Posted by AG in IN on November 08, 2011 at 09:35:00 from (67.236.125.208):
In Reply to: TV antenna posted by 504 on November 07, 2011 at 15:17:42:
herbert johnson said: (quoted from post at 00:17:42 11/08/11) Any advice concerning an outside TV antenna. I am gettin tired of the monthly satilite bill. I have had satilite tv for quite a few years now and have decided it is a waste of money. I am about 100 miles from Detroit and 50 miles from 2 other major cities.
100 miles is going to be a stretch. The curvature of the earth would work against you anywhere at that distance. It may very well be possible depending on your circumstances. If you're on a hill, and not behind one, it would help. It helps when the desired station(s) are operating at max. power, and/or from a high elevation, too. Because all channels are now crammed into channel 51 and lower, co-channel interference (2 or more stations broadcasting on the same frequency) can be more common than it was before. This can make reception more difficult, too. Even 50 mile reception from areas where towers are shorter and/or power levels are lower or patterns are more directional may not be easy. You'll definately want your antenna(s) outside and not in an attic.
Go to tv fool: http://tvfool.com/. Check your address for what's available and try running your address at different antenna heights. Higher is usually, but not always better. As a general starting point, I would figure anything below about -100 to -105 dBm or so in the signal power column to be less than 100% reliable even with a proper "deep fringe" antenna and pre-amp. That doesn't mean everything above that would be perfect or anything below that would not be perfect. It's simply a reasonable ball-park starting point. Trial and error in the real world or some testing equipment would be your only real way of seeing what you can receive.
Do check the "pending applications", too. Stations could be changing channels which could possibly require you to have a different antenna, and stations could be upping or lowering power output levels, moving to a different tower, moving higher or lower on a tower, or changing antenna patterns that may require adjustments on your part. Just because an application is pending doesn't mean the station will follow through with it, though.
You can also do an address search at rabbitears: http://www.rabbitears.info/search.php. Rabbitears is better when it comes to whether a station is actually on the air and broadcasting, and has tons of information about network affilates, subchannels, and other great info, too. Rabbitears doesn't use Nielsen market rating areas.
Do not fall for small "miracle" or "wife-friendly" antennas that claim 150+ mile reception. They're all over Ebay and elsewhere. Many have "shill" reviews that are absolutely comical. Some have real reviews that are absolutely comical, and not in a good way. Some of the real reviews are fair, and an occasional good review, but most reviews rate these as poor to junk. They follow in the footsteps of millions of other sub-par products imported from Southeast Asia that only live up to their claims for a few of those who purchase them. If one of these would function for you, odds are quite good you could still do much better with a proper antenna. The laws of physics aren't as easily broken as some of these products would lead you to believe.
Some of the better UHF-only antennas claim they have a 60-70+ mile reception range for UHF. Some of the better UHF/VHF combos and older VHF-only antennas claimed a 100-125+ mile range for VHF. Alot still depends on your location and topography and station power levels, though. My experience locally has been that long-distance VHF reception doesn't seem to be as great with digital as it was analog.
There really isn't such thing as a "HDTV" or "DTV" antenna, either. It's mostly a marketing gimmick. In a perfect world, antennas would be smaller to get rid of the now unused channel 52-69 elements, but only a few have been made this way.
The "new" Channel Master CM4228HD is a good example of an antenna that wasn't made better when the manufacturer tried to improve an old antenna. The old 4228 was a much better antenna, the "HD" version has some faults which can be remedied by the owner. Out of the box, the older version is better. The older version is NLA.
Like antennas can be "stacked" to improve long-distance reception, too.
You may want to look to a local installer if one is available. Many can make custom antennas or "area specials" that might make reception better. They should have test equipment to help ease some of the guesswork.
The bottom line is what works for any of us may or may not work for you. What works for your neighbor may or may not work for you. What the Chinese claim as 150+ mile antennas probably won't work for you. They probably won't work for them, either. (They're probably importing modified Winegards.)
AG
This post was edited by AG in IN at 12:00:38 11/08/11 3 times.
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