Outdoor OTA antenna INSIDE the house

[Major-V]

After struggling with the VIP 622 and the OTA tuner, I just realized that I get a crystal clear signal from INSIDE my house with the OTA outdoor antenna. The problem is, it's sitting in my living room.

Maybe a dumb question, but is there any problems (health or otherwise) with having an outdoor antenna with a pre-amp inside the house? It's an antenna, so I'm assuming it's ok, right?

Thanks

 

[KAB]

Right.

 

[Chinatown]

Is the wife OK with this? And how do you explain it to your guests?, perhaps neo modern concept?

 

[tempVAdish]

The only health problem would come from a transmitting antenna, which yours isn't... my antenna has been in the attic for 8 yrs and I'm still......................................what was I saying?

The only thing w/ an antenna inside is multipath, something I have trouble w/ quite often, I want to get mine outside...

 

[iafirebuff]

You may have reduced performance, but otherwise no issues - unless you poke an eye out with an element

 

[rcwilcox]

The only health problem would come from a transmitting antenna, which yours isn't... my antenna has been in the attic for 8 yrs and I'm still......................................what was I saying?

The only thing w/ an antenna inside is multipath, something I have trouble w/ quite often, I want to get mine outside...

yea I get what I assume is multi-path issues in my attic. I get dropouts when the wind blows or it rains. I get 80 to 100 on some stations and the 100 station is the worst for dropouts I want to try outside to see if it will help but it is a lot of trouble to move that thing. Hard ot get to the attic location

 

[Widescreen]

I put an antenna in our attic about 5 years ago and it's worked great. We're about 45 miles from the towers. I'm sure it helps that our house is the tallest on our street so the reflections are somewhat minimized.

 

[Sammy033]

Maybe a dumb question, but is there any problems (health or otherwise) with having an outdoor antenna with a pre-amp inside the house? It's an antenna, so I'm assuming it's ok, right?

It depends on what the wife thinks. If its out in the open and looks horrible you will be told to move it or there will be no more, shall we say, nice intimate evenings for you. So its a question of what you want more

 

[Carl B]

I've used the attic since the wife doesn't like set top antennas and absolutely will not let me put one on the outside of the house. She merely tolerates the Dish antenna because she can't think of an alternative that will give her the channels she wants at the same price.

Health hazard? If I put up my outdoor antenna in the living room I know it would be hazardous to my health and domestic tranquility.

 

[Major-V]

Yeah... Wifey doesn't like it in the house, so will probably have to move it, but I bought myself a week or so to find another place for it.

Somebody said something about a "transmitting" antenna. How can you tell if it transmits? I'm assuming that only broadcasters have those, right?

In any case, as unbelievable as it sounds, I'm actually getting 0 dropouts and perfect signal from within the house. Maybe my house is amplifying the signal??? I have no idea how it's possible, but it works -- but only from my living room.

Hmmmmmm.......

 

[tempVAdish]

Yeah... Wifey doesn't like it in the house, so will probably have to move it, but I bought myself a week or so to find another place for it.

Somebody said something about a "transmitting" antenna. How can you tell if it transmits? I'm assuming that only broadcasters have those, right?

In any case, as unbelievable as it sounds, I'm actually getting 0 dropouts and perfect signal from within the house. Maybe my house is amplifying the signal??? I have no idea how it's possible, but it works -- but only from my living room.

Hmmmmmm.......

I was teasing about the transmitting. These antennas only recieve, but being a ham operator, I do have a small TX antenna in the attic as well, but it's only 18" long & well above anyones LOS... sorry for the confusion

 

[tansu]

I have had outdoor antennas in attic, 30' pole, two in combo, and indoor with and without amp to little beneifit after hundreds of dollars.
Now I get perfect reception with a indoor Zenith taped to the 30' pole, no amp.
Go figure?

 

[digiblur]

I have seen an antenna work better inside than out. But that location had lots of multipath since they were close to the towers. So instead of putting in an inline attenuator(sp?) we just used the house as one.

 

[Major-V]

Yeah, it simply blows my mind that I was struggling to get good reception without dropouts outdoors. And I had a clear open view of sky, so it couldn't have been due to obstructions. I mean at one point, i was out in the rain adjusting the antenna. Then, boom, I gave up on it, brought it into the house to take it apart. However, for S&G I thought, let's see what it looks like from inside (thinking there's just no way this will work) and what do you know? It's nearly perfect (I mean signal strength of 91 - 98 on most channels). I was shocked!

Does that mean I can probably go ahead and bring my Dish 1000 inside, too?

Just kidding.

 

[8bitbytes]

I think this could easily be post-modern industrial artwork hanging on a wall:

 

[vegassatellite]

I believe it could lead to a medical condition called yagi-rectal impalement if the wife isn't happy about it all.

 

[msadvertising]

let's see what it looks like from inside (thinking there's just no way this will work) and what do you know? It's nearly perfect (I mean signal strength of 91 - 98 on most channels). I was shocked!
Does that mean I can probably go ahead and bring my Dish 1000 inside, too?
Just kidding.

Your house isn’t amplifying your signal. You are experiencing Multi-path (bounced signals) and in this case, to your advantage, except for tripping over the outdoor antenna. Outdoors is better, but I’m betting, even though you said you had clear sky (assuming you meant clear line-of-sight to the towers) that you were experiencing Multi-path.

Do you live in a metro area?

Broadcast signals bounce off many things, such as buildings, hills, even walls inside your viewing room. Sometimes a bounced signal can be better than trying to receive the signal straight on and apparently, the location where you now have your outdoor antenna located and aimed is in a great location indoors to receive these Multi-path signals.

But Multi-path can be tricky. Multi-path reaching any antenna can send out of phase signals that can confuse the ATSC (Digital) chip set in the digital TV tuner. If the signal reaching the front of the antenna is not 2 to 3 times stronger than a bounced signal from the same station reaching the back of the antenna, the ATSC chip doesn’t know which signal to use, so it just keeps searching. You don’t seem to have this problem now with your antenna located and aimed the way it is now.

There are newer indoor antennas on the market that may very well get you the same reception; even combination indoor/outdoor antennas are designed to work with multi-path and the newer generation ATSC chips.

The fact that most designs on the market now were developed prior to the advent of much of the computer technology, software and algorithms in common use today has left open numerous avenues to improve upon tried and true designs and develop new ones. Additionally, recent regulations and standards opened new doors for antenna engineers to develop smaller antennas with greatly improved performance, power and aesthetics.

If you decide to try an indoor antenna, try several different locations and directions in the room. But I wouldn’t give up on outdoor yet. Many outdoor TV antenna designs in use now such as the Yagi (on many chimneys) have technology roots going back 30 years or more.

Buy the antenna from a source that will refund your full purchase price, no questions asked, until you find the antenna that will work for you and enjoy.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I currently have a Terk TV-32 UHF antenna inside in the basement believe it or not. We receive 15 digital channels with no problems here in the Pittsburgh area. Most channels have a signal strength between 70 and 85. One channel has a signal strength of 92.

 

[Widescreen]

You need to see if you have any digital channels in the VHF band. Here in Dallas we have one (the ABC affiliate) so a UHF-only antenna, whether indoor or outdoor, wouldn't be able to pick up ABC. The big weather-vane antennas handle both VHF and UHF.

 

[KAB]

You need to see if you have any digital channels in the VHF band. Here in Dallas we have one (the ABC affiliate) so a UHF-only antenna, whether indoor or outdoor, wouldn't be able to pick up ABC.

Not necessarily. 9 and up should be obtainable, pending distance. I'm getting VHF 9 100% with a Rat Shack UHF in the attic, 17 miles away.