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Hi:
I want to get the best antenna for OTA HDTV. Any suggestions?Thanks... Paul
Follow Ups:
Well, that kind of depends... Do you have the space to put up a stacked array of four 8 foot long monster Yagi antennas? On a 100' tower? The question really is, do you need to? If a modest antenna reliably picks up all the HDTV stations in your area, there is nothing to be gained by putting up a 'better' antenna.I just picked up a $22 RadioShack UHF antenna which is partially assembled and laying flat on my glass dining room table. I'm picking up 4 OTA HDTV stations with perfect picture quality with no tearing or breakup. I'll put the reflector elements on then install the antenna on a pole on the back yard deck. This will be MORE than adequate to receive ALL available OTA HDTV stations in my area. Why would I search out and spend the money on something better (the 'best'?) when my $22 RatShack antenna does the job perfectly? It's not like the picture or sound will get better.
I live 26 miles from Chicago and use a combo UHF/VHF antenna with many elements and mounted on the roof (gable end)with a 10 foot mast from Radio Shack. I think the model is XR-190 made for Radio Shack by Antennacraft. The reason I need the full spectrum is that our CBS-HD is a VHF station not UHF like all the other digital stations. VHF stations require the bigger antenna elements since it is a lower frequency band. I also have a Channel Master 7777 mast mounted preamp. The reason I need all this is that there are some really tall trees in the way of my signal in addition to the 26 miles. So it all depends on what your requirements are. Apparently the Antennacraft brand is a bit more directional and not as heavy duty as the top of the line brands, Wineguard (Chromstar 2000 HD8200P for example) and Channel Master (#3678 for example).
Stark Electronics and Warren Electronics have a big selection of antenna, preamps, rotors etc. I got my preamp from Warren since they are near me.
Check your local Digital OTA stations to see if you would only need UHF. Either way you may want UHF/VHF antennna anyway if you have any analog TVs you want to connect up to it. The HD tuners are sensitive to noise so you would need a preamp or distribution amp if you have many TV to hook up. My HDOTA tuner (the flakey Panasonic TU-HDS20) has a standard tv tuner inside as well as digital and HD. This comes in handy whenever the digital station drops out for a few seconds I can switch over to the analog station for a little while till it is safe to go back.
Don't be fooled by the claims of the little indoor power antenna unless you live within 10 miles and don't have too many trees or buildings between you and the signal/station. Stark has a good selection of the indoor antenna on the web page too.
My dad and I put up the antenna in a few hours. Roof top antenna must be grounded according to the NEC rules on grounding that are usually in small print somewhere in the antenna manual.
Good luck.
Any good quality antenna will work just fine. The trick is to get it aimed for minimum reflections (ghosts in NTSC terms). You might seriously consider a rotator if you're trying to get a distant signal, over 30 miles or so from the transmitter.Keep in mind the brick-wall effect. Marginal signals are either good or non-existent, depending on how much data is lost in the error-correction done in the set. Moving the antenna up or down as little as a foot might make the difference between picture and nothing.
FYI, I'm a retired television broadcasting engineer.
KKpenguin.
Here is a site with lots of test results for OTA digital broadcast antennas.http://www.atechfabrication.com/tests.htm
Here is a very long thread on AV Science on the subject.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=8222950b820ddf4de60062cc0a3a0296&threadid=27746&perpage=20&pagenumber=13
I live near the foothills and ended up with good sucess using a Blake JBX21 UHF antenna. I am getting great DTV from the local Los Angeles stations.
A few weeks ago I picked up a Zenith ZHDTV1 HDTV *indoor* antenna from Amazon.com for under $25. This little sucker does one heck of a great job of picking up the HD channels. I live about 20 minutes outside of downtown Seattle, and I believe that I get just about every local over-the-air HD channel (some require that I reposition the antenna to get the best reception).Of course, YMMV. You may want to give this antenna a try before attempting to install an antenna on your roof.
Ken
Sizing guide:
I actually already have a pole and a old antenna with rotator mounted to my chimney (No Antenna Lead) that needs to be replaced. I want to do this job once and put in the best possible antenna. From the referenced web site I received the following results:You need a Medium Directional Antenna with pre-amp.
These medium-size, multi-element antennas are the most popular rooftop antenna because of their modest size and ghost-reducing characteristics. These are best used if there are any ghost-producing reflective structures near your location.What does that translate into as far as brand/model?
Thanks (seriously) for all your help...
... Paul
Paul -Read my comments above. How far do you live from the broadcast stations? Unless you're in the sticks, just go out and buy a decent antenna from RadioShack or Ace Hardware. Use high quality quad-shield RG6U coax cable and keep it short if possible. Unless you're in a fringe area, I wouldn't bother with a preamp.
Try posting your question over at the HD hardware forum at AVS.I am waiting for Cox Hampton Roads to offer their HD cable before I decide on that or a Sat/OTA unit. But in this area, all the local stations transmit from Driver, Va., so it supposedly makes aiming the antenna easier.
On a side note, some of the guys living around the Oceana NAS jet base have had to upgrade to better antennas, due to signal drop out every time a tomcat or super hornet flies by!
It works fine from work but not home. May have something to do with the one way cable modem... I can get to the menu systen; I can get to a direct link into a thread, but can't get through the menu system to a thread. Have tried contacting the AVS Forum people with no luck; tried contacting Adelphia Cable (my ISP) with no luck...Bummed in Sterling...
Yeh, that forum takes a lot longer to access on my computer, even with hi-speed cable. It must be a combination of their servers and all the traffic they get.There's also the Home Theater Spot forum, I don't use it much except for the Pioneer RPTV section, not as busy.
BTW...Take care in the next few days. I live in Virginia Beach, Isabel is two days out. Guess I better get off this computer and back to that pile of plywood .....
JK
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