suitable for HD. All you're trying to do is pick-up digital (ATSC) OTA signals. The science of that and equipment required are essentially identical to what's needed for picking-up the older analog (NTSC) signals. (However the results of non-optimal reception will certainly be different between the two types). So if someone is hyping you about an antenna being "better for HD" (and presumably more expensive), just walk away from that "deal". A properly sized, installed, and aimed antenna will work equally well for analog and digital signals in terms of signal strength at the tuner. What charper1 suggested is a good place to start and may be all you need. It's a bit less expensive than the 4228 especially if you have to ship the latter one.

Also - Make sure you use a quality RG-6 coax. I personally prefer the quad shield type for best immunity from electrical interference and multipath (others will disagree on this and it is a bit more difficult to work with) but dual shield is probably OK in most installations. And make sure you have the system grounded in accordance with the NEC and local code requirements.

Good luck with your installation and let us know how you make out with it...

 

[texasbrit]

Getting an antenna from Radio Shack is OK because you can return it (probably, so long as you don't screw up any of the elements). If it doesn't work, get a 4228 - some Fry's stock them, otherwise on-line at solidsignal.com or warren electronics.
Dashaund - the 4228 is pretty directional, has about a 15 degree beamwidth as I remember, that's one of the things that makes it a good performer in multipath.

 

[teamerickson]

Getting an antenna from Radio Shack is OK because you can return it (probably, so long as you don't screw up any of the elements). If it doesn't work, get a 4228 - some Fry's stock them, otherwise on-line at solidsignal.com or warren electronics.
Dashaund - the 4228 is pretty directional, has about a 15 degree beamwidth as I remember, that's one of the things that makes it a good performer in multipath.

You can get the 4228 at crutchfield, and they have a no questions asked return policy including return shipping. Why not use the CM4221 (it's smaller) because of proxiemity to towers?

 

[charper1]

I recommended the other simply because I thought the user wanted to shop locally.

 

[texasbrit]

The CM4221 does not have good performance on hi-VHF (channel 9). The CM4228 is basically two 4221s next to each other but the wire screen acts as a decent VHF antenna.

 

[charper1]

Have you looked @ the Winegard PR 5646, the Winegard HD7080P or Channel Master CM 5646/CM3016? Very similar to the RS VU-75 XR.

 

[Someone]

I want to thank everyone again for your helpful suggestions. I decided to go with the cheaper and easier route of buying an indoor antenna first. I bought a Zenith Silver Sensor online and it was delivered Friday. I hooked it up (using RG6 coax) to my HR10-250 and was pleasantly surprised.

I can easily pick up my CBS (max signal strength between 80-85) and ABC (max signal strength around 90-92) by putting the antenna in one spot. By moving the antenna to a different spot in the house, I can also pick up FOX (max signal strength between 76-80). Unfortunately, the FOX does not broadcast in HD. Oh well. Needless to say, I am very happy with the results, though.

Obviously, I cannot pick up my NBC because it is a VHF channel. Is there anything I could do about this? I'm specifically asking if there's an indoor solution to this? Are there any other ideas you might have about boosting the signal strength for the stations I'm already getting?

Thank you all so much again for your help. You guys saved me a lot of money and effort.

 

[texasbrit]

The Terk HDTVi is a Silver Sensor look-alike with the addition of "rabbit ears" for VHF, but it still may not give you NBC. And the problem you are having finding one location where everything works is a common problem with indoor antennas. Try mounting the antenna as high as possible in the room, on a high shelf if you can, and see if that helps. If you have an attic, try the Silver Sensor in the attic and see if you can find a location where you get all the UHF stations at least. That often works.
But to get a good stable signal including NBC you really need a good antenna with at least an attic mount or preferably outdoors. A CM4228 in the attic should work really well.