Has anyone on here ever used an over-the-air HDTV antenna?

[wuzzzer]

If so, what brand did you get? How well did it work? My wife and I are tired of the high cable TV prices in the area and have decided to drop cable TV. Most of our favorite shows are on the national broadcast channels anyway so we won't be missing much.

I would like to get an HDTV antenna since my TV has a built-in HD tuner. I went to Best Buy today and they had indoor antennas but nothing for outdoors. They said they do sell the outdoor ones online. I noticed on the box of one of them at BB that it said good for picking up staions where the towers are up to 45 miles away. I live approximately 60 miles from the major broadcast channel towers, unless they have some north of the Twin Cities area (which I'm unsure about).

Should I even bother with one of them if I live as far away as I do? Or would an outdoor antenna work for me?

[Buckeye_Nut]

It's totally dependent on your market and their local OTA signal strength. If you live 60 miles out, and 45 is the 'so called' rabbit ear range for your market, an outdoor antennae will probably work fine.

There is no surefire answer to your question.

[westcott]

If so, what brand did you get? How well did it work? My wife and I are tired of the high cable TV prices in the area and have decided to drop cable TV. Most of our favorite shows are on the national broadcast channels anyway so we won't be missing much.

I would like to get an HDTV antenna since my TV has a built-in HD tuner. I went to Best Buy today and they had indoor antennas but nothing for outdoors. They said they do sell the outdoor ones online. I noticed on the box of one of them at BB that it said good for picking up staions where the towers are up to 45 miles away. I live approximately 60 miles from the major broadcast channel towers, unless they have some north of the Twin Cities area (which I'm unsure about).

Should I even bother with one of them if I live as far away as I do? Or would an outdoor antenna work for me?

I bought the biggest outdoor antenna Radio Shack had for less than US$100. It also supports FM signals.

I get the best high definition signals via the OTA antenna. Less compression and superb audio. The PBS station is one of my favorites and Nature programs are impressive.

The following link will help you select the best antenna for your area. They come with color codes. Also make sure that your antenna is properly grounded and run through a quality surge protector like the Tripp Lites.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[wally flick]

I live about 30-35 miles from the broadcast towers and have had a DB4 from www.antennasdirect.com for two years. I receive, without fail, signals from 95-100% on all locals (St. Louis area).

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I have it installed in my attic on an old piece of 1.5 inch PVC pipe. The PVC is screwed to the roof trusses. Took all of 10 minutes to install and aim. I strongly suggest buying a cheap camping compass (got mine for $3 at Wal-Mart) and printing out your local listing from www.antennaweb.org to aid in aiming the antenna. I was almost 45 degrees off in my guess of the direction West.

Good luck.

wally

[tenzip]

If you like fiddling with hand tools and such, you might try making one. There's a looooong thread about making antennae here: http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613

If you don't mind spending some time fiddling with it, it could save you a few bucks. Good luck.

[sfogg]

"I bought the biggest outdoor antenna Radio Shack had for less than US$100."

Those are big for the VHF reception, which is not needed for OTA HD. Most channels are sent on UHF so a good UHF antenna is what is needed. I started out with one of the monster RS antennas and its reception was not as good as the dedicated DB8 I moved to.

http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html

If at all possible mount the antenna outdoors. Considerably stronger signal then indoors. Be sure to ground the antenna if mounted outdoors, otherwise you can fry your equipment from static build up.

Shawn

[westcott]

"I bought the biggest outdoor antenna Radio Shack had for less than US$100."

Those are big for the VHF reception, which is not needed for OTA HD. Most channels are sent on UHF so a good UHF antenna is what is needed. I started out with one of the monster RS antennas and its reception was not as good as the dedicated DB8 I moved to.

http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html

If at all possible mount the antenna outdoors. Considerably stronger signal then indoors. Be sure to ground the antenna if mounted outdoors, otherwise you can fry your equipment from static build up.

Shawn

They are big because they are directional antennas for futher reach. Since all of the stations I want have a bearing of approximately 275 degrees, a large directional antenna was recommended for my location. You should really follow the guidelines provided in the link I provided to find the stations in your area and which ones you want to make sure you have the proper antenna to receive them.

[sfogg]

"They are big because they are directional antennas for futher reach."

They are *big* because they are directional for VHF. Look at the size of the UHF loop in any of the big Radio Shack antennas. It is tiny. Those are far more about VHF then they are UHF.

If one wants a directional antenna buy a dedicated UHF directional. It will be smaller then the Radio Shack VHF antennas and it will out perform it.

For example this directional UHF

http://antennasdirect.com/91XG_HDTV_antenna.html

Is less then half the length and maybe 1/3 the width of the R/S antenna I was using. And that UHF directional is huge compared to most of them such as:

http://antennasdirect.com/42XG_television_antenna.html

or

http://antennasdirect.com/SR15_hdtv_antenna.html

The DB8 omnidirectional handily beat the R/S antenna (aimed directly at the transmitters) in signal strenth/tuning.

"You should really follow the guidelines provided in the link I provided to find the stations in your area and which ones you want to make sure you have the proper antenna to receive them."

Agreed, antennaweb.org is a good resource.

Shawn

[westcott]

Quality UHF antenna use multi elements in an array pattern. The one I bought from Radio Shack is a 57 element, 160" double boom antenna and it is for UHF and VHF, but make no mistake, the elements are for UHF. Each element is capable of a 3dB gain and that is why good directional antennas are very long or have multiple booms to hold more elements on a directional antenna. Not sure what antenna you thought I was talking about but size is not a real consideration if mounting outside on the roof. I paid $100 bucks and do not have to use a pre-amp.

If you do a search on antenna arrays, you will see what I am talking about (some people go to some incredible lengths). One of those technologies where bigger\more is better. The model I am using reaches 90 miles to Bryan, Texas which is plenty to get all the signals I need with no anomolies. In matter of fact, my antenna works when my satellite dish does not. Your mileage may vary, especially if you are in an area with lots of buildings and other types of interference but in all cases, the higher you can get your antenna, the better.

[JJkizak]

I use a DC-9000 ($90.00-94 elements) from MCM electronics (no rotor)(ship by UPS) and live about 25 miles from most of the tv stations. I receive abour 21 digital and 19 analog stations. Also use RG-6 lead-in about 40 ft long. During inclement weather conditions some of the weaker channels will get a little "ickky-poo-poo" but not a big deal. Some weather conditions will "duct" analog Toledo stations to me about 200 miles away. Signal strength usually sits around 98 on the bigtime channels and about 82 on the PBS and religious channels. There are times where weather conditions on the weaker channels will cause audio/and/or/video dropouts. I have a Sony 46 LCD XBR2 1080P and the tuner is the best I have used. There are a ton of adjustments and the "Avia" test disc showed all adjustments to be dead on the money. SD performance can vary widely expecially with text. HD is just great. This set isn't perfect but I am well pleased with it.

JJK

[sfogg]

"Not sure what antenna you thought I was talking about but size is not a real consideration if mounting outside on the roof. I paid $100 bucks and do not have to use a pre-amp."

Mine was over 200" long, 210" I believe. I paid like $5 for it at RS as it was a closeout.

When I swapped it out for the DB8 the DB8 had considerably better signal strength.

Compare the gain of the R/S antennas in the UHF band against something like the DB8

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

3 or 4dB of gain vs. 12 or 13dB.

"The one I bought from Radio Shack is a 57 element, 160" double boom antenna and it is for UHF and VHF, but make no mistake, the elements are for UHF."

Not all of them are for UHF. The little bowtie in the antenna is for UHF along with the leads ahead of that. Behind where the vertical leads tie into the structure that is all VHF... roughly 2/3 of the size of the antenna. Hang out of some HDTV reception forums, people have cut off the back half of the R/S antennas with no change at all to UHF performance.

"If you do a search on antenna arrays, you will see what I am talking about (some people go to some incredible lengths). One of those technologies where bigger\more is better."

Bigger alone is not always better. An antenna's size among other things is related to the wavelength/frequency you are receiving. It is a tuned system. My 'little' DB8 *smokes* the huge Radio Shack antenna for HDTV.

"but in all cases, the higher you can get your antenna, the better. "

Certainly.

If the R/S works for you great. There are better units out there though.

Shawn

[westcott]

"Not sure what antenna you thought I was talking about but size is not a real consideration if mounting outside on the roof. I paid $100 bucks and do not have to use a pre-amp."

Mine was over 200" long, 210" I believe. I paid like $5 for it at RS as it was a closeout.

When I swapped it out for the DB8 the DB8 had considerably better signal strength.

Compare the gain of the R/S antennas in the UHF band against something like the DB8

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

3 or 4dB of gain vs. 12 or 13dB.

"The one I bought from Radio Shack is a 57 element, 160" double boom antenna and it is for UHF and VHF, but make no mistake, the elements are for UHF."

Not all of them are for UHF. The little bowtie in the antenna is for UHF along with the leads ahead of that. Behind where the vertical leads tie into the structure that is all VHF... roughly 2/3 of the size of the antenna. Hang out of some HDTV reception forums, people have cut off the back half of the R/S antennas with no change at all to UHF performance.

"If you do a search on antenna arrays, you will see what I am talking about (some people go to some incredible lengths). One of those technologies where bigger\more is better."

Bigger alone is not always better. An antenna's size among other things is related to the wavelength/frequency you are receiving. It is a tuned system. My 'little' DB8 *smokes* the huge Radio Shack antenna for HDTV.

"but in all cases, the higher you can get your antenna, the better. "

Certainly.

If the R/S works for you great. There are better units out there though.

Shawn

I have spec'd antennas for a living for remote data acquisition of field instrumentation. I know a little about it. If your antenna works good for you has no bearing on design performance and a larger antenna will always reach further than a smaller antenna when designed for directionality. Your DB8 is a multidirectional antenna and will not reach as far as a directional antenna of equal size. It is as simple as that. If your local stations are within your omnidirectional antenna reception distance, than it will work just fine. Like I said, do a search on antenna arrays and you will understand what I am talkin about. Some of them are massive with many booms and even more elements for UHF applications.

[Guest " "]

I took a look at the DIY version....very intresting.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613

Does anyone know where I could get the monster cable version?

[dachuckster]

I bought a Channel Master 4221 and I have it installed in my garage attic. It works great. I live about 23 miles as the crow flies from 3 of the 4 major antennas, and about 25 miles (and about 60 degrees to the side) from the other.

I believe I paid about $40 for it, retail. It is rectangular shaped, and can be mounted outside as well.

The OTA HD broadcasts I get are fantastic.

[rsp1068]

Wuzzer,

we are 25-30 miles south east of the metro, and the old Channel master uhf-vhf we have used forever works to receive all of the Twin Cities stations hd broadcasts.

I beleive a few of the stations have their towers in Shoreveiw.

We are dtv subscribers, but monday through friday the bulk of viewing is KSTP, and WCCO, which broadcast many shows in high-def.

The digital signal takes a little finer point to tune, vs analog, so "aiming" is a little fussier, but all stations work just fine.

[dachuckster]

Wuzzer, I did not originally notice that you are in Minnesota as well. I got my channel master from a tv/av outfit on Energy park drive in St Paul, just a little east of 280.

If you check the channel master website for local retailers, it will list the place. The one I have works outdoors as well as indoors, but just to be sure, before you buy ask them if it will work.

[colterphoto1]

I was looking into this around SuperBowl time. You do need a tuner if your set does not have one (I'm still on CRT), and an antennae. I live 6 miles from most of our transmitters and they are in a beautiful 10 degree arc from each other so picking up should not be a problem. Everyone was out of the tuners after Christmas and around Game time.

I think Best Buy mentioned a Toshiba unit. I'll look into it again, as I refuse to be a slave to cable rates, besides there isn't that much to watch. Someone said that OTA HD allowed you to get many more stations anyway.

Michael

[JJkizak]

I have gone through the Samsung, LG, & MRD HDtuners and the new built in tuners (Sony) are vastly superior in speed and performance. The MY-HD 130 computer HDTV tuner & recorder card which records directly to your hard drive works well also. Ten of the tv stations near me transmitt HD stuff withing 20 miles of the house so I don't have to wear out my thumb trying to find something on cable. You can tell a cable person because he has oversize thumbs.

JJK