Outdoor Antenna help 27012 Area

[mattlenderman]

I've had Direct TV for many years, and after a recent price increase and reading about OTA, I'm done. Paying $90/month for DTV when i mainly watch the locals anyway is just stupid. About the only station i watch I can't get w/ OTA is FX which I can watch episodes online i'm sure...I'm wanting to buy an HD tivo box so I can still have my dvr, but far as choosing the right antenna I could use some pointers. My address info is here:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapp ... 90cf6cc5db


This is what Ive thought of so far, and are looking to do. First buy the tivo box and outdoor antenna....I've been looking at reviews on antennas, and I've been floating between the CM 4228HD, the Winegard HD7694P, and the RCA ANT751 just due to its size and good reviews....I'd like a really good Antenna, so any suggestions on those and/or betters ones for my area would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to be able to pick up as many as stations in HD as possible. Also in my area, do i Need an amp? I saw Channel Master 7777 seems to have good reviews..Please advise if that is needed

My thoughts are this....My current direct tv dish is mounted on a pole about 4-5ft...I have 2 RJ6 cables running from the dish to a bracket on the side of my house, then from there into my built in cabinet area...I'd like to just remove the Sat dish, mount the antenna, get a 2 way splitter from the antenna branch those 2 rj6's that will give me 2 feeds inside my built in cabinets...now i can plug 1 of them into the tivo box, while running the other cable to another tv....

So, that's what I've came up with so far...any tips/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[tigerbangs]

UM...no...first of all, you have a slew of stations all around you, all from different directions; some from as far as 60 miles away. Unless your current dish is mounted on the highest point of your house, you can't count on reliable reception from any antenna for the majority of your stations. Satellite signals transmit from a point in space 22,300 above earth, and send signals uninterrupted by trees, hills and other structures. OTA TV signals are broadcast across the horizon from towers that are usually less than 1500' tall. In order for an OTA antenna to work properly, it needs to be up at the highest point that you can manage, free of as many obstructions as you can manage to avoid. Mounting an antenna below the roof-line of a house is a sure recipe for lousy reception.

To do this the RIGHT way, get yourself an antenna like an AntennasDirect XG-91, mount it on a chimney or eave mount, as high above the roof as you can safely manage, and use a rotator to turn the antenna in the direction of the signals that you are looking for. Since you have no VHF stations in your area, you don't need an antenna with VHF capability. I recommend the Channel Master 9521a rotator, which is automatic, and easy to use. If yo need to TIVO programs, you can always set the antenna for Charlotte, and be able to get all your networks.

As for the cabling: use one coaxial cable down from the antenna, then make your split using a splitter or an amplified splitter inside the cabinet: always run the shortest amount of cable possible to minimize signal losses. If you want to try an amplifier splitter, use a Channel Master CM3412, which has low inherent noise.

http://www.channelmaster/com
http://www.antennasdirect.com
http://www.solidsignal.com
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/AntInstallGuide.pdf

[mattlenderman]

i just bought me today a Terk tv5 just to see what I'd get. Kinda gaulky, but I hooked it up on an older TV i have, that has a converter box. After just scanning for stations, i was able to get 15 stations! Not bad considering its indoors, however, when i run the signal strength I'm sitting at about 77-78%...out of the 15 stations, only 1-2 say they have signal problems but the rest seem perfect.

Now, I didn't realize putting on the pole in place of the old dish would be an issue but since it is, I'll go on the roof (or buy a tall pole) to mount an antenna on. On the opposite side of my house from our satellite dish, I have "4" coaxial cables coming out the side of my house from where I wired my house for cable when i built it in 2007..I have 3 cables going into bedrooms and 1 in my built in cabinets. I have a 1 story home, so the cable runs aren't too too long..Would you say I could mount the antenna on that side of the house, run a coaxial cable from the antenna down to those 4 cables, and just use a splitter so that I can have TV in all 4 rooms of the house? Will that work?? Would I need an amp, or a ground??

Thanks for the advice on the type of antenna. However we do plan to run tivo,and I would prefer not to worry with having a rotor as when we're away and shows are recording, how would it turn to the right station?? I don't' think that will work, but I'm not sure...Last question, how do I know which direction to point it in? Do i need to buy any special type of compasses? I know when direct TV came out they had some special compass they had to use to decipher where the dish needed to go (and i know they're totally different), but just wanta make sure.

I'd like to make this all complete by end of March, so I'm glad i'm doing all this research now. Thanks again for the help

[mattlenderman]

Also 1 other question. When regarding the Antennas Direct 91XG, it states the following: Wideband coverage of UHF channels 14-69 > High gain across entire UHF band (UHF channels 14-69)....

So does that mean if i get this antenna, I will not get my channel 2-12? Sorry after reading this, it just confused me...I know i have 1 station in VHF (FOX) which I'd like to get if possible. I was doing some more research, and the "Channel Master 4228HD" seems to look like it'd be a good antenna. Picks up 60miles of UHF, and 45mile range of VHF...

I'd rather not mount on my roof but do a tall pole, so I found a job this guy did and are hoping to accomplish something like this:

http://www.sjmillerconsultants.com/over ... -free.aspx


Your thoughts?

[tigerbangs]

All of your local TV stations are on UHF: there are NO VHF station currently broadcasting in your area at all. The XG-91 was intended to take care of your worst-case scenario, which would be picking up the Charlotte stations which are 60 miles away. Look at your TVFool.com scan under REAL channels: not Virtual channels, and you'll see that all the stations in your area operate above channel 13., so no VHF antenna is needed.

[mattlenderman]

thanks. I'm finally starting to get it...Ok so i understand now about the UHF/VHF...This weekend I happen to see the RCA ANT751 inside walmart, so i bought it and mounted in the attic (just to see) how it would do..took me no longer than 1hr to get it all hooked up, and of course its no better than the TREK low profile indoor one i have, so it's going back....Looks like now i'm going to order that 91XG like i should've done to begin with!

Thanks all, i'll let you know the outcome when I'm through

[tigerbangs]

If you order the XG-91, remember that you need a rotator to take advantage of all the stations that it will give you! You can certainly aim it in one position, but remember that it is very directional, and really only picks up from one direction, so a rotator will allow you to get a LOT more stations.

[mattlenderman]

FINAL UPDATE*****


OK so earlier this week I ordered the "AntennasDirect XG-91" and the "Channel Master CM3412"...Here is a summary on what i've done so far, and where I'm at now...

- Started out with a Terk indoor antenna...Only had 12 stations, several came in between 40-70% with only NBC at 85%.

- Got rid of the Terk, and purchased (just to see) an RCA ANT751 with just a basic amp from Best buy. Took it up in my attic vs. doing the pole mount just to see what I'd get...After hooking up the ant751 with no amp, my channels only went from 12 to 14...my signal actually dropped and most stations were now in the 40-50% range vs. before many were at 70% plus. I then hooked up the amp, and my stations jumped from 14 to 19, and signal strength did go up some but maybe by 10-15% on some.

- After not being 100% happy with this, I took Tigerbangs advice and purchased the xg-91 and cm3412...did not purchase the rotar, since i will be using a hd tivo box and really didn't feel like worrying with the setup. One thing I will say about the XG-91 was its huge! WAY bigger than my rca one, and to be honest it took me about 30min to put it together. I still don't have the support bar on right...just can't seem to get it to line up right on the main pole, but maybe its just slightly bent??? Anyways, I installed it in the attic and it was all up and running in about 1 hr.

I go downstairs and run a channel scan, i got 24 stations but a couple weren't picking up like they should. So i had my tv on the signal strength menu and as i went upstairs and began to turn the antenna, my wife on the phone would tell me when the signal would go up. I was able to successfully position it to where after doing yet another scan, I now have a total of 29 channels and ALL are between 87-97%. Only 1 station is at 81% but everything else is mainly all at or above 90%+...Even at 81% I have no issues.

After experimenting quite a bit, I've came to a conclusion that this is definitely the right Antenna for me so thank you tigerbangs for the advice. I may have gained a station or 2 if i would've did the pole mount outside, however, considering most of the 29 stations I'm getting are locals anyway just out of Charlotte vs. the triad area, I don't really see the point of all that work just for that. I'm way happy with my results now, and are planning to disconnect my $95/month direct TV service either today or tomorrow. OH what a good feeling that will be!!!

Thanks again

[tigerbangs]

You are experiencing the effects of multipath interference, most likely the result of installing your antenna in the attic. The solution is to mount the XG-91 outdoors and use a rotator.

[mattlenderman]

thanks. I am now considering doing that, but even if it's outside with that preamp, is it still going to have interference? Someone told me I should look into "In-Line Attenuators"....Will I need one of those also?