Over the air HDTV Antennas

[KB1KIX]

I'm looking to grab an in house or on the mast HDTV antenna and saw lot of options out there.

I saw a few Philips and Terk antennas.

Some say indoor or outdoor.

I just want a decent antenna for a room that isn't hooked up to the dish.

Any of you haveing good luck with a particular HDTV antenna?

Jonathan

[W1GUH]

And, do they help multi-path? I've got bad multi-path here, but does digital take care of that? I'm looking for one, too.

[kd5kfl]

I live 75 miles from Albuquerque. Maybe 80 - 90 miles from the TV transmitter hill.

I had the big Radio Shack 120-mile fringe reception LPDA. A hailstorm wadded it up.

I had a Radio Shack VHF - UHF antenna just taking up space. Essentially the front end of the LPDA without the fold-out elements. Put that up. I get better HDTV reception on 7, 10 and 13 than I had with the LPDA.

[K0RGR]

It depends.

I live on a hill - actually, it's the edge of the prairie where it drops off into the canyon that contains the Mississippi River and several of its' tributaries. To the west, the land is flat. To the east, my house sits about 300 feet above the town below. The Twin Cities are abut 70 miles north of here, and there are two major cities in Wisconsin within about 50 miles to my east.

Here in town, there are two HD stations from the same transmitter - NBC and CW networks. The transmitter is located about 20 miles south of town.

With rabbit ears, I easily get the local HD channels. I also get the PBS and ABC stations in the town 35 miles west of here. I also get the PBS and CBS channels in EauClaire and LaCrosse, WI. I also see many more HD stations which could be in WI or the Twin Cities, but they are too weak for me to copy with the rabbit ears.

Now, I would like to have a good, outdoor UHF antenna, as I am certain I could get dozens more over the air channels - maybe enough to let me can cable. 99% of what I watch is on PBS and CBS, anyway!

A friend of mine lives on a hill north me. It's a bit shorter. He easily gets the local channels and the ones to the west, but can't get the Wisconsin stations. He is also using rabbit ears.

Note: on the Wisconsin stations, I can barely see the analog signals from those stations, but they are beautiful in HD. The only problem is if somebody walks in front of the rabbit ears- it causes my TV to lock up, and it has to be 'rebooted' - another good reason for an outside antenna.

[WB2WIK]

I get a lot of HD channels with this tiny little 18" dish.

The only time the picture drops out is in very, very heavy rain which happens maybe 2-3 times a year for 5 mins or less.

[W4INF]

I got an amplified ant from Wally, damn thing was a waste of money.. It actually did WORSE than my home made dipole (HDTV had a signal strength meter).

Run some coax outside and make a dipole, put it on top of the roof, should do better than ANY inside antenna you can buy.

For factory built outdoor ant, I dont know what to tell you. You need a GOOD SIGNAL to not have interruptions in the video stream!! More than you think....

GL-
Andrew

[W0LPQ]

All you need is a regular TV antenna. #HD antennas cost more ... because they can. #They perform the same as a normal antenna.

Edit to add:

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

[K8MHZ]

Quote[/b] (W0LPQ @ Jan. 21 2008,12:18)]All you need is a regular TV antenna. HD antennas cost more ... because they can. They perform the same as a normal antenna.

Edit to add:

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html
I'm not much of a TV person but...

I thought that they were changing frequencies and offering the old TV frequencies to public service. Wouldn't a change of frequencies dictate the need for a different antenna?

[KA8NCR]

Quote[/b] (k8mhz @ Jan. 21 2008,19:27)]Quote[/b] (W0LPQ @ Jan. 21 2008,12:18)]All you need is a regular TV antenna. HD antennas cost more ... because they can. They perform the same as a normal antenna.

Edit to add:

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html
I'm not much of a TV person but...

I thought that they were changing frequencies and offering the old TV frequencies to public service. Wouldn't a change of frequencies dictate the need for a different antenna?
The new HD channels are on existing UHF TV channel allocations. And broadcasters have the choice of retaining their current channels after 2009. The only channels that won't be used are low-VHF (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Therefore, any current TV antenna will work.

[kd5kfl]

Quote[/b] ]I'm not much of a TV person but...

I thought that they were changing frequencies and offering the old TV frequencies to public service. Wouldn't a change of frequencies dictate the need for a different antenna?

TV antennas are LPDAs.

Log Periodic Dipole Arrays.

Wide bandwidth, directional, no gain. Wide bandwidth means 54 - 760 MHz

[W1GUH]

Thanks for all the replies, I got my answer. I'll try rabbit ears, here the problem isn't signal strength, it's multi-path, and I can check that out with my rabbit ears. I'll let you know what happens.

[W4INF]

Quote[/b] (W1GUH @ Jan. 20 2008,21:16)]I'll try rabbit ears
The short of the answer is, if the signal is strong... thats all you need! I see a lot of folks paying 3X+ the price for an antenna because it says HD on it. Bologna!

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out....

[KC9IUX]

I have to LMAO at the "HDTV" antennas.

I have an old TV antenna that gets signals for my 61" RCA HDTV great.

Like the Radio Shack "color TV "antennas. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[KG6YTZ]

Quote[/b] (KC9IUX @ Jan. 21 2008,20:23)]I have to LMAO at the "HDTV" antennas.

I have an old TV antenna that gets signals for my 61" RCA HDTV great.

Like the Radio Shack "color TV "antennas. #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
And of course they take great pains to make sure that they do not closely resemble "normal" antennas, just to make people believe that they're buying something new and different. #If they just took a set of plain ol' rabbit-ears and tried to sell it as an "HDTV antenna," nobody would buy it because "that's not what an HDTV antenna looks like." #Nooooo, you can't use RABBIT-EARS! #You need a special new type of HDTV ANTENNA. #:It ain't gonna work if it doesn't say "Digital" on it. #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

P.T. Barnum was a prophet. #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KC9IUX]

All marketing. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[W2ILP]

I understand that there will soon no longer be any VHF TV Channels. Is it true that eventually all of the TV that can be recieved with an antenna will be UHF? If so one must consider buying or building UHF antenna arrays for the channels available in one's area. This might also mean having an antenna rotator if all of the UHF channels are not in the same direction from your QTH.
It might also mean paying to cable, fiber or dish providers if you want to receive many TV channels and not use a UHF antenna. There is no such a thing as an antenna that is best for color or for HDTV. Most antennas are broad enough in bandwidth to allow all sub-bands to get through with the same gain or attenuation.

I have even seen gold plated type F connectors that were supposed to be designed for color TV.
I dunno if they use real gold to make real color TV.

w2ilp (Interfering Little Pixels)...You can't see the whole picture without connections.

[KG6YTZ]

Quote[/b] (W2ILP @ Jan. 21 2008,20:42)]There is no such a thing as an antenna that is best for color or for HDTV.
Yep... #And doesn't Radio Shark also sell "stereo" FM antennas? #I assume you can't get FM in stereo without one? #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

KC9IUX says:
Quote[/b] ]All marketing.
Indeed. #I'm reminded of the mention of "color TV" contact cleaner in another recent thread. #Radio Smack again.

[n4bfd]

I wonder if a halo stack would be the best bet for the UHF channels.

[KD0BQM]

I guess I will need another 40M dipole to pick up AM. I am using the one I have for SSB so I am sure it won't pick up AM, right? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[K8ERV]

Quote[/b] (KD0BQM @ Jan. 22 2008,01:12)]#I am using the one I have for SSB so I am sure it won't pick up AM, right?
What's this AM thing?

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

[K0RGR]

I probably shouldn't even say 'rabbit ears' because the ears are the VHF part of the antenna. The active element on UHF is that loop of wire.

I sincerely doubt that people will give up their cable and go back to antennas, particularly with the way network TV is deteriorating fast. But I think for most of us, digital TV will make that possibility much more attractive, because those 'fringe' stations will now be solid.

Is it just me, or have they doubled the number of commercials in a TV program again? I'm beginning to think that a person with any kind of normal attention span can't even watch broadcast TV anymore, except for PBS. It seems that we get 5 minutes of program and 3 minutes of commercials now! I won't even discuss the fact that the level of writing has fallen somewhere below that of Romper Room.

[kd5kfl]

Quote[/b] ]I guess I will need another 40M dipole to pick up AM. I am using the one I have for SSB so I am sure it won't pick up AM, right?

Another SSB antenna with an AM combining phasing harness should work.

[KG6YTZ]

Quote[/b] (kd5kfl @ Jan. 22 2008,16:23)]Quote[/b] ]I guess I will need another 40M dipole to pick up AM. #I am using the one I have for SSB so I am sure it won't pick up AM, right?

Another SSB antenna with an AM combining phasing harness should work.
Remember to flip the polarity of one antenna, though - you'll need one for USB and one for the opposite LSB. #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #That should give you both sidebands, and thus, AM.

Seriously, though... #K0RGR says:
Quote[/b] ]I sincerely doubt that people will give up their cable and go back to antennas
You're probably right. #A small percentage of viewers will still be viewing OTA signals, but it seems that the majority these days have either cable or satellite, both for the broader selection of channels and for programming which is simply not available on OTA broadcast channels. #Those who have tasted "the good life" of cable/satellite TV will not want to go back to plain OTA broadcast reception. #That, I think, is probably another reason behind the FCC's decision to release this spectrum - it's just not as critical as it once was.

Besides, when they can sell us more cable/satellite channels, that gives 'em that much more spectrum with which to bombard us with infomercials. #Y'ever browsed your program guide at 2am? #If not, it looks something like this:

[PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] #
[PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] #
[PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] #
[PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM] # [PAID PROGRAM]

[N2RJ]

I think I'm going to get a winegard 9095P corner reflector and put it up on my tower.

I live in a deep fringe area.

[k4kyv]

Quote[/b] (KD0BQM @ Jan. 22 2008,08:12)]I guess I will need another 40M dipole to pick up AM. I am using the one I have for SSB so I am sure it won't pick up AM, right? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
It probably will if the wire is made from oxygen-free copper and you use hospital-grade PL-259's.

[W7WV]

An HDTV antenna! You must be kidding! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
That all takes me back to when I was in Jr College working for a major retail chain.
My job was to assist in TV delivery and set up the color generator on it and de magnetize the thing back in the 1960s.
We were told that if we thought based on what we saw to try and sell them a rotor, "color TV antenna" and install.
We were told not to adjust the colors and such right and tell them it was because of their poor antenna.
And being a major retail store we already knew if they had any credit left on their card and just happened to carry the stuff on the truck to do the job.
I did not like screwing people like that, told them so and quit. And I won't shop at that store today as a result.

[W1GUH]

Save your money! Try simple rabbit ears or a folded dipole first. I just tried a cheap set of rabbit ears I already had, and get great HD reception on a lot of station. There's more there than I thought. If you've got good signal strength, that's all you need, and it's much more tolerant of multi-path than with analog TV

Yea!

[KW4MW]

1) Why not just homebrew an antenna?

2) Anybody ever passively retransmit? Back in the hills one trick was to got to the top of a high hill and point one TV antenna (dedicated channel) toward the station and then using about 100 ft of ribbon connect it to another antenna which was pointed toward the house. It worked good enough so that several hundred feet of power line (for the amplifier) and transmission line didn't have to be run.