Any CEA-909 "Smart Antenna"

[Hank Monk]

It's been 35 years shen I was active duty Army and was (at one time) very involved in radio direction finding and wave propogation, so I appreciate any updated info hdtvlabs and tigerbangs can provide.

Like many others of my age, I dumped cable years ago and have been satified with over the air broadcast TV... so far. I've received and bought my coverter box but have had terrible luck getting a strong enough signal (on my weenie non amplified, set top rabbit ears) on the 20 -25 DTV signals that are supposed to be in my area. I'm in the market for an amplified, VHF/UHF antenna and could use some help. Omni or highly directional....I'm not sure.

My problem is that while I'm only 5 miles from MOST of the local broadcast towers, I'm in a hilly area and do NOT have clear line of sight between my home and these towers. Additionally, since I'm so near, several of these broadcast towers are on azimuths of 340 - 350 degrees, others are 24, 130 and 160 degrees. All of these signals are in the YELLOW zone (supposedly).

Planning my converter box, I opted for the RCA DTA-800 converter partly because it had the CEA-909 (Smart Antenna) interface. My problem now, is FINDING a CEA -909 interface antenna without taking too much of a risk that it will work. Even with a rooftop mast, I will not be able to obtain line of sight to the broadcast towers. And I'm not too eager to spend over $ 100 on an antenna that may or may not work. But if I thought my odds were good, no problem. The only CEA -909 (electronically rotating) antenna that I've found is the Sylvania DTA 5000 which is sometimes available at Summit Source . I can find no reviews of this (or any) of the CEA-909 interface antennas.

http://www.summitsource.com/dx-antenna- ... rers_id=54"

So does anyone have any experiece with this, or any other (name names, please) of these new "Smart Antennas"? It sure sounds like they would beat the heck out of physically rotating the antenna. And has anyone heard of an indoor, amplified "Smart Antenna"?

Other details: Location: Far S.W. Hills of Portland, OR 97219 near Tigard border. 10 year old Sony 30" Analog TV, 2 TVs (eventually) , Wanted: UHF, VHF DTV only (no HDTV), 5 - 6 miles (in defilade) from most towers, parents (at 10 miles w/ line of sight) get 24 clear, DTV channels w/same converter and unamplified rabbit ears.

Edited to add: My location: Long: 122.743, Lat: 45.453. Elevation: 485 feet above sea level by GPS. I'm guessing since the antenna/converter interface has that goofy "Smart" connection, any second TV on this antenna would have to be post converter coaxial. So while the second TV could be in another room, the converter (and ability to remote control) would not be. Hummmm....let me think about that. So do you think splitters for this interface would be available sometime?

[hdtvlabs]

Hank Monk,

Smart antennas consumer market is very immature. I am not aware of any other antenna except DTA 5000 supporting the CEA-909 protocol.

IMHO, the market segment for smart antennas for consumer TV is very limited. These antennas can not achieve high directionality in all directions as that would require a huge and awkward structure with many elements to switch between. Even mid-range reception in 3-4 directions would require enough elements to make the antenna costly and unattractive solution.

As for DTA-5000 ... It might work close to the towers in a yellow zone. I guess, in your case, it has benefits over an omni-directional antenna, though F/B is certainly too low to cope with serious multipath. Tigerbangs, what's your take on this?

BTW, have you checked what a simple indoor antenna can do for you?

hdtvlabs

[Hank Monk]

Thanks for the reply, hdtvlabs. Yes I have tried a couple of different interior antennas (amplified and not) , with little success. The local CBS/ABC and NBC affiliates all share one antenna farm that is nearly on identical azimuths. Yet While I find KGW (local NBC) easily, a great deal of fussin and turnin is required to catch (an only briefly LOCK) the others.

To repeat, I am VERY close (under 5 miles) to several towers that I cannot capture in DTV mode. I believe the problem to be the poor line of sight (trees and ridgeline) and perhaps scattering and echoing of incoming digital signals. My solution is to continually switch from the few digital signals I get, then when I want to view another channel, I disconnect my converter box an return to analog reception. Analog comes in fairly reliably and with little orienting.

I don't mind dropping a C note on an antenna, but I have doubts since in order to actually SEE the antenna farm, I'd need a 100 foot mast.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[rdjenter]

I purchased the Sylvania 6900DTE ATSC HDTV receiver and matching DTA-5000 Smart Antenna from my local Sam's Club in January 2006. I wanted to receive OTA signals on my analog TV at the time. I mounted the antenna in the attic of my house. The receiver picks up over 30 channels currently with more coming online as the February 2009 date approaches. The picture quality is AMAZING (1080i output) and I receive many more channels than I could before on a large array roof mounted antenna. I am very impressed with the reception of this small device, especially since it is indoors (in the attic). I am receiving stations from cities over 80 miles away! The antenna variable pre-amp limits the signal strength to 95% full scale (most channels) with the weakest signals at 70% full scale. I am very pleased with this product.

[Hank Monk]

Thanks RDJ. I was wondering if someone out there had actually USED one of the DTA 5000s. I have only seen it for about $ 100 on line (no Sam's Club in this area). I think I'll take the plunge since I have to get SOMETHING before I shoot my TV. Digital drop outs are far more annoying than any analog snowy picture.

I like the idea of it being less of a sail in high winds too. I have vaulted ceilings (no attic ) so it's going to have to go outside...likely on the side of my brick chimney. Full report here after installation... if total digital change over is in Feb. '09, that's probably when I'll have it done if my other do it yourself projects are any indication.

[rdjenter]

I would also recommend considering FTA (Free-Through-Air) satellite if you are far away from the towers and are interested in receiving hundreds (if not thousands) of DVB-S (MPEG-2) and DVB-S2 (MPEG-4) channels. This is where I am preparing to move to next. Just like the OTA methods the content is free you just purchase the hardware. You can review http://www.lyngsat.com for free content for the area you are located in. There are around 63 satellites over the Americas, 57 over Europe and 64 over Asia that you can glean free (legally) content from that is from all over the world. Very cool. I have completed my research and I am pricing out the hardware now. http://www.wikipedia.org is a good starting site full of links from the FTA pages.