Peoria, IL Local stations in HD... when?

[cyborg_monkey]

Question: If I go OTA, do I have to have direct line of sight with the antennas? Meaning, can I put an HD antenna in my attic without a window, or must it "see" the sky? Newbie at the OTA, so please don't hurt me!!!

Also, the reason I went this route was because of ease. I don't have to run out and get an HD OTA. I don't have to run another coax from the attic. And I don't have to mess with lining it up and hoping for a good signal from the 4 major broadcasters.

Finally, if I keep the Chicago channels, do I just do the Point Dish option and change the sat signal to 61.5 and 129? Do I have to physically turn the dish? Never played with this stuff, so am new at this.....

Thanks guys for the info though. I look forward to your responses

 

[Laddyboy]

Question: If I go OTA, do I have to have direct line of sight with the antennas? Meaning, can I put an HD antenna in my attic without a window, or must it "see" the sky? Newbie at the OTA, so please don't hurt me!!!

Also, the reason I went this route was because of ease. I don't have to run out and get an HD OTA. I don't have to run another coax from the attic. And I don't have to mess with lining it up and hoping for a good signal from the 4 major broadcasters.

Finally, if I keep the Chicago channels, do I just do the Point Dish option and change the sat signal to 61.5 and 129? Do I have to physically turn the dish? Never played with this stuff, so am new at this.....

Thanks guys for the info though. I look forward to your responses

As long as you have sat dishes for 61.5 or 129 you are good to go with the Chicago HD locals. You don't have to do anything. Your current sat locals will disappear and the Chicago sat locals will be in the guide. For OTA HD locals, you run the local channel setup option in the installation menu. It'll go through and detect all local HD signals and you will have guide info downloaded soon thereafter. If you're watching, a message will pop up saying that the guide info is outdated and need updating and will ask you to OK it. Otherwise, it'll happen when you're not using the receiver.

Depending on your location, an attic installation may be all you need. Signals pass through wood and metal for the most part. Outside is always better all other things the same, but attic installs are common these days. I think all the Peoria locals are transmitted from the antenna farm in CC. The Fox Bloomington may be a little more difficult, but not much. I think if you point toward Bloomington down I-74, you'll get all the local Peoria plus Bloomingtom with few problems. Believe it or not some of the tiny outdoor gizmos listed for HD TV actually work. They are usually about $55 at Lowes, etc. The one by GE called Futura (maybe) seems to work. I'm not sure how well they work in rain/fog etc. I use a fairly high gain VHF/UHF antenna where I'm at. In the Peoria DMA I don't think there are any broadcasters using the VHF frequencies so a double bowtie UHF antenna may be all you need. Radio Shack sells a high gain UHF antenna (U-75) for around $25. UHFs are pretty inexpensive.

 

[BigStig]

No, the antenna doesn't need to see the sky. Think of it like FM radio. Does an FM radio need to be able to see the sky to work? Nope. Neither does a TV antenna. Now that is different technology completely from your satellite dish, which has to point directly at the orbitting satellites. Sure, an antenna will work better if it's outside and up high, but it doesn't have to be. One problem that some people face is that some types of roofing/siding materials will shield the signal somewhat. So if you live in a concrete bunker, don't expect it to work as well inside.

And of course you can put the antenna in the attic if you want to, but I question whether or not you even need to do that. Sometimes it's quite a pain to install an antenna and run cable to an attic. With my $40 Terk HDTVA antenna, sitting behind my AV rack in my living room, I was able to pull in Fox & ABC out of Springfield with perfect clarity - both 30ish miles away. No attic cable runs, and the antenna was totally hidden. You could always go pick up an antenna at WalMart, Radio Shack, Home Depot (etc, etc, etc) and try it.

Now that didn't work as a long-term solution because I have stations that are 50+ miles away, and that requires more a bit more serious setup.