OTA antenna...

tennisgrl

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Apr 20, 2008
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Does anyone have a recommendation for a good indoor OTA antenna? My luck with a few has been very poor as I could only pick up a few channels and not even at at good strength, so the picture was pixelated. I live within 20 miles of the towers so I should be able to get them, but maybe I'm just not using a good OTA antenna.
 
Would have helped to tell us what you have used. I don't use one, but have heard lots of good reports on the Zenith Silver Sensor. Are your towers all in the same direction from you?
 
Please more information? Zip Code? House or Apartment/single or multi story? How many walls between towers and your TV? Can you attic mount an antenna?
 
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good indoor OTA antenna?

Your zip code would help. But your best bet is to buy a new ClearStream2 indoor/outdoor antenna from Antennas Direct.

The ClearStream2 has a range of up to 50 Miles in a small, but powerful 10” x 20” antenna. It has a beam width of 70 degrees, so it will pick up a wide range of stations.

Antennas Direct provides customers with a 90-day, no-fault return guarantee on all Antennas Direct antennas and a lifetime warranty against failure, corrosion, defects in materials or workmanship and will completely refund your purchase price, no questions asked, if it does not do the job for you.
 

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Your zip code would help. But your best bet is to buy a new ClearStyream2 indoor/outdoor antenna from Antennas Direct.

The ClearStream2 has a range of up to 50 Miles in a small, but powerful 10” x 20” antenna. It has a beam width of 70 degrees, so it will pick up a wide range od stations.

Antennas Direct provides customers with a 90-day, no-fault return guarantee on all Antennas Direct antennas and a lifetime warranty against failure, corrosion, defects in materials or workmanship and will completely refund your purchase price, no questions asked, if it does not do the job for you.
Same post, two threads. Do you work for one of those companies?:D
 
Things you probably already considered: Transmission is Line Of Sight, meaning hills, trees, buildings, walls will block signal. Signal reception is highly directional, so often you have to physically point the antenna at the source.

I live 40 to 60 miles from 5 antenna farms. I have locations and positioning memorized for channels. Yes the antenna is very location specific. Most digital transmissions are less the 1000kw. That is weak. Knowing how weak the source is, I put up with moving the antenna.

The antenna that worked for me was Phillips MANT510 from wallyworld. I took a couple of antennas back before I found one that worked. You could tell the ones that would not work by the condition of the packaging - they had failed and been returned. If I could have found a Terk HDTVa, I would have bought it because it gets the best user reviews online.
 
AntennasDirect DB4

As others have said, antennas are a fickle thing. So much of what you're going to get depends on factors outside the antenna's control. Your home, the towers you're trying to pick up (VHF vs UHF), the terrain around your home, etc. A coat hangar mounted in a prefect spot might be better than a super-expensive antenna mounted incorrectly. Here's what I went through 3 months ago when I bought an HDTV and needed my major local networks via OTA HD.

I live 20, 50, and 70 miles away from the HD broadcast towers of the 4 main networks. I'm lucky in that all of the towers are within a 10 degree arc. The 'best' mounting position I have available to me is from a 2nd story attic window, pointed towards the towers.

With a cheap set of VHF rabbit-ears & UHF loop, the best I could do were those 20-mile stations, but nothing else. I threw it back in the closet from whence it came.

Then I bought a $60 Terk HDTVa. With it, I could pick up the 20-mile stations easily and get blips of signal from the 50 mile, but not enough that it's really watchable. I returned it to the big-box store.

Based on recommendations here and elsewhere, I picked up a $60 Antenna's Direct DB4 and a $60 ChannelMaster 777preamp/amp. With that, the 20 and 50 mile stations are always perfect, and once the sun goes down I can usually pick up the 70-mile station well enough to watch it. During 'freak' weather conditions I've managed to (briefly) pick up HD channels from as far away as 120 miles, which is extraordinary. This is from an attic window, which is obviously NOT the best place for an antenna.

Now it's true that the DB2, 4, & 8 are not really designed to be indoor antennas. But I can tell you that the DB2 and the DB4 are small enough that they can work indoors in an unused window, in a corner, or even behind the tv. Being only 20 miles away from the towers, I doubt you'd need a pre/amp, so I'd probably suggest just trying a DB2 (little brother to the DB4 that I have). If you get one, just be sure buy it from somewhere with a good return policy (like Amazon) so that you can return it if it doesn't work out for you.

For the record, I have no affiliation with any of the companies, I'm just a happy customer.

Good luck.
 
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good indoor OTA antenna? My luck with a few has been very poor as I could only pick up a few channels and not even at at good strength, so the picture was pixelated. I live within 20 miles of the towers so I should be able to get them, but maybe I'm just not using a good OTA antenna.

Hi, you might want to consider an outdoor antenna. If all the stations are transmitting from the same area use a beam antenna. I have a SR-15 up about 12 feet and it works great.

The SR-15 is a small UHF only beam antenna for outdoor use.

Hope this helps,
 
I have the Terk mounted in the attic above my garage pointed in the dirrection recommended by antennaweb dot org. I have not had any issues so far, but I am in the midwest where everything is flat!
 
My zip code is 91344

I am currently use the following antenna:

Amazon.com: Zenith ZHDTV1 HDTV-UHF Digital Indoor Antenna (Silver and Black): Electronics

However, I can only get CBS, NBC, CW, KTLA, KDOC and KCET are the major ones. I cannot get FOX no matter which way I move the antenna and ABC is a hit and miss. Also the antenna just to balky and looks ugly.

I am planning to get one of these:
For only $14.88 each when QTY 50+ purchased - HDTV Indoor Antenna | Indoor HD Antenna

It is a new antenna and there are no customer feedback. If anyone uses this one can you tell me your experience?

Thanks.
 
I am within 20 miles of the towers here in Sacramento. I have three 211's with antennas. One of them is just standard whf/uhf non-powered rabbit ears and they pull in signals consistently strong. I have a powered one that seems to have issue.
 
My zip code is 91344

I am currently use the following antenna:

Amazon.com: Zenith ZHDTV1 HDTV-UHF Digital Indoor Antenna (Silver and Black): Electronics

However, I can only get CBS, NBC, CW, KTLA, KDOC and KCET are the major ones. I cannot get FOX no matter which way I move the antenna and ABC is a hit and miss. Also the antenna just to balky and looks ugly.

I am planning to get one of these:
For only $14.88 each when QTY 50+ purchased - HDTV Indoor Antenna | Indoor HD Antenna

It is a new antenna and there are no customer feedback. If anyone uses this one can you tell me your experience?

Thanks.

Your ABC and Fox stations are VHF and you bought a UHF only antenna. Sometimes they will pick up VHF, but not at your distance from tower. I would strongly suggest going to a outdoor UHF/VHF antenna which you could put in an attic or garage if you do not want, or can't put it outside. Check Solid Signal | Digital Converter Boxes, DIRECTV® Systems, HDTV Antennas, DISH Network, satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies & accessories and it's link to [url=http://www.antennaweb.org
 
ok here's my problem, my HD stations are all around me. One station is .5 miles north, two are 2 miles south, one is 1.5 miles north east, and 2 are .75 miles east. Note none of the towers are more then 2 miles away. My problem is I can't find an antenna that works. I'm mounting in the attic of a ranch house. I can have 70% signal and still get Pixalation. Someone said it was too strong of signal. any ideas?
 
ok here's my problem, my HD stations are all around me. One station is .5 miles north, two are 2 miles south, one is 1.5 miles north east, and 2 are .75 miles east. Note none of the towers are more then 2 miles away. My problem is I can't find an antenna that works. I'm mounting in the attic of a ranch house. I can have 70% signal and still get Pixalation. Someone said it was too strong of signal. any ideas?
An attenuator might help. Pending your receiver, you may have one that came with it for the remote (tv2) antenna. Borrow it if you have one and connect it prior to the receiver antenna input.
 
If you are planning ahead for the Feb 09 analog shutdown there is something you need be aware of and check out. Not all digital signals will be broadcast in the UHF range - some stations will continue using their VHF Hi range which are channels 7 thru 13. So you still need an antenna that will pick up UHF and the VHF Hi channels. I had planned on replacing my channel master 3671 with a smaller UHF only one, but once I heard the need for the VHF Hi channels I decided to wait.

Check out tvfool dot com and run your address to see what channels will be used AFTER the Feb change. LA will have 4 of the channels - 7, 9, 11 & 13 - stay in the VHF Hi range so be warned that a UHF only antenna would not do the job.

From what I have read so far the Clear Stream 4 looks good - much smaller and lighter that the monster fringe antenna I have now - but still good up to 65 miles. Anybody out there have any experience with the Clear Steam 4? I would really like to hear some personal recommendations before jumping into something so new.
 
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