Detroit Broadcasting Antenna Locations

How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located so I
can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best reception? I live
in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!

http://www.antennaweb.org/


"HockeyTownUSA" wrote in message
...
How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located so
I can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best reception? I
live in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!

Also, in case antennaweb.org does not provide a full list of your
local digital stations, click on the multiple story building option or
click on the options link and enter an antenna height of 100' or 200'.
Antennaweb is over conservative on digital reception.

If you post your zip code, we can provide some advice on what antennas
to look at. A quick check shows that all the stations in Detroit are
currently digitally broadcasting on UHF, so you will need to focus on a
getting a good UHF antenna. WJBK-DT Fox 2 is currently broadcasting on
UHF 58, but is scheduled to switch to upper VHF 7 in 2009 after the
analog shutdown. So you will also need an antenna which can receive
upper VHF channels 7 to 13 if you want it to work 2 years from now.
Fortunately many UHF antennas also have decent performance for the upper
VHF channels.

Alan F

stewart wrote:
http://www.antennaweb.org/


"HockeyTownUSA" wrote in message
...
How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located so
I can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best reception? I
live in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!

"Alan F" wrote in message
news:P%[email protected]
Also, in case antennaweb.org does not provide a full list of your
local digital stations, click on the multiple story building option or
click on the options link and enter an antenna height of 100' or 200'.
Antennaweb is over conservative on digital reception.

If you post your zip code, we can provide some advice on what antennas
to look at. A quick check shows that all the stations in Detroit are
currently digitally broadcasting on UHF, so you will need to focus on a
getting a good UHF antenna. WJBK-DT Fox 2 is currently broadcasting on
UHF 58, but is scheduled to switch to upper VHF 7 in 2009 after the
analog shutdown. So you will also need an antenna which can receive
upper VHF channels 7 to 13 if you want it to work 2 years from now.
Fortunately many UHF antennas also have decent performance for the upper
VHF channels.

Alan F

stewart wrote:
http://www.antennaweb.org/


"HockeyTownUSA" wrote in message
...
How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located
so I can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best
reception? I live in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!






Thanks, good to know. I found the location of all the towers and they are
about 20 miles due west of me. I am considering this one:

http://antennasdirect.com/DB4_HDTV_antenna.html

I will probably have to mount it in my attic as my wife doesn't want this
"eye-sore" on the side our house. I am thinking, however, that my chimney is
on the west side of my house and should be able to conceal it fairly well if
mounted directly to the chimney (no rod extension required). The next
problem will be convincing my wife I need to drill into our brick house to
run the cable.

HockeyTownUSA wrote:
"Alan F" wrote in message
news:P%[email protected]
Also, in case antennaweb.org does not provide a full list of your
local digital stations, click on the multiple story building option or
click on the options link and enter an antenna height of 100' or 200'.
Antennaweb is over conservative on digital reception.

If you post your zip code, we can provide some advice on what antennas
to look at. A quick check shows that all the stations in Detroit are
currently digitally broadcasting on UHF, so you will need to focus on a
getting a good UHF antenna. WJBK-DT Fox 2 is currently broadcasting on
UHF 58, but is scheduled to switch to upper VHF 7 in 2009 after the
analog shutdown. So you will also need an antenna which can receive
upper VHF channels 7 to 13 if you want it to work 2 years from now.
Fortunately many UHF antennas also have decent performance for the upper
VHF channels.

Alan F

stewart wrote:
http://www.antennaweb.org/


"HockeyTownUSA" wrote in message
...
How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located
so I can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best
reception? I live in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!




Thanks, good to know. I found the location of all the towers and they are
about 20 miles due west of me. I am considering this one:

http://antennasdirect.com/DB4_HDTV_antenna.html

I will probably have to mount it in my attic as my wife doesn't want this
"eye-sore" on the side our house. I am thinking, however, that my chimney is
on the west side of my house and should be able to conceal it fairly well if
mounted directly to the chimney (no rod extension required). The next
problem will be convincing my wife I need to drill into our brick house to
run the cable.

The Channel Master 4221 4 Bay bowtie generally outperforms the DB-4
and is less expensive. The DB-4 offers a small performance improvement
for the low end of the UHF channels and is lighter, so it has some
benefits in some situations, but for most situations, the CM 4221 is
regarded as the better antenna between the two 4 bay UHF bowties. See
the charts and discussions under comparing commercial antennas link at
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html. However, neither
antenna will offer a lot of gain for VHF, so you may want to consider
leaving room on your setup for a small upper VHF antenna such as the
Winegard YA-6713 (http://www.winegard.com/offair/vhf.htm) in 2009 in
case you need it.

However, I have a CM 4221 4 Bay in my attic and I get decent picture
quality for two analog channels 7 & 9 which are 16 miles away, so the
bowties may be good enough to get the Fox station in 2009. The CM 4221
gets a noisy picture for two analog stations on VHF 11 & 13 which are 43
miles away, so it does has it limits for upper VHF stations.

My suggestion that before you try to mount whichever antenna you get
to the chimney that you set it inside or leaning against something
upstairs (running the cable downstairs through the stairwell) to see
what stations you can get. You may find that you can get your stations
from inside the attic which is usually an easier place to mount and get
access to the antenna. But this depends entirely on the layout and
construction of your house, so you have to figure out where is the best
place for the antenna. But even you are going put it up outside, it is
always useful to just prop the antenna up even indoors or on the back
deck aimed at the stations to see what stations you get and how much
tolerance you have on the aim.

BTW, some people have used satellite dish mounts to attach the flat 2
bay or 4 bay bowties to the side of the house for lower profile setups.
You may want to look at that option.

Good luck!
Alan F

"Alan F" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
HockeyTownUSA wrote:
"Alan F" wrote in message
news:P%[email protected]
Also, in case antennaweb.org does not provide a full list of your
local digital stations, click on the multiple story building option or
click on the options link and enter an antenna height of 100' or 200'.
Antennaweb is over conservative on digital reception.

If you post your zip code, we can provide some advice on what antennas
to look at. A quick check shows that all the stations in Detroit are
currently digitally broadcasting on UHF, so you will need to focus on a
getting a good UHF antenna. WJBK-DT Fox 2 is currently broadcasting on
UHF 58, but is scheduled to switch to upper VHF 7 in 2009 after the
analog shutdown. So you will also need an antenna which can receive
upper VHF channels 7 to 13 if you want it to work 2 years from now.
Fortunately many UHF antennas also have decent performance for the upper
VHF channels.

Alan F

stewart wrote:
http://www.antennaweb.org/


"HockeyTownUSA" wrote in message
...
How can I find out where the station broadcasting antennas are located
so I can strategically place an antenna in my house to get best
reception? I live in Detroit suburbs. Thanks!




Thanks, good to know. I found the location of all the towers and they are
about 20 miles due west of me. I am considering this one:

http://antennasdirect.com/DB4_HDTV_antenna.html

I will probably have to mount it in my attic as my wife doesn't want this
"eye-sore" on the side our house. I am thinking, however, that my chimney
is on the west side of my house and should be able to conceal it fairly
well if mounted directly to the chimney (no rod extension required). The
next problem will be convincing my wife I need to drill into our brick
house to run the cable.

The Channel Master 4221 4 Bay bowtie generally outperforms the DB-4
and is less expensive. The DB-4 offers a small performance improvement
for the low end of the UHF channels and is lighter, so it has some
benefits in some situations, but for most situations, the CM 4221 is
regarded as the better antenna between the two 4 bay UHF bowties. See
the charts and discussions under comparing commercial antennas link at
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html. However, neither
antenna will offer a lot of gain for VHF, so you may want to consider
leaving room on your setup for a small upper VHF antenna such as the
Winegard YA-6713 (http://www.winegard.com/offair/vhf.htm) in 2009 in
case you need it.

However, I have a CM 4221 4 Bay in my attic and I get decent picture
quality for two analog channels 7 & 9 which are 16 miles away, so the
bowties may be good enough to get the Fox station in 2009. The CM 4221
gets a noisy picture for two analog stations on VHF 11 & 13 which are 43
miles away, so it does has it limits for upper VHF stations.

My suggestion that before you try to mount whichever antenna you get
to the chimney that you set it inside or leaning against something
upstairs (running the cable downstairs through the stairwell) to see
what stations you can get. You may find that you can get your stations
from inside the attic which is usually an easier place to mount and get
access to the antenna. But this depends entirely on the layout and
construction of your house, so you have to figure out where is the best
place for the antenna. But even you are going put it up outside, it is
always useful to just prop the antenna up even indoors or on the back
deck aimed at the stations to see what stations you get and how much
tolerance you have on the aim.

BTW, some people have used satellite dish mounts to attach the flat 2
bay or 4 bay bowties to the side of the house for lower profile setups.
You may want to look at that option.

Good luck!
Alan F





Thanks for all the info. Something to consider as I am trying to save a few
bucks here and there, and this will definitely help!