Questions/Advice on my HD TV project

[rljacobson]

I have some questions and would like some input on a project I am working on for my parents. I built them a home theater PC (using mythtv). I'd like to add OTA HD capability to their setup, so I've acquired a pcHDTV HD-5500 tuner card for this purpose. I need an antenna solution for this device. The HD-5500 will be the only device connected to the antenna.

Using my gps coordinates (32.44124 lat., 97.36186 long., which has zip code 76058) and antennaweb.org, I see that for the channels I care about,
1.) I am in the red zone,
2.) I am between 24 and 26 miles away,
3.) all conveniently have a compass heading between 60 and 70 degrees.
4.) after Feb 19, 2009, all will be either UHF or VHF high band channels.

That's the background. Here are the questions.

1.) For many reasons, I don't want to mount an antenna directly on the roof. The attic is very spacious. Is it reasonable to expect to get away with installing an antenna in the attic? Will I need to acquire a more capable antenna? How much more capable?

2.) There seems to be a large cost differential (100%) between, say, red zone antenna with "30-45 mile range" and red zone antenna with "45-60 mile range". What can I get away with?

2.5.) What is the difference between color of zone and "range"?

3.) From my online investigation it looks like shipping cost is a significant portion of the total cost when ordered online. What kind of brick-and-mortar shops sell these antenna? This is a stupid question, but it seems evident that I can't expect to walk into, say, Best Buy and pick one up. I'm trying to keep my costs to a minimum.

[hdtvlabs]

1.) Is it reasonable to expect to get away with installing an antenna in the attic? Will I need to acquire a more capable antenna? How much more capable?

Reasonable, unless there is a metal in the roof. There is no precise answer to "how much more capable" antenna you need - it depends on the roofing material and the surroundings. With attic vs roof installation there are two factors: 1) roof penetration losses, and 2) lower installation height. If you have no issues with no. 2 (i.e you still have line of sight) and there is no metal in the roof, then you need ~3dB more gain to compensate for roof penetration losses. This is a pure speculaiton though ...

2.) There seems to be a large cost differential (100%) between, say, red zone antenna with "30-45 mile range" and red zone antenna with "45-60 mile range". What can I get away with?

You can be fine on UHF with CM2016. Not sure this antenna will be sufficient for VHF red zone. For reliable VHF reception, check YA-1713

2.5.) What is the difference between color of zone and "range"?

Zones are supposed to take the terrain into consideration, not only the distance

What kind of brick-and-mortar shops sell these antenna?

Fry's, Ace