Indoor Antenna Recommendation Requested

Hi,

I live in a major metropolitan area less than 10 miles from the antennas
of most of our local TV stations. However, I live in a depression, my
neighborhood is surrounded by low hills, and it makes for difficult TV
reception. And my reception is very dependent on the weather. I use a
Terk TV5 indoor antenna and RCA antenna amplifier and I get passable
reception, with fuzz on some stations frequently. I just purchased a
Zenith TT900 and my first look at digital TV was disappointing. I find
that most stations come in well occasionally but also as dancing squares
occasionally and my local PBS station and a local UHF station don't come
in at all. The Terk TV5 is old and intended for analog TV. Are
antennas made for digital TV different from antennas made for analog TV?
Would I improve my reception if I purchased an HDTV antenna? If so,
which indoor antennas are best? I will most likely need an amplified
antenna; which ones would you recommend?

Thanks much!

CD

Cranky Dude wrote:
Hi,

I live in a major metropolitan area less than 10 miles from the antennas
of most of our local TV stations. However, I live in a depression, my
neighborhood is surrounded by low hills, and it makes for difficult TV
reception. And my reception is very dependent on the weather. I use a
Terk TV5 indoor antenna and RCA antenna amplifier and I get passable
reception, with fuzz on some stations frequently. I just purchased a
Zenith TT900 and my first look at digital TV was disappointing. I find
that most stations come in well occasionally but also as dancing squares
occasionally and my local PBS station and a local UHF station don't come
in at all. The Terk TV5 is old and intended for analog TV. Are
antennas made for digital TV different from antennas made for analog TV?
Would I improve my reception if I purchased an HDTV antenna? If so,
which indoor antennas are best? I will most likely need an amplified
antenna; which ones would you recommend?

Thanks much!

CD

What is your zip code? We need to look up the local digital stations
and see what channels they are on & will be on after the analog shutdown
next February. A number of DT stations will move from UHF to their
current upper VHF analog channel.

Makes no difference to the antenna if the signal is analog or digital.
There is no such thing as a "HDTV" antenna despite the labeling on the
overpriced small antennas with built-in amplifiers that the big box
stores carry. The one difference between analog and digital is that
there will be few full power TV stations on lower VHF 2 to 6 after next
February 17. Most markets will have UHF and upper VHF stations only.

The Terk TV-5 is not a particularly good antenna, but can work when
the signal is strong enough. But have you tried different locations for
the TV-5? Placed it higher up in the room to get some elevation on it?
Moved to a window facing in the directions of the broadcast towers?
Again, please post your zip code so I can look up the stations and get a
better feel for your terrain (dense woods, open plains, mountainous
country).

Alan F

"Cranky Dude" wrote in
message news:R1F0k.3526$%[email protected]
Hi,

I live in a major metropolitan area less than 10 miles from the antennas
of most of our local TV stations. However, I live in a depression, my
neighborhood is surrounded by low hills, and it makes for difficult TV
reception. And my reception is very dependent on the weather. I use a
Terk TV5 indoor antenna and RCA antenna amplifier and I get passable
reception, with fuzz on some stations frequently. I just purchased a
Zenith TT900 and my first look at digital TV was disappointing. I find
that most stations come in well occasionally but also as dancing squares
occasionally and my local PBS station and a local UHF station don't come
in at all. The Terk TV5 is old and intended for analog TV. Are
antennas made for digital TV different from antennas made for analog TV?
Would I improve my reception if I purchased an HDTV antenna? If so,
which indoor antennas are best? I will most likely need an amplified
antenna; which ones would you recommend?

From what I've tested so far, I'd recommend the RCA ANT-1251 indoor antenna
for OTA DTV reception. According to the box specifications, it provides up
to 55 dB amplification for both UHF and VHF. I'm using the ANT-1251 with a
DTT-900 converter, and in my area I receive four networks (15-1, 39-1, 51-1,
69-1) plus two additional subchannels (15-2, 39-2), all UHF channels.

Note that at this time, I'm still not finding that any single antenna
position will receive all channels at all times, so be aware that the
ANT-1251 still won't give 100% stable OTA DTV reception at all times. More
than likely, it will need to be moved from time to time when the channel is
changed, or when multipath situations require the antenna to be moved.

Furthermore, the position of the VHF dipoles also seems to have some sort of
affect on how well the UHF reception can be received when using the
ANT-1251. I don't understand why this is the case, but even with the same
antenna position for UHF reception, the position of the VHF dipoles does
change the UHF reception for the better or for the worse. Based on this, I'd
recommend finding a VHF dipole position that gives the best UHF reception,
and then don't move the VHF dipoles at all when moving or rotating the UHF
antenna built into the antenna base itself. (Also, if the VHF dipoles need
to be adjusted for VHF reception, then they will need to be moved back to
the ideal position when adjusting for UHF reception.)

When the time becomes necessary to adjust the antenna, use of the DTT900
signal indicator can help. Press the Signal button on the remote, move the
antenna until the beeping sound is heard at a faster speed and the indicator
is as close to the Good area as possible. Hope that the picture remains
stable for more than a few minutes after walking away from the antenna,
before audio drops out and picture artifacts occur--and that last issue
seems like it could be a converter tuner limitation, at least in my own
opinion, rather than an actual antenna limitation. (Also observe that the
signal indicator move towards Bad when the audio drops out and the picture
artifacts occur.)

Daniel W. Rouse Jr. wrote:
From what I've tested so far, I'd recommend the RCA ANT-1251 indoor antenna
for OTA DTV reception. According to the box specifications, it provides up
to 55 dB amplification for both UHF and VHF. I'm using the ANT-1251 with a
DTT-900 converter, and in my area I receive four networks (15-1, 39-1, 51-1,
69-1) plus two additional subchannels (15-2, 39-2), all UHF channels.

Note that at this time, I'm still not finding that any single antenna
position will receive all channels at all times, so be aware that the
ANT-1251 still won't give 100% stable OTA DTV reception at all times. More
than likely, it will need to be moved from time to time when the channel is
changed, or when multipath situations require the antenna to be moved.

Turns out the original poster who emailed me directly is only 3 miles
from the broadcast towers. At that close range, amplified antennas are a
waste of time and a bad idea. If you are not getting all the stations
and are not at long range ( 60 miles), get a better antenna. 55 dB of
amplification is a stupid amplification level and is likely a noisy amp
with poor performance. For the high quality maximum amount amps from
Channel Master and Winegard, 28 dB of amplification is considered a very
high amount and not recommended for use within 10 miles from any
broadcast tower. Just because Best Buy, Circuit City, and other chain
stores now all push these overpriced, higher profit margin small
antennas with cheap built-in amps does not make them a good product.

If you want advice on what antenna to get, post your zip code and a
description of your location: house or condo/apartment (for
indoor/outdoor antenna options), in a valley or on a hill, surrounded by
tall trees, etc.

Alan F

Thanks to everyone for their responses. The unifying theme of all the
answers is that fancy "HDTV" antennas are all hype and that any decent
metal antenna should work, including a bent hanger. In spite of that,
I'm also told that my Terk TV5 is not a particularly good antenna and is
rated poorly at www.hdtvprimer.com. This is both good news and bad
news. The good news is I don't have to go out and spend a lot of money
on a new antenna. The bad news is that even though I live only a few
miles from most of the major station broadcast antennas, because I live
in a depression, I seem to be stuck with poor reception. I guess I will
have to start hunting around my house for a location for my antenna.
The first thing I'm going to do is buy a basic $10 to $15 UHF loop and
VHF rabbit ear table top antenna and see if that is any improvement over
the Terk.

Just to complicate things, I'll add that I have a very old roof antenna
with no rotor. My reception with the Terk is way, way better than with
the roof antenna, both for analog and digital programming. I am not
interested at this moment in endangering my life by playing around with
the roof antenna, so I'm going to try to solve my problem with indoor
antenna placement.

Alan F says "The amp is probably overloading or overloading the front
end of your digital tuner." Can I do damage to the digital tuner by
using the amp?

CD

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:23:03 -0400, Cranky Dude
wrote:

Just to complicate things, I'll add that I have a very old roof antenna
with no rotor. My reception with the Terk is way, way better than with
the roof antenna, both for analog and digital programming. I am not
interested at this moment in endangering my life by playing around with
the roof antenna, so I'm going to try to solve my problem with indoor
antenna placement.

I have the Radio Shack "indoor/outdoor" antenna, using it indoors, but
I'm pretty sure the best thing you could do, is to start using an
outdoor antenna, getting a cleaner and stronger signal.

I live in a location where my direct path to the transmitter has a 30
story building in the way, so pretty much all I get is multipath.
Some days it seems I just have to fiddle the antenna orientation, or
put an aluminum pie plate up next to it. And when I walk around the
room, or even the adjacent room, it can affect reception, even though
I did mount it eight feet off the floor (twelve foot ceilings).

It works well enough, though I suspect some fiddling with reflectors
and position (and taking my own advice and moving it outdoors!) would
all help.

J.

In article ,
Cranky Dude wrote:
The bad news is that even though I live only a few
miles from most of the major station broadcast antennas, because I live
in a depression, I seem to be stuck with poor reception. I guess I will
have to start hunting around my house for a location for my antenna.
The first thing I'm going to do is buy a basic $10 to $15 UHF loop and
VHF rabbit ear table top antenna and see if that is any improvement over
the Terk.

Go for a indoor log periodic like the Zenith Silver Sensor, or
the Terk version, instead. (Half a fish skeleton on a pedestal).
I, like you, live on the wrong side of a hill and found that using
an old outdoor UHF log periodic, instead of a loop, let me bring
in (sometimes*) a lot of the stations over the hill. Another
advantage is it's not as sensitive to movement in the room.

*Not much you can do when a 900 foot container ship sails by.
The weak stations go away for 10 minutes or so. Heck of a
way to build a maritime surveillance radar.

Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

"Cranky Dude" wrote in message
t...
Thanks to everyone for their responses. The unifying theme of all the
answers is that fancy "HDTV" antennas are all hype and that any decent
metal antenna should work, including a bent hanger. In spite of that, I'm
also told that my Terk TV5 is not a particularly good antenna and is rated
poorly at www.hdtvprimer.com. This is both good news and bad news. The
good news is I don't have to go out and spend a lot of money on a new
antenna. The bad news is that even though I live only a few miles from
most of the major station broadcast antennas, because I live in a
depression, I seem to be stuck with poor reception. I guess I will have
to start hunting around my house for a location for my antenna. The first
thing I'm going to do is buy a basic $10 to $15 UHF loop and VHF rabbit
ear table top antenna and see if that is any improvement over the Terk.

Just to complicate things, I'll add that I have a very old roof antenna
with no rotor. My reception with the Terk is way, way better than with
the roof antenna, both for analog and digital programming. I am not
interested at this moment in endangering my life by playing around with
the roof antenna, so I'm going to try to solve my problem with indoor
antenna placement.

Alan F says "The amp is probably overloading or overloading the front end
of your digital tuner." Can I do damage to the digital tuner by using the
amp?

CD

You might try the highly-rated Channel Master cm4221 [same as: cm3021].
It's primarily a $23 outdoor UHF ( and some upper VHF) antenna, but could
be covered in a some light fabric for relatively unobtrusive indoor use.
It's worked amazingly well for us here in a difficult reception NYC area for
many years.