what's a good HDTV antenna?
 

OK, I got this Fusion II HDTV card FedEx today. I installed it without
much trouble, turned on the remote and got a decent picture of ABC, CBS, and
NBC, but the other stations are either bad (choppy, like a stuttering DVD)
or don't show up at all. Since PBS is one of my favorite channels, that's a
downer that I couldn't get any of them. Signal strength is 60-75 percent,
and the manual for the card recommends at least 80. Some of the channels I
cant' see have signals strengths of 8-33 percent.

I'm using an indoor antenna I bought from Radio Shack. It's a 50 dollar
job, has a dish shape with a bowtie, and also an amplifier. The amplifier
tends to kill the reception, so I don't use it. I think the antenna isn't
much good, though, if I'm only getting a few channels. It's actually
better for picking up NTSC than some of the other antennas in the house.

Out of curiosity I took a really cheap UHF/VHF loop and rabbit ears off an
old TV set and tried it out, and it seemed to work a little better, more of
the channels were smoother and I got one or two I wasn't getting before.
Obviously paying more money for an antenna has little to do with the
reception.

So any advice on what would be a good indoor antenna in the Central Florida
area would be welcome. Most of the stations are in the same general
direction. There are alot of multi-story houses and apartments around, but
not many big buildings and the terrain is pancake flat.

The picture is nice too on my computers 17 inch 5:4 LCD, although the HD
shows are only a little better looking than the regular shows, but both are
much better looking than the regular over-the-air NTSC. It looked like I
was watching a good-quality DVD- there was some grain or noise in a few of
the shows, though. I showed it to my mom and she was really impressed.

oh yeah, I forgot to ask... I asked the Radio Shack clerk for an
"extension" for the antenna and he gave me a coax cable with an adapter. I
plugged it into the antenna. I notice when I layed it on the floor the
signal would cut out sometimes- in fact it only works best laying on my
desk. And sometimes if you "wiggle" the chord a bit, you get stutters in
the video. Bad cable?

"Joe" wrote in message
...
There is no such thing as a HDTV antenna. If someone tried to sell you
one,
they are liars. HDTV and digital TV stations operate on the UHF TV
frequencies.

In my area NBC in digital comes in on 11... that's VHF.

I returned the Radio Shack antenna, went to Sears to look around at the
TV's and antennas. I asked a clerk what he thought was a good antenna for
HDTV reception, and he recommended a Zenith Silver Sensor, so that's what I
bought, and it appears to work for all the channels within about 20-25 miles
(basicly all of them I could get before on analog), although I have to turn
the antenna alot for some of the channels (like UPN). It advertises itself
as a UHF antenna, but I was able to pick up the digital broadcast of NBC on
channel 11- a VHF channel.

It's been a while since I went to a Sears- they really have a nice
selection (I saw a Samsung HDTV for 699, very nice, may have to buy), unlike
Best Buy which just seems to be peddling high-end, gold plated cables
overpriced and all. I was able to buy a long coax cable too, for about half
the price. That's one thing I dislike about Radio Shack, too- all their
cables are gold plated high end now days, if you just want to set up a
simple wiring (like when I hooked up my PS2 or speaker setup) you have to
pay out the @ss for the privilege.

Does anyone have experience with one of those $20.00 plug-in-the-wall
type that turns the house wiring into one big antenna? They sell 'em
at www.heartland.com, if you want to try it out -- and if you do, let
me know.

Matt

People who have tried them have reported uniformly poor results.

Pat

I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

Jeff

"Jeff B" wrote in message
news:[email protected]_s02...
I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

The Silver Sensor seems to work well, it gets a good strong signal, my
only problem with it is they should have incorporated the coax hookup into a
rotating base (because you really have to rotate it around to get the best
signals, and coax chords tend to hold alot of tension), other than that its
fine.

Hopefully, newer tuners will be more forgiving and simpler, less
directional antennas can be used.

If you can, put up an outdoor antenna. Indoor antennas are a waist of time
in most places.
The ChannelMaster 4228 is a UHF outdoor antenna.
"Jeff B" wrote in message
news:[email protected]_s02...
I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

Jeff

I have tried a Jensen flat aplified antenna ($40) which sits on a
table top. It came highly recommended from a Best Buy employee. It
was total crap. I had to hold it sideways to even get any reception
and I was only getting 30-40%. It went back the next day. I then
tried Radio Shacks aplified antenna that rotates to programed
positions ($40). It sucked as well. I have heard from numerous people
that Radio Shacks double bowtie antenna ($15 available via special
order see their website for detail) works best so I put in an order
but it has yet to arrive. In the mean time I picked up a $3 bowtie
antenna from Radio Shack and OMG, I get near perfect reception on most
channels, and 50% on the rest. I hope the antenna on order is even
better but if its not, oh well, this $3 antenna performs good enough
for me. If anyone is looking for an antenna I highly recommend
getting this $3 antenna. At $3, you can just throw it away if it does
not work rather than having to drive somewhere to return it.

The bowtie antenna sounds like it would work, from what I've read...

I made an antenna out of a 4 inch loop of wire and it picked up alot of
stations.

I've tried one for normal TV (not even HDTV signals since I'm not
equipped for it yet) and it was an absolute gimmicky piece of crap!

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 20:48:47 GMT, "Greywolf"
wrote:

Does anyone have experience with one of those $20.00 plug-in-the-wall
type that turns the house wiring into one big antenna? They sell 'em
at www.heartland.com, if you want to try it out -- and if you do, let
me know.

Matt

People who have tried them have reported uniformly poor results.

Pat

Any good full-coverage TV antenna will be a good HDTV antenna. The better it is for regular TV,
the better it will be for HDTV. The more it costs, and the bigger it is, the better it will
work. I hear Channel Master is better than Winegard, but I don't have personal experience to
back that up. If you place the antenna on a rotator, it can then be rotated for best reception.

I have a 20 element log-periodic antenna I built from the ideas and equations presented in "The
ARRL Antenna Book", which is available in Ham Radio stores. It's up 20 ft. on a rotator, has
fair gain, good front-to-back ratio, and broad frequency response. I don't know how it compares
to what you can buy, but it is fairly compact and has low wind resistance. If you look at
professional wide-band antennas, they are mostly this log-periodic type, but very expensive.
One exception is a small 7-element log periodic antenna for HDTV sold under the name "Silver
Sensor", but it's only designed for indoor use and is therefore limited by its lack of height
and it suffers from signal-strength losses through the house structure. It might work well
enough in the attic on a rotator, but still not as well as a weather-proof design on a mast and
rotator, well above the roof.

Chuck

"Mr. Zoom" wrote in message ...
I've tried one for normal TV (not even HDTV signals since I'm not
equipped for it yet) and it was an absolute gimmicky piece of crap!

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 20:48:47 GMT, "Greywolf"
wrote:

Does anyone have experience with one of those $20.00 plug-in-the-wall
type that turns the house wiring into one big antenna? They sell 'em
at www.heartland.com, if you want to try it out -- and if you do, let
me know.

Matt

People who have tried them have reported uniformly poor results.

Pat

The Silver Sensor is the only indoor antenna I've tried that's worked well
enough to use. All the cool looking ones or conventional looking ones,
didn't work- though I've heard good things about the Radio Shack Double
Bowtie. Basicly, all these antennas that work with DTV are directional and
designed to reject ghost signals.

Getting a good signal will take a little effort. DTV off-air is nowhere
near the "plug and play" it needs to be to be accepted by the public at
large. Still, if you are the hobbyist type, it can be done.

Radio shack carries a double bowtie antenna that works darn good.
This one and the silver sensor have gotten similar results according
to discussions I have read elsewhere. RS doesnt carry it in their
stores but will gladly special order it for you. Its cheeper than the
silver sensor so I tried it first and it works great for me. The only
downfall is that its not that good at picking up VHF, but I guess
thats what rabbit ears are for.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?S39921FD6



"magnulus" wrote in message . ..
The Silver Sensor is the only indoor antenna I've tried that's worked well
enough to use. All the cool looking ones or conventional looking ones,
didn't work- though I've heard good things about the Radio Shack Double
Bowtie. Basicly, all these antennas that work with DTV are directional and
designed to reject ghost signals.

Getting a good signal will take a little effort. DTV off-air is nowhere
near the "plug and play" it needs to be to be accepted by the public at
large. Still, if you are the hobbyist type, it can be done.

"Mini Moebius" wrote in message
om...
Radio shack carries a double bowtie antenna that works darn good.
This one and the silver sensor have gotten similar results according
to discussions I have read elsewhere. RS doesnt carry it in their
stores but will gladly special order it for you. Its cheeper than the
silver sensor so I tried it first and it works great for me. The only
downfall is that its not that good at picking up VHF, but I guess
thats what rabbit ears are for.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?S39921FD6


I may have to get one and try out and test against the Silver Sensor.

I saw a RS Double Bowtie months ago in a Radio Shack, but they've stopped
carrying them recently.

I bought an in-line antenna amplifier at Radio shack for my 20 yr. old attic
antenna an it made all the difference in the world. For $25, a great
investment.

"Mini Moebius" wrote in message
om...
Radio shack carries a double bowtie antenna that works darn good.
This one and the silver sensor have gotten similar results according
to discussions I have read elsewhere. RS doesnt carry it in their
stores but will gladly special order it for you. Its cheeper than the
silver sensor so I tried it first and it works great for me. The only
downfall is that its not that good at picking up VHF, but I guess
thats what rabbit ears are for.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?S39921FD6



"magnulus" wrote in message
. ..
The Silver Sensor is the only indoor antenna I've tried that's worked
well
enough to use. All the cool looking ones or conventional looking ones,
didn't work- though I've heard good things about the Radio Shack Double
Bowtie. Basicly, all these antennas that work with DTV are directional
and
designed to reject ghost signals.

Getting a good signal will take a little effort. DTV off-air is
nowhere
near the "plug and play" it needs to be to be accepted by the public at
large. Still, if you are the hobbyist type, it can be done.