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[briancmyers]

I live in East Northport on Long Island. I want to get all channels possible. Will gladly install a rotator. But which antenna? And is mounting it outside vs. the attic a no-brainer for the best reception?

Forgive my ignorance, and thank you in advance for your advice.

-Brian

[tigerbangs]

You are in an enviable position in that you have all of NYC available to you plus Hartford-New Haven, as long as you use the right antenna system. I would use my deep-fringe prescription: a Winegard YA-1713 VHF-high-band antenna plus an AntennasDirect XG-91 UHF antenna mounted on the same mast, wth the XG-91 mounted 4' above the YA-1713. Mount the two antenna on a mast using a Channel Master 9521a rotator. This antenna really calls to be roof-mounted: you'll lose better than 50% of your signal when mounting inside an attic. Connect the two antennas using a Pico-Macom UFSJ antenna joiner-splitter, and run that signal into a Winegard HDP-269 preamplifiier. Run the coaxial output of the preamplifier to the preamplifier power supply, which needs to be mounted near an AC outlet. If you plan to run multiple TV sets from this antenna, you can munt a splitter after the preamp power supply. This arrangement will support up to a 4-way splitter.

My experience is that this array is as good as it gets when looking for fringe-area TV stations. One installed, you should see more digital TV than you ever dreamed possible! Here are some links to the equipment.

http://www.antenasdirect.com
http://www.winegard.com
http://www.channelmaster.com
http://www.pctinternational.com/channel ... lation.pdf

[briancmyers]

Wow. What wonderful...and helpful... advice. I am going to do exactly as you suggest.

My question: Must the antenna be a certain number of feet above the house or off the ground? My home is a two-story home in a suburban area, so I don't want an antenna 40' in the air above the second store of my house.

Thanks again.

-Brian

[tigerbangs]

The higher that you get the antenna, the better your reception will be: practically speaking, 5-15' above the roof is standard: see the installation guide that I linked to you: it is full of good information about what's practical.

[steves]

I also live in East Northport and was contemplating installing a HD antenna. Have you installed one yet? I'm interested in knowing how your reception is. Thanks