Need High Def antenna info, might dump the satellite

[Rightwinger]

Im pissed at Direct TV right now.

With 12 laps to go they cut to a Direct TV logo on the race today. I don't know if it was Direct or ESPN2 or what and do not really care. Its also been spotty in reception of late giving me the old "searching for satellite signal" on certain channels in perfectly clear weather.

I have one HD capable TV that I have just been using in the standard format waiting for next year. I live about 50 miles from Nashville as the crow flies and wonder if anyone else is grabbing HD signals that far out and which antennna your using.

By the way, as I started to write this, the race came on just in time to let me watch the winner climb out of his car and get the guitar....way to go DirectTV.

Experts on HD chime in. I do not have a good cable option yet as where I live there is only analog cable from a local telephone cooperative and from Comcast. Neither has any plan to go to digital and if I was going to go with cable I would want digital for the internet connection.

[enfield]

There's no such thing as a High Definition antenna - it's just an antenna.

PS - during the part you missed, everyone stood on the gas and turned left (Sorry)

Edited June 8, 2008 by enfield

[DaveTN]

At 50 miles you would need a Large Directional or “deep fringe†antenna. Most HD signals are using UHF (But there are some VHF).

Here is a source of info to get you started...

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

There is another source that lists exactly where all the antennas are for the TV stations, and has a lot of good info, but I can’t find it right now.

Shameless plug… I have 60 feet of Rohn 25 tower with a hinged base, rotor and controller for sale. (With or without a Jo Gunn 3+3 Star)

[NuTcAsE]

Yeah, there is no such thing as a Hi-def antenna. It's a flat out lie. It's the same signal.

Build one, I did and it works great.

[ame]

[/ame]

[saintsfanbrian]

Don't know about where you are, but we didn't have a single problem with the race. We were watching it in HD. Actually we recorded it. The only issue I have is that the new DVR isn't Tivo. That rocked.

As for an antennae, well, you get what you pay for

[Guest BigBoostDSM]

If you were out near me I'd come take a look at it for you (I work for a small AV company that installs DTV)...

Have you tried calling their customer service to check your receiver and what not?

[Guest BigBoostDSM]

Also for the record, I watched the race as well with no problems.

[Rightwinger]

I'll probably try building an antenna first.

Thanks for all the responses.

Have not called customer service. I'm thinking you folks that got to see it all are probably already on HD receivers??? Talked to my brother who also has directtv and got the same pre-empt to a DirecTV logo. Apparently it was local to the Nashville area. I'm still on non HD satellite.

[Guest BigBoostDSM]

Yea, I have both the HD receiver and the HD DVR receiver and it worked well on both. Didn't try it on any of my SD receivers though.

Seriously, give them a call and a chance to make things right before switching. They may surprise you If they don't fix it the way you expect them to, then drop them like a bad habit

[runco]

Found this old post.  Need to revisit this subject for some opinions!  I know you have one, let me read them!

 

After studying for some time,  we spend 90%+ of our TV time on local channels, and the few channels we watch on Dish, we can watch on the internet.  Anyway, we live about 35 miles from the towers in Knoxville, and have been researching a good outdoor antenna.  After reviewing several on Amazon, I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions on this antenna:  (BTW I have the older style large antenna in my attic, and we were only able to pick up about 2 channels).

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BRXW74/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

http://

[Sam1]

you considered an FTA system?

[runco]

you considered an FTA system?

Tell me more.

[Sam1]

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+to+air&oq=free+to+air&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j69i65l2j69i60l2j0.1877j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Couple of friends have them in KY and swear by them. You'd need to double check to make sure they got the channels you want, but it's 100% free after you buy the equipment.

[enfield]

I'm 50 miles from Knoxville and pick up 6, 8, 10 and 43 with a Winegard omnidirectional amplified antenna mounted in my attic.

 

Edited August 18, 2013 by enfield

[Sam1]

Just found this for the antenna info, out of curiosity was looking up our house.. it's seems to be a cool tool

 

http://www.antennaweb.org/

 

Pop in your street address and it tells you which direction gets you which channels

[1madss]

I bought a house in July the previous owner had built his own antenna and put it in the attic which puts it about 25' off the ground. It has a 20db Channel Master Pre-amp and the actual antenna looks to be built mostly from hardware cloth. I can pick up the following stations fairly consistently and I am down in Spring Hill. The picture is far better than my HD cable service, but then again maybe being free just makes it look better :)

 

2-1 WKRN-DT ABC Nashville
2-2 WKRN-SD ABC Weather
4-1 WSMV-HD NBC Nashville
5-1 WTVF-HD CBS Nashville
5-2 NC5+ WTVF Plus
5-3 THisTV
8-1 NPT-1
8-2 NPT-2
15-1 WHDF-DT CW
17-1 WZTV-FO Fox
19-1 WHNT-HD CBS Huntsville
19-2 WHNT-SD AntennaTV
28-1 ION
28-2 QUBO Kids
28-3 IONLife
30-1 WUXP-MY My-30
30-2 WUXP-CO CoolTV
31-1 WAAY-HD ABC Huntsville
50-1 TBN
50-2 Church
50-3 JCTV
50-4 Enclace ??
50-5 Smile Kids??
54-1 WZDX-DT Fox Huntsville
54-2 WAMY-DT My8??
54-3 ME TV-S
58-1 WNAB-CW CW Nashville
58-2 WNAB-TC The Country Videos

 

 

Again, not too bad for free. I was very tempted to dump cable and go all streaming and antenna, but with 4 women in the house there are some channels that apparently cannot be lived with out :shrug:

Edited August 19, 2013 by 1madss

[enfield]

Just found this for the antenna info, out of curiosity was looking up our house.. it's seems to be a cool tool

 

http://www.antennaweb.org/

 

Pop in your street address and it tells you which direction gets you which channels

Antennaweb tells me I have no reception at my house.  It's wrong.

[Guest uofmeet]

Over the air channels with an antenna will always look better than directv or cable. They are completely uncompressed coming over the air while anything from another provider will have some kind of compression.

 

 

Now, it is true that there is no thing such a HD antenna. This is true. But at the same time, Since the switch, many stations actually changed the frequency on which they broadcast on which could mean the older antennas may not be optimal anymore. So you could need a new antenna, which are actually pretty easy to build. So what you could do, is do a little research and find out where most the the stations frequencies are and try to build an antenna to somewhere in the middle of that range.

 

Also, which antennas, it is all about height. They higher you can get that antenna up in the air, the better chance you have at picking up more, or stronger signals. But you would need a good feed line for the higher you go.

 

 

Also, if you sat drops signals a lot on clear weather days, it may just need to be realigned. Over time with winds and storms, it could have gotten slightly adjusted to where it is just barely aligned where it works most of the time.

 

 

more coming.......

[mikegideon]

Brent,

 

You should have good luck picking up all of the full power Nashville stations. Terrain is real favorable unless you're behind some big hill locally. You may need an outside antenna, but shouldn't need a rotor. As far out as you are, point it at the Bat Building and it will get everything. Here's WKRN's service contour. You're well within it. WTVF and WSMV are going to be real similar.

 

[mikegideon]

Over the air channels with an antenna will always look better than directv or cable. They are completely uncompressed coming over the air while anything from another provider will have some kind of compression.

 

 

ALL Broadcast HDTV is compressed (MPEG). It's true that the cable companies compress it more, and over the air quality is better.

Edited August 19, 2013 by mikegideon

[Guest uofmeet]

ok, looks like you have these channels in nashvile.

 

Virtual                   RF

4                            10

58                           23

30                         21

17                         15

5                            5 (forget this one. Won't happen without a special antenna, and then, maybe)

28                         36

50                           33

2                           27

8                             8 (this one may be difficult also)

39                           38

66                             44

 

 

So, that would be most fo the channels is from the 479Mhz to 653 Mhz with the exceptions of 8, 4, and 5. which is 79Mhz to 196 Mhz. So what I would to to optimize OTA(over the air) reception is to make 2 antenna's. One for about  570ish for the upper channels and one for about 125ish and just combine the coax into one and that could get ya started. Add that with good height, and that should get started, if not completed depending on each stations ERP(effected radiated power)

 

 

This website is also a good resource.

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

Edited August 19, 2013 by uofmeet

[mikegideon]

I'm 50 miles from Knoxville and pick up 6, 8, 10 and 43 with a Winegard omnidirectional amplified antenna mounted in my attic.

 

 

Most VHF and UHF coverage prediction models use heavy averaging, and aren't much good when you have big terrain features. Point to point prediction models like Longley Rice are pretty accurate, but it's easier to just stick up an antenna and see. I'm pretty sure that somewhere close to you, there really is no coverage :)

[mikegideon]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3740646&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_term=1500289&utm_content=Exact&utm_campaign=PLA&%7bifmobile:ds_dest_url=http%3A%2F%2Fm.radioshack.com%2Fradioshack%2Fproduct%2Fdetail.do%3FitemId%3d3740646%26utm_source%3dGoogle%26utm_medium%3dPPC%26utm_term%3d1500289%26utm_content%3dExact%26utm_campaign%3dPLA%7d&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CNjdsMzuibkCFaov7Aodf3YAAA&gclsrc=ds.ds

[enfield]

Most VHF and UHF coverage prediction models use heavy averaging, and aren't much good when you have big terrain features. Point to point prediction models like Longley Rice are pretty accurate, but it's easier to just stick up an antenna and see. I'm pretty sure that somewhere close to you, there really is no coverage :)

 

That's what I did.  Actually, I got better reception with the antenna on a 15 foot mast in my back yard than I do with it mounted higher in the attic.  The signals are patchy due to obstructions and reflections.

[enfield]

Lowe's carries a couple of outdoor antennas by RCA.