HDTV Indoor Antennas

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Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Thanks for the info so far guys. I haven't been "tuned in" to the airwaves for many years, so was wondering if anything has really changed. From what I understand, all the TV stations are now broadcast over the airwaves in digital signals? So does that mean a regular antenna (ie, just a set of "$20 RCA rabbit ears") will still work - it's just a matter of the TV digital tuner is required now to read the digital signals coming in on the antenna?


Yes, if you could get reception before with "rabbit ears", they'll also pick up the new digital stations -- you just need the appropriate tuner.
 
In my area, the digital signals are broadcast on different frequencies from the old analog channels. I can pick them all up on my old-school attic mounted antenna, but just because you could pick the channels up before does not mean you can now, especially with rabbit ears.

For example, analog channel 8 (The DFW ABC affiliate) used to be the strongest signal and give the clearest picture using rabbit ears. Digital channel 8 (8.1 or 8-1, actually) has the weakest signal. And, if the signal is too weak you either get that annoying "pixellation" (might not be a real word), or you get nothing. I have an inline powered signal amplifier connected to my antenna cable. It seems to ensure that all the local OTA stuff is picked up on my TV.

I did some reading on antennas and having the antenna in the attic actually reduces signal strength by about 50% so I consider myself lucky. I pretty much only use OTA when I lose my Dish signal due to a storm, though. I can't see any difference between the compressed HD and OTA uncompressed HD, but my TV is only 32" and 720p.
 
I have a big Radio Shack antenna based on the recommendation of the store owner and I get over 25 channels.

One very important part of it seems to be the amplifier. Without it I only get a few stations. I am about 30 miles from most of the stations. The stations line up pretty close so only during poor atmospheric conditions ( sunspots, maybe?) I need to re-aim the antenna a little.
 
DBMaster makes a good point and I should have prefaced my "$20 rabbit ears" comment.

During the digital transition, pretty much all station frequencies were reassigned. Most of them that were operating on a VHF frequency before the transition were transferred to a higher UHF frequency. Like I said, Detroit still has a single broadcaster who remains on VHF.

Traditional rabbit ears utilize a dipole antenna. That's what makes them "rabbit ears". Dipole antenna are great at reeling in VHF frequencies. Many rabbit ears also have a UHF loop antenna incorporated into them as well. Those are the "$20 rabbit ears" I was referring to. Specifically, this RCA Antenna from Lowes. I own one. For $10 (even cheaper than I remembered!), it's a fantastic antenna.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I have an "indoor" one, but it's large and installed in my attic. I had little luck with the small set-top antennas.

This is what I have in my attic:

https://www.antennasdirect.com/store/DB4e-extended-long-range-outdoor-dtv-antenna.html

I think I paid 70 bucks for it on Amazon. I went upstairs and unplugged my living room cable TV jack from the cable feed to the house and simply plugged it into the antenna. We get about 15 different OTA channels with it. The CBS/ABC/NBC OTA HD signals produce a better picture than Time Warner Cable ever did on our TV.

Amazon currently has this 4-bay antenna DB4e for $59, and the weird thing is they price the 2-bay antenna DB2e at $62.

$59 for an antenna may seem high but you pay for it once and depend on your location you may be able to get many TV stations.
 
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
DBMaster makes a good point and I should have prefaced my "$20 rabbit ears" comment.

During the digital transition, pretty much all station frequencies were reassigned. Most of them that were operating on a VHF frequency before the transition were transferred to a higher UHF frequency. Like I said, Detroit still has a single broadcaster who remains on VHF.


I did neglect to mention that most digital broadcasts migrated to UHF. My old Radio Shack (Realistic brand) antenna in the attic has a portion that is a dedicates UHF antenna. I am somewhere near 40 miles from the broadcast towers in Cedar Hill. I am lucky to be able to pull in the digital broadcasts without having to mount something ugly on the roof.

I just haven't gotten up the gumption to cut the cord, or dish, in my case. I could use OTA broadcasts combined with a Google TV adapter for my main TV. Though, Dish's DVR is super easy to use. I have a fairly low tier service that costs me $60/month.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I have an "indoor" one, but it's large and installed in my attic. I had little luck with the small set-top antennas.

This is what I have in my attic:

https://www.antennasdirect.com/store/DB4e-extended-long-range-outdoor-dtv-antenna.html

I think I paid 70 bucks for it on Amazon. I went upstairs and unplugged my living room cable TV jack from the cable feed to the house and simply plugged it into the antenna. We get about 15 different OTA channels with it. The CBS/ABC/NBC OTA HD signals produce a better picture than Time Warner Cable ever did on our TV.

Amazon currently has this 4-bay antenna DB4e for $59, and the weird thing is they price the 2-bay antenna DB2e at $62.

$59 for an antenna may seem high but you pay for it once and depend on your location you may be able to get many TV stations.


I could easily put that DB4e in the open "attic" space of my garage and connect it in to where the Comcast cable comes in to the house similar to like Hokiefyd did. This looks like a good option, and the price of this antenna is about the same as an amplified indoor antenna that might not work as well as this large bow-tie design.
 
I made a fractal antenna with a pattern, some aluminum foil, a laminating pouch, and a balun. It looks a bit cheesy. It also lets us get the local OTA broadcasters just fine, and better than cable ever looked.
 
I just did the switch recently too. I was procrastinating for 8 years because I didn't want to deal with antenna install, but now that I looked back it wasted me about enough to buy a TV.

50 miles will likely need a directional one to be good, and if you have multiple transmitters you want to pick up signal from, you'll likely need more than 1 antenna with such a long range.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
50 miles will likely need a directional one to be good, and if you have multiple transmitters you want to pick up signal from, you'll likely need more than 1 antenna with such a long range.


I have a single ClearStream2 (not exactly directional with a 70° pattern) mounted on the roof, and I'm 32-40 miles away from the transmitters over undulating terrain. They're at a 27° to 44° heading, and I have no issues picking them up.

Originally Posted By: daman
This one seems good built in rotor but 150 miles?? hard to believe.


The actual issue is that signals are blocked by the curvature of the earth at those distances -- with extraordinary elevation on the antenna, it's doable.
 
Try, try, try, to put an antenna outside. I'd stick a UHF directional one up close to your roof peak. It'll still catch some signals that are off-axis. You could always, then, get an A/B antenna switch and put your rabbit ears/ wall antenna on "B".

All the amplification in the world won't matter if there aren't bits of metal up in the air catching a signal in the first place. Height and antenna size are your friends. (I catch channel 8 VHF with a UHF only antenna BTW.) The killer app would be an amp up by the antenna to compensate for long cable runs. Anything else would just be amplifying noise.

Go for it, I never got cable. Passing fad. Now getting great 80's and 90s movies on VHS from Goodwill for 99 cents. (Video store bankruptcy donations?) Watch once and chuck, or put it in the library. Cheaper than an amazon streaming rental or Redbox.
 
Last July, I cut comcast cable tv. I got antennadirect 100 dollar antenna from walmart to get the best, in hindsight, I should have bought the same product from amazon used. lots of folks sell these top of the line antennas used because a)they can't deal with no cable tv like they thought they could or b)they couldn't figure out how to set up the antenna right. I wouldn't mess with rabbit ears. we have four flat screen tvs, instead of four indoor antennas. I bought one clearstream 2V antenna in the attic with a channelmaster amplifier. I tapped into the entire cable coax in my house. so every cable outlet inside my whole house can get OTA tv without a digital box/separate antenna.
 
It's good idea of using exiting coax cable on the attic from the previous cable company to hook up to the antenna. This way you only need 1 antenna on the attic for all TV's in the house.

I like to save money as much as possible, but in this case buying top of the line antenna and install/calibrate it on attic once and don't have to pay for cable forever is money well spent, because even if you paid $100-200 for a good antenna you can recoup that amount in less than 5-6 months, after that the antenna is free.
 
I thought about cutting the cord also but i figured for me i would be spending probably $300 on an antenna, pole, coax maybe amp and then not knowing for sure how many channels i would be getting,do all that and find out i only get 10-20 channels? i don't know hard to pull the trigger on that risk.
 
Originally Posted By: daman
I thought about cutting the cord also but i figured for me i would be spending probably $300 on an antenna, pole, coax maybe amp and then not knowing for sure how many channels i would be getting,do all that and find out i only get 10-20 channels? i don't know hard to pull the trigger on that risk.


With something as simple as the ClearStream2 (mounted outside), you should pick up: 5.1, 5.2, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 25.1, 25.2, 25.3, 46.1, 46.2

That's for $100.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: daman
I thought about cutting the cord also but i figured for me i would be spending probably $300 on an antenna, pole, coax maybe amp and then not knowing for sure how many channels i would be getting,do all that and find out i only get 10-20 channels? i don't know hard to pull the trigger on that risk.


With something as simple as the ClearStream2 (mounted outside), you should pick up: 5.1, 5.2, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 25.1, 25.2, 25.3, 46.1, 46.2

That's for $100.

From what I'm seeing going by my location id need an antenna capable of at least 70 miles. Should get me a selection that would be sufficient but would it actually pull them in.

i was looking at the DB8e
 
Originally Posted By: daman
From what I'm seeing going by my location id need an antenna capable of at least 70 miles.


In Bad Axe, MI? I'm showing the farthest at 54 miles among what I listed.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: daman
From what I'm seeing going by my location id need an antenna capable of at least 70 miles.


In Bad Axe, MI? I'm showing the farthest at 54 miles.


Using this locater and my zip,48413 id need 60-70 miles to get a ok selection in my area,IDK..

theres an advanced tab you can input miles and at 70 id get most towers.

http://www.antennapoint.com/
 
Oh, sorry for the confusion -- I thought you were just talking about the channels I listed earlier.

Have you looked at the 91XG?

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=91XG&d=Antennas-Direct-91XG-UHF-TV-Antenna-(91XG)&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=853748001910
 
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