Need guidance on which installer and which antenna

[ChristineLynne]

Hi all!

We live in Cary NC - 27519. It is mildly hilly, nothing very high. We have no big buildings or towers nearby, and just a few trees. Antennaweb tells me all but PBS are in one direction . . . and PBS (which we NEED with two little kids!) is in the exact opposite direction.

We want to connect to three TVs. We currently have DirecTV, with a 3:8 splitter box in the garage.

I talked to two local installers.

Installer A quoted us $220 to provide and install a Channel Master - he didn't specify the model, but said it is about 2'x2' and has two "bowties."

Installer B wants us to order an Antennas Direct Clearstream 4, and he'll install it for $200, using a 5' pole attached to the eaves of the house.

Does one or the other sound appreciable better? How do we make sure we can get all the channels we want? And will either of these antennas need an amplifier or anything?

I appreciate the help - I have no clue about this stuff, having had cable or satellite for decades!

[tigerbangs]

From the looks of our TVFool.com scan, you are looking for the Raleigh-Durham TV stations, which all lie at 113 degrees from your location. The Raleigh-Durham TV market includes WTVD-DT, which operates on VHF channel 11, and I don't believe a Clearstream 4 antenna is a good choice, since it is a UHF-only antenna, despite AntenasDirect claim to the contrary. Wthout knowing which Channel Master antenna the other installer plans to use, my guess, based on your description, would be a 4220, which is a compact UHF-only antenna: again, not sutable for channel 11.

I am discovering that many antenna installers STILL don't understand where the new digital TV stations are in their own community, so be careful when dealing with them. Most communities still have one or more VHF TV stations, and choosing a UHF-only antenna is going to cause problems. Based on the zip-code provided, my best suggestion would be to use a Winegard HD-7694P or an AntennaCraft HBU-33, which both cover channels 7-51 without a hitch.

Your antenna should be roof-mounted for best-results, and you will need a small distribution amplifier and a proper splitter to divide the TV signal to 3 or 4 TV sets in your house. I personally like the Channel Master CM-341x line od splitter-amplifiers, where x= the number of TV sets to be fed.