kde Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 To date, I have gone through 4 different antennas trying to pick up my local HD channels. We have Directv service and we live in Austin, TX, however there are hills surrounding our house. I have gone through the regular Directv antenna, two from Best Buy (where I will never shop again) and one old school big antenna in the attic. However, now pick up the local signals... Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Can you put an antenna on your roof? That's your best bet. Consider having it professionally installed. Check out this site for lots of useful info: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx. All that being said, I went to cable, because I got tired of messing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 I know your frustration . I had to have my HD Antenna mounted at the peak of the roof to get good reception . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kde Posted July 4, 2006 Author Share Posted July 4, 2006 How do you find a professional antenna installer? I didn't even know they existed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfsBane Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 To date, I have gone through 4 different antennas trying to pick up my local HD channels. We have Directv service and we live in Austin, TX, however there are hills surrounding our house. I have gone through the regular Directv antenna, two from Best Buy (where I will never shop again) and one old school big antenna in the attic. However, now pick up the local signals... Any advice? The Sat antenna is not going to give you very good reception. Local HDTV is notorious for their weak signals, at least at this point in time. This is specially true if you live a distance from the broadcasting stations or if you live in places with lots of natural or man made obstructions. My best advised is to get it on your roof, (I have often been advised against installing antenas in the attic because they are both relatively low and encased in wood/metal). You don't need a fancy antenna as long as it is able to pick up signals well. I also recommend against a "professional installer" if you can do the job yourself... I had mine professionally installed when I installed Dish, and I had to climb the roof to get it readjusted properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastlane Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 I would go to Rat Shack and get the biggest tv antenna they offer. That one is what was on my house when I bought it. It is on a large post and rises just above my roofline. I added a rotor for fine tuning (a must for weaker HD stations). They also carry the mounting kits needed. I added a 10 db signal booster. I live 30 miles from the nearest station, and can also pull good signal from nearly 100 miles away. I don't have too many hills to contend with, but some small hills and millions of tall pines. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 My antenna is a D-9000 from MCMelectronics.com and it is very large and still has some problems with weak stations in a fixed position. The main local channels are all fine. I am approximately 20 miles from all the stations. Probably best to get a rotator also. The antenna was shipped UPS no problem with some assembly required. If you check the AVS forum you will get a better understanding of excessive compression problems with cable and satellite systems causing degradation of the Hi-Def signals. The local stations still have teething problems such as poor graphics, pixelization caused by crunched bandwidth to get more channels, dropouts, using digital widescreen cameras on mobile shots instead of expensive Hi-Def cameras, and low power outputs. They also do dumb things like show stretched SD all day long before showing full HD and when they give a crawl weather warning they change the HD program back to SD and forget to put it back to HD. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Check out AVS forum under something like OTA HDTV? Theres bound to be a group from your area. You can determine which antenna to use, going by what works best for others in your neighborhood. Theres also a link to a site that gives you specific degrees of how the antenna should be pointed for best reception. I used it a quite a while ago, but don't have it saved anymore. I found a group in my area, and found out which antenna works best, but just haven't had the money to upgrade my current antenna. I use the old one that was there on the roof when I moved in, I get 3 out of the 5 channels pretty well. I also have discovered that the higher up the better. There are quite a few trees around, so some channels are better in the winter, when there are less leaves. oops... the link todd posted is the site I was talking about & the site that I used, it's very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efzauner Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Most of the guys who install satellite TV dishes will also do antenna installs. Call you local independantly owned audio/video/TV/Sat store and ask them who installs the sat dishes for them. Try your local yellow pages etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Robin Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 I went to Radio shack to get a HD antenna over the weekend. A good friend got one a couple of weeks ago and has had good luck with it. He live's on a good hill, so he has pretty well line of site with the tower's. He split the difference with Pinebluff and Little Rock for the best siginal he could get. His meter is showing about an 88 on all the channels. But Radio Shack did not have any in stock; this model is round and looks like a dish; they had sold several of them but had most of them returned for not working well. The manager sent them back to the warehouse and will not restock them. The search is still on for a good antenna for the HD tv. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastlane Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103087&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032205&pg=2&parentPage=family This is the one you want. It is available online for $99 w/ free shipping. It is the VU-190. There are also consumer reviews on the RS website rating each of their antennas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Robin Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 That page says in store only. not on line! Are you sure that is the same antenna you are talking about. 160" that is pretty good size for a TV antenna. I have had boomer's for VHF Ham Radio that were over 30 ft in length. That was fun to install 60 ft off the ground on the tower. You have to trust your safety belt to let go with both hand's so you can wrestle one of them around. I am going to do a search for DIY HD antenna's to see what I can come up with before buying anything yet. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastlane Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 There is a "where to find it" link on that page. Click on it then enter your zip code to see which local store has it in stock. CABOT-ROCKWOOD01-4778 | 0.00 miles*See a map 501-605-1443SHOPPES AT ROCKWOOD110 S ROCKWOOD RD STE 4CABOT, AR 72023 In stock JACKSONVILLE-WHITE DR01-8484 | 8.49 miles*See a map 501-982-11861315 T P WHITE DRJACKSONVILLE, AR 72076 In stock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Not sure what you're using for a tuner, but I also live in a tough reception area. Using a QAM tuner (in my case, a card in my PC), and connecting to the most basic Comcast analog cable connection, I can receive all the broadcast networks; HD shows which Comcast retransmits using unencrypted QAM. Cost me $14/month, and I don't have to mess with an antenna inside or outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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