What's the biggest antenna money can buy?

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Eduardito

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jan 8, 2011
86
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
I am tired of pussyfooting around the issue. I thought a small antenna would suffice because of my area so I went ahead and got rabbit ears for $20 bucks and couldn't get all channels, then went and got a $50 buck antenna and it gets a lot of channels but it's constantly dropping off. I told my dad that if we had started with a badass antenna we would've saved some dough, he said "Pa' sabio Salomon" (means To be wise you'd have to be Solomon). It's true cheap comes with a cost, Im ready for somethin badass. Like I want it to have it's own gravitational pull and have helicopters dropping on our roof.

Here's the antenna "cemetery":
0129012258.jpg

Here's the TV Fool:
radarall1.png
 
The TV fool looks good do you have any nearby trees or buildings? What is your building made of concrete or wood? The more terrestrial info would help to better describe where you are currently trying to use those antennas to get a TV signal.
 
Are there particular channels that are more important to you than others? Generally the bigger the anytenna the more ditrectional it is. Knowing what is important to you might help others make a specific recommendation.
 
There's heavy folliage to the south of the house and to the east. I'm particularly interested in getting 13.1 13.2 and 18.2 without problems. With the small antenna I get the 6s but the bigger one I don't get them as well.
 
BUD on a rotator. ;) If helicopters don't show up, your neighbors certainly will. :D

Seriously, the others (particularly Geronimo) are right. The bigger the antenna, the more directional it is. You could go with a deep fringe antenna, but then you would have to put it on a rotator since (1) your stations are in different directions and (2) a deep fringe antenna is very directional. Did you hook up that ANT-105 contraption? Your stations are so strong, I would expect a simple unamplified dipole aimed approx S-SE to work well.
 
I suspect that simply getting a midrange antenna up on the roof would solve all problems. The added height and not having to suck signal through walls and possibly masonry makes a bigger difference than a mongo antennal indoors. Also second comments on not doing a deep fringe antenna. The directionality would mean constant re-aiming and it just isn't justified given the TVfool report.

I also note this is in puerto Rico. Pretty hilly there. Are you down in a valley where the signal might be blocked? TV Fool can be fooled by local terrain.
 
Im on the North Coast. it's not hilly but there's a lot of trees around the house. I'm about to get my machete and go aggro on them. The motorized one is on the roof but it still drops like crazy, and moving it makes no difference at all, it's weird.
 
Eduardito said:
Im on the North Coast. it's not hilly but there's a lot of trees around the house. I'm about to get my machete and go aggro on them. The motorized one is on the roof but it still drops like crazy, and moving it makes no difference at all, it's weird.
Click to expand...
Stick with brand names Winegard and Channel Master have 50 year historys because they have done the job. I would suggest a Winegard HD-1080 with a Antennacraft 10G212 30dB pre amp aimed South. Your biggest problem is the stations cover almost 180 degrees so without a rotor it will be hard to pick up 13 and 18. Ebay should be able to deliver these 2 products for $50-75.
 
I would not go with a big antenna. The stations you want are close and strong. A small antenna on the roof would be better to be more omnidirectional. Getting it above the roof line will work wonders. Your other problem is that you may be over amplifying your signal. 13.1 looks close and strong.

But, if money is no object and you really want big antennas, but do not want a rotar you would need channel cut antennas. They are what a cable company would use. That way you can point antennas at each station. You may have seen towers before with a bunch of antennas pointed in every direction.
 
boba said:
Stick with brand names Winegard and Channel Master have 50 year historys because they have done the job. I would suggest a Winegard HD-1080 with a Antennacraft 10G212 30dB pre amp aimed South. Your biggest problem is the stations cover almost 180 degrees so without a rotor it will be hard to pick up 13 and 18. Ebay should be able to deliver these 2 products for $50-75.
Click to expand...

My doubt with that antenna is that it says VHF? is it UHF as well?
 
Say you have something like this scenario: 80 foot treeline, and your antenna is only up 40 feet. That's a bad issue. Especially with Digital tv, and the fact that Disk dvr's can't handle multi-path signals very well. Your best case scenario, is to have a CLEAR line-of-sight from the end of your antenna, to the tv stations you want to pick up. IF you can't achieve this, you might never have a stable signal 100% of the time. You might want to think about buying a chain-saw....

I agree that Winegard or Channel-master antenna brands would be your best bet, but it's no use spending a lot of money, if you can never achieve a clear line of sight... With the old analog tv system you could deal with it, not so with the new digital tv signals.

Think of it kinda like this: Say you had a 10 foot satellite dish, but somebody is waving a large garbage can lid between the sat signal and your dish. Would it help if you got a 15 foot dish? How about a 20 foot dish? Nope. Those trees are your "garbage can lid".
 
primestar31 said:
Say you have something like this scenario: 80 foot treeline, and your antenna is only up 40 feet. That's a bad issue. Especially with Digital tv, and the fact that Disk dvr's can't handle multi-path signals very well. Your best case scenario, is to have a CLEAR line-of-sight from the end of your antenna, to the tv stations you want to pick up. IF you can't achieve this, you might never have a stable signal 100% of the time. You might want to think about buying a chain-saw....

I agree that Winegard or Channel-master antenna brands would be your best bet, but it's no use spending a lot of money, if you can never achieve a clear line of sight... With the old analog tv system you could deal with it, not so with the new digital tv signals.

Think of it kinda like this: Say you had a 10 foot satellite dish, but somebody is waving a large garbage can lid between the sat signal and your dish. Would it help if you got a 15 foot dish? How about a 20 foot dish? Nope. Those trees are your "garbage can lid".
Click to expand...

Sounds like I'm cutting down some trees.
 
When I lived close to the transmitters where you could see them with binoculars I still had trouble with dropouts because of signal reflections. I had a TV in the kitchen with an indoor antenna and when my neighbor in the upstairs apartment opened her refrigerator door the signal would breakup. I ended up using a small directional antenna indoors. So my suggestion to you is look carefully at your antenna setup for things like this. Just about any outdoor antenna should get those LOS stations if pointed directly at them. I would check all your cable connections and cable for any spots where it could have got cut or pinched. Now if you are using the flat 300 ohm cable you could have unwanted signals entering because its too close to metal objects and if this is the case you want to upgrade to 75 ohm.

I'll bet one of those $30 weird looking Chinese made antennas on ebay with the built in rotor would work where you are. They are totally overated but at your short range and needing a rotor it could be a cheap option to get everything within 30 or 40 miles.
 
Bob2011 said:
When I lived close to the transmitters where you could see them with binoculars I still had trouble with dropouts because of signal reflections. I had a TV in the kitchen with an indoor antenna and when my neighbor in the upstairs apartment opened her refrigerator door the signal would breakup. I ended up using a small directional antenna indoors. So my suggestion to you is look carefully at your antenna setup for things like this. Just about any outdoor antenna should get those LOS stations if pointed directly at them. I would check all your cable connections and cable for any spots where it could have got cut or pinched. Now if you are using the flat 300 ohm cable you could have unwanted signals entering because its too close to metal objects and if this is the case you want to upgrade to 75 ohm.

I'll bet one of those $30 weird looking Chinese made antennas on ebay with the built in rotor would work where you are. They are totally overated but at your short range and needing a rotor it could be a cheap option to get everything within 30 or 40 miles.
Click to expand...
Look at the picture in post #1 I think you will find your suggestion is already there.
 
Your rabbit ears antenna indoors was too weak, but I'll bet the new antenna you got had an amplifier in it and you may have been overloading your tuner.

Get a simple outdoor directional antenna, maybe like the Winegard HD 7000R (the HD1080 might not be directional enough), the Antennas Direct V10 or V15 or the Channel Master CM 2020.

You may have to experiment with pointing it to minimize dropouts but as close as you are even pointing slightly orr axis to a station should not kill the signal from that station.

At your distance, I do not believe trees should be a big factor in reception, your signals are quite strong.

IMHO.
 
Eduardito said:
I got a $50 buck antenna and it gets a lot of channels but it's constantly dropping off.
Click to expand...

I suspect an aiming problem. I some cases when the signals arrive from multiple directions an attempt is made to find a location where everything works, but barely. In your case barely is unacceptable. I'd pick a direction, say 185 degrees, and aim the antenna there. Everything from 174 to 195 should pop in fine. Then figure out what to do about the remaining directions.
Do you want a rotator with your existing antenna?
Is your existing antenna designed for both VHF and UHF?
Would a second antenna plus an A/B switch work better for you?
 

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