OTA Indoor Antenna

[mdsmooth]

So I get all my local HD channels except for FOX. Which really sucks once football season arrives. Can someone recommend a OTA indoor antenna for me? I went to antennaweb.org and the local FOX affiliate shows up in yellow, 13 miles away. Please see below. Thanks.

DTVAntenna
TypeCall SignChannelNetworkCity, StateLive
DateCompass
HeadingMiles
FromFrequency
Assignment
yellow
uhfKMAX31CWSACRAMENTO, CA
294°12.131 *yellow
uhfKMAX-DT31.1CWSACRAMENTO, CA
294°12.121
yellow
uhfKTFK64SAHSTOCKTON, CA
226°36.664 *yellow
uhfKOVR-DT13.1CBSSTOCKTON, CA
285°11.625
yellow
uhfKQCA58MNTSTOCKTON, CA
294°12.158 *yellow
uhfKQCA-DT58.1MNTSTOCKTON, CA
297°11.446
yellow
vhfKOVR13CBSSTOCKTON, CA
285°11.613 *yellow
uhfKTFK-DT64.1SAHSTOCKTON, CA
226°37.962 *yellow
vhfKXTV-DT10.1ABCSACRAMENTO, CAFeb 17, 2009 (post-transition)285°11.610 *yellow
uhfKCRA-DT35.1NBCSACRAMENTO, CAFeb 17, 2009 (post-transition)294°12.135 *yellow
vhfKVIE-DT9.1PBSSACRAMENTO, CAFeb 17, 2009 (post-transition)293°13.09 *yellow
uhfKTFK-DT26.1SAHSTOCKTON, CAFeb 17, 2009 (post-transition)285°11.626
yellow
vhfKCRA3NBCSACRAMENTO, CA
294°12.13 *yellow
uhfKCRA-DT3.1NBCSACRAMENTO, CA
288°11.935 *yellow
uhfKTXL-DT40.1FOXSACRAMENTO, CAFeb 17, 2009 (post-transition)293°13.040
yellow
uhfKTNC42SPACONCORD, CA
226°36.642 *yellow
uhfKTXL-DT40.1FOXSACRAMENTO, CA
293°13.055 *yellow
uhfKVIE-DT6.1PBSSACRAMENTO, CA
293°13.053 *yellow
uhfKSPX-DT29.1IONSACRAMENTO, CA
291°13.248 *yellow
uhfKUVS-DT19.1UNIMODESTO, CA
80°32.218
yellow
vhfKVIE6PBSSACRAMENTO, CA
293°13.06
yellow
uhfKUVS19UNIMODESTO, CA
80°32.219
yellow
uhfKTXL40FOXSACRAMENTO, CA
293°13.040 *yellow
uhfKXTV-DT10.1ABCSACRAMENTO, CA
285°11.661
yellow
vhfKXTV10ABCSACRAMENTO, CA
285°11.610

 

[tonyp56]

it all depends on what is between you and the TV tower... I live in Oklahoma, and I pull in all of my UHF stations from OKC and Tulsa (live 40 miles west of Tulsa and something like 65-75 miles from OKC towers all with a $39.99 amplified indoor antenna from Wal-Mart... VHF is a different story though...

 

[Jim5506]

Your Fox station is on channel 55 currently. the higher the channel number, the more difficult it is to receive it via indoor antenna (the higher the frequency, the more easily it is interfered with).

After Feb 2009 it will move to channel 40 - still UHF, but you will have 2 VHF stations.

You are 13 miles from the towers, so a small all channel or VHF-high /UHF antenna outdoors should solve your problem. You might look at finding a 2 bay bow tie antenna to try indoors and see if it can do a better job than the rabbit ears do. Anothe possibility is the Zenith Silver sensor, very good on UHF, VHF is iffy.

 

[kvnfl]

Living 40 to 60 miles away from the antenna farms, I use a Phillips MT540 from Walmart to pick up over 30 HD channels. The antenna costs around $30. It is highly directional for both VHF and UHF. Translation, the antenna must be physically moved to receive some channels. In my neck of the woods the little guys, or non big 4 channels, transmit high signal strength (>1000 kwatts), but the big guys transmit lower signal strength. One CBS station transmits HD at 2 kwatts.

Since you are only 12 miles from the antenna farm, an indoor antenna will be fine. You might have to play with gain to eliminate ghosting. Buy from a big box store for easy returns. If the first antenna doesn't work, take it back and try again.

 

[88dr88]

I recently purchased a rca ant103 for $15 @ best buy and I pick up all of my locals in hd. I read the reviews on their website and went with it. What a great move. It really picks up well.

 

[dholmes_chem]

My house is surrounded by trees and was using a cheap RCA amplified to get OTA HD. A light breeze would cause multipath distortions and the signal would drop to zero. I switched to one of those radio shack directional w/ remote (the Star Trek TNG looking one). It is much better and can pick up a station 37 miles away. The nice thing is you don't have to manually repoint it each time you change channels. Although, I do have to move it to a new location to receive FOX. It's amazing how a few feet can make or break your reception. It's not perfect and will drop certain channels with a good wind a-blowing, but can't complain too much.

 

[am_dew]

We're the same distance as you are from the Sacramento towers. We've had good luck with the Terk HDTVA indoor antenna. I've found that if you can raise the antenna up as high as possible, that makes a noticeable difference in signal strength. I've got both of ours sitting on top of the curtain rails.

 

[mdsmooth]

So I found a set of rabbit ears I had laying out in the garage, and decided to see what they could do. To my surprise they were able to pick up a digital signal for the FOX station, with strength between 90 and 100 percent. The picture looks great, almost as good as the HD channels I get with the DISH receiver. Could this be? BTW, thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

[am_dew]

Yep, sometimes rabbit ears are all it takes if you are close enough to the towers. Isn't technology great...I mean, who would have ever thought we would go back to using our old rabbit ear antennas to get HD broadcasts?

 

[redman042]

Problem solved. KTXL in HD is coming this week! FINALLY!! Check yesterday's Charlie Chat.

 

[PghGuy]

I am about 12 miles away from Pittsburgh and I use one from Radio Shack (model 15-1892). It looks like the startship enterprise but it works really well. It comes with a remote so you can program different channels and it adjusts automatically.

I have no complaints at all with it.

 

[mdsmooth]

Yes, KTXL in HD is here, and it's about time. Well I'm glad I didn't go and purchase an OTA antenna.