OTA Antenna Clip on for DISH?

[Lodi25]

Has anybody here used this kind of antenna before?

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Amplified-Outdoor-Antenna-Satellite/dp/B0000APCIV/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1266444001&sr=8-1-fkmr1

How good is it? I currently have 2 HD-DVRs & 2 regular HD receivers. If I hook this on top of my Dish I will get all the locals on all of my receivers?

[curt8403]

Has anybody here used this kind of antenna before?

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Amplified-Outdoor-Antenna-Satellite/dp/B0000APCIV/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1266444001&sr=8-1-fkmr1 (http://go.avsforum.com/?aid=5336432741&bid=3781821&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTerk-Amplified-Outdoor-Antenna-Satellite%2Fdp%2FB0000APCIV%2Fref%3Dsr_1_fkmr1_1%3 Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1266444001%26sr%3D8-1-fkmr1)

How good is it? I currently have 2 HD-DVRs & 2 regular HD receivers. If I hook this on top of my Dish I will get all the locals on all of my receivers?

depends on the distance to the transmitters. that looks like a short range antenna

[CCarncross]

Check antennaweb.org and/or tvfool to see how much antenna you need to receive the channels you want. IF the dish is pointed in the right direction for where your locals come from, it may work, but dont count on it...for instance in my case, my OTA locals come from the north, and of course the dish is pointed to the southwest about 30-40 miles away, so an antenna like that would not have worked for me.

[Beerstalker]

First of all which HD DVRs and HD receivers do you have? They most likely do not have ATSC tuners in them so you will have to get AM21 add ons for every receiver you want your local channels on.

Second, that antenna does not perform very well. For the same money you could get a much better antenna. Like the others mentioned check your tv fool results. If you don't understand them post the results here (it only shows your zip code, not your address) and we can help you figure out what you want to do.
http://tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29


Finally it is not recommended to diplex OTA onto D* systems anymore so you may end up having to run more wiring.

[BattleZone]

Unless you are VERY close to your broadcast towers, I would avoid this antenna as junk.

Really, any antenna information thread is best started by posting your antenna plot from http://www.tvfool.com. That way, we can know where, and from how far, your stations are coming from, and could give you much better advice on which antenna might work.

RF is both an art and a science, and what works great for your next door neighbor might not work at all for you, and vice versa, so it really helps to have the plot and listings for your address.

[Lodi25]

Here are my results. And I don't really understand any of this.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d27ee4c863124ec

[curt8403]

Here are my results. And I don't really understand any of this.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d27ee4c863124ec

you have a lot of stations that are short range. the antenna should work

[Lodi25]

Thank You! I've been threw a ton of Indoor Antennas. Man what a a nightmare it can be to get a signal.

[veryoldschool]

Thank You! I've been threw a ton of Indoor Antennas. Man what a a nightmare it can be to get a signal.
I'd say you could spend the same money and get a much better antenna than this piece of crap.
It's no more than rabbit ears with an amp trying to overcome it's weaknesses.

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD7000R-VHF-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B001TIQ6SW

[Beerstalker]

Still didn't notice what kind of receivers you have. You do realize you can't hook up an antenna to most of them right? Depending on how you were trying to hook them up one of the other antennas may have worked fine.

You should be able to get and indoor antenna to work pretty easily. What kind of house do you have? Metal siding, stucco, etc really hurts the reception on indoor antennas.

What indoor antennas did you try?

I still wouldn't recommend that antenna. You could get a much better antenna for the same price. Here's one that should do much better.
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-4221HD-Multi-Bay-Antenna/dp/B000FVTPX2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266448396&sr=1-5

I'm definitely not an antenna expert, but I have tried that antenna before and it was horrible. I couldn't even get it to bring in stations closer than yours.

[curt8403]

these might work
http://winegard.com/offair/vhfuhf-antennas.php#gs-1100

[veryoldschool]

Still didn't notice what kind of receivers you have. You do realize you can't hook up an antenna to most of them right? Depending on how you were trying to hook them up one of the other antennas may have worked fine.

You should be able to get and indoor antenna to work pretty easily. What kind of house do you have? Metal siding, stucco, etc really hurts the reception on indoor antennas.

What indoor antennas did you try?

I still wouldn't recommend that antenna. You could get a much better antenna for the same price. Here's one that should do much better.
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-4221HD-Multi-Bay-Antenna/dp/B000FVTPX2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266448396&sr=1-5 (http://go.avsforum.com/?aid=5336432741&bid=3781821&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FChannel-Master-4221HD-Multi-Bay-Antenna%2Fdp%2FB000FVTPX2%2Fref%3Dsr_1_5%3Fie%3DUT F8%26s%3Delectronics%26qid%3D1266448396%26sr%3D1-5)

I'm definitely not an antenna expert, but I have tried that antenna before and it was horrible. I couldn't even get it to bring in stations closer than yours.
Some of the channels are VHF here.

[Beerstalker]

Oops I was thinking the 4221 did ok on high VHF like the 4228, but I guess it doesn't.

[veryoldschool]

Oops I was thinking the 4221 did ok on high VHF like the 4228, but I guess it doesn't.
It isn't a bad choice, but just doesn't work here since we need channel 6.

[veryoldschool]

Another "good reason" not to use any clip on antenna is it won't be pointing to the Walnut Grove towers since your dish is pointed southeast.

[BattleZone]

You can get all of the major locals from the Walnut Grove tower farm using a CHEAP 2-panel bowtie UHF antenna, which will get CH9 fine. Unless you're looking for something off of one of the little indie low-power stations in the area, this is all you'll need:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4181cjTaosL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

http://www.summitsource.com/product_info.php?ref=1&products_id=6754

I use this same antenna from 10 miles further away and get everything. There are lots of ways to mount it, but one easy way is to use a satellite dish mast. I wanted mine higher, so I used a 16' long thin-wall EMT conduit as a mast.

[Lodi25]

Dose living on a very busy street with buses and large trucks driving by 24/7 have an impact on getting a digital signal? Oh and my house was built in 1920 if that helps.

It's just weird, on some channels the singles just brake up a lot and then late at night when there is less traffic it's not as bad.

Here are two I've tried using.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007MXZB2/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0YAEC5FTX6QKAKXYXPRD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT1650-Digital-Amplified-Antenna/dp/B0027FGW3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266468086&sr=1-1

[veryoldschool]

Dose living on a very busy street with buses and large trucks driving by 24/7 have an impact on getting a digital signal? Oh and my house was built in 1920 if that helps.

It's just weird, on some channels the singles just brake up a lot and then late at night when there is less traffic it's not as bad.
The thing about digital is multipath issues are a real problem.
The more directional the antenna is the better it is. The antenna in my fist post is fairly directional.
With the old analog you'd see ghost images, but digital doesn't have these though the same problem causes the signal to bounce on the signal level screen.
Most of the antennas with amps have them because the antenna itself doesn't have enough gain. Starting with a better antenna, means there is more signal to start with, which you can add an amp if you need to, but since you're so close you shouldn't need one.

[Beerstalker]

Yes busses and trucks driving by will make a big difference in your antenna working, especially an indoor antenna which I assume would be down lower (or do you have a multi-story house?)

The higher you can get the antenna the less the traffic will affect it.

Also, I have tried the other two antennas you linked to on Amazon and they aren't that great either. I actually found that the old school cheap bowtie from radio shack worked just as good as them in my location.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062017

[curt8403]

speaking of trucks, a cust had SFSS every day at a certain time for about 6 hrs each day. seems a large truck was parking right in front of their dish

[Avder]

That antenna is just a weak dipole, which should be okay for some VHF, but it looks like your OTA channels are mostly UHF, and I have no idea if that antenna can even pick up UHF. It looks like your stations are not too far away, so I would try a large rooftop omnidirectional antenna that can pick up both UHF and VHF. If it has a good amplifier it could allow you to pick up some of the more distant stations, but you may need to be careful about overamplifying the stations that are nearby. What you have is a ton of stations basically arrayed around you almost equally, so if you go for a directional antenna, and a dipole like that does have some directional qualities, you are going to need either a multiple antenna setup, which is hard to do, or a rotor, which is annoying.

A good rooftop multi/omnidirectional is probably your best bet.

[veryoldschool]

That antenna is just a weak dipole, which should be okay for some VHF, but it looks like your OTA channels are mostly UHF, and I have no idea if that antenna can even pick up UHF. It looks like your stations are not too far away, so I would try a large rooftop omnidirectional antenna that can pick up both UHF and VHF. If it has a good amplifier it could allow you to pick up some of the more distant stations, but you may need to be careful about overamplifying the stations that are nearby. What you have is a ton of stations basically arrayed around you almost equally, so if you go for a directional antenna, and a dipole like that does have some directional qualities, you are going to need either a multiple antenna setup, which is hard to do, or a rotor, which is annoying.

A good rooftop multi/omnidirectional is probably your best bet.
All the networks are about 22 miles away and within 2º, so an omnidirectional, might be the worst choice.

[BattleZone]

All the networks are about 22 miles away and within 2º, so an omnidirectional, might be the worst choice.

Agreed. The $15 bowtie I use (see earlier post) gets great signal from everything the OP is going to need, and I'm 10 miles further away. There's no need for anything else, and as small as the bowtie is, it's easy to mount almost anyware (but elevation is always helpful for an OTA antenna).

[veryoldschool]

Agreed. The $15 bowtie I use (see earlier post) gets great signal from everything the OP is going to need, and I'm 10 miles further away. There's no need for anything else, and as small as the bowtie is, it's easy to mount almost anyware (but elevation is always helpful for an OTA antenna).
Higher is ALWAYS better.
Omnidirectional is another name for "poor is all directions", since the more directional an antenna is the more gain it has.

[veryoldschool]

You can get all of the major locals from the Walnut Grove tower farm using a CHEAP 2-panel bowtie UHF antenna, which will get CH9 fine. Unless you're looking for something off of one of the little indie low-power stations in the area, this is all you'll need:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4181cjTaosL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

http://www.summitsource.com/product_info.php?ref=1&products_id=6754

I use this same antenna from 10 miles further away and get everything. There are lots of ways to mount it, but one easy way is to use a satellite dish mast. I wanted mine higher, so I used a 16' long thin-wall EMT conduit as a mast.
"The only problem" I see with this is that KQED is about 60 dB lower than KVIE [Ch 6], and KTXV [ABC] is using ch 10.

[alnielsen]

"The only problem" I see with this is that KQED is about 60 dB lower than KVIE [Ch 6], and KTXV [ABC] is using ch 10.

I'm using a antenna similar to that and I can get upper VHF. Also, those channels show 6 & 10, but are you sure they are still there and haven't been moved to UHF?

[veryoldschool]

I'm using a antenna similar to that and I can get upper VHF. Also, those channels show 6 & 10, but are you sure they are still there and haven't been moved to UHF?
Since "I live in the area", yes. :)

[Lodi25]

Yes busses and trucks driving by will make a big difference in your antenna working, especially an indoor antenna which I assume would be down lower (or do you have a multi-story house?)

The higher you can get the antenna the less the traffic will affect it.

Also, I have tried the other two antennas you linked to on Amazon and they aren't that great either. I actually found that the old school cheap bowtie from radio shack worked just as good as them in my location.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062017

It's a signal story house. Again, it's really annoying with buses drive by.

Anybody know anything about this Antenna?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Winegard-SS3000-Indoor-UHF-VHF-TV-Antenna-SS-3000_W0QQitemZ300396556517QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item45f107b0e5

[Kansas Zephyr]

Anybody know anything about this Antenna?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Winegard-SS3000-Indoor-UHF-VHF-TV-Antenna-SS-3000_W0QQitemZ300396556517QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item45f107b0e5
It has an amplifier...which can make OTA DTV reception worse, or impossible, under certain conditions. Make sure you can by-pass it, if necessary. Some will not pass any signal with the amp not powered.

I'd take an attic or outdoor antenna over a amplified set-top any day.

[Lodi25]

So your saying don't get an amplifier one then?

[veryoldschool]

So your saying don't get an amplifier one then?
I'm not sure why you don't look into the Wingard antenna I listed earlier.
There is a reason a "good antenna" looks the way they do.
Using an antenna that doesn't have enough gain to start with, won't be helped with an amp.
Antenna look the way they do [when they're a good one] because the elements are a certain size & placed precisely so they will pickup a good signal.

[Lodi25]

I looked at that one, but it's a outdoor one. At all costs i'm trying to avoid using a outdoor one.

After all these years, I had no clue a amp Antenna could make the signal worse. I am currently using the Terk one. If I use a non amp one, do you think that would make any difference?


I'm thinking of trying this one now.

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Technology-HDTVi-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B0001FV36E/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1266547063&sr=8-1-fkmr1

[veryoldschool]

I looked at that one, but it's a outdoor one. At all costs i'm trying to avoid using a outdoor one.

After all these years, I had no clue a amp Antenna could make the signal worse. I am currently using the Terk one. If I use a non amp one, do you think that would make any difference?


I'm thinking of trying this one now.

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Technology-HDTVi-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B0001FV36E/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1266547063&sr=8-1-fkmr1 (http://go.avsforum.com/?aid=5336432741&bid=3781821&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTerk-Technology-HDTVi-Indoor-Antenna%2Fdp%2FB0001FV36E%2Fref%3Dsr_1_fkmr1_1%3Fi e%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1266547063%26sr%3D8-1-fkmr1)
Do you have an attic that you could mount one in?
The roof will drop the signal a bit, but attic mounts are fairly common.
This one has had some great results, but you'll lose channels 6 & 10.
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-PHDTV1-Silver-Digital-Antenna/dp/B0007XDI54
Terks just don't seem to get the same positive results.

Since the towers are so close, I'd bet the HD 7000R will still work in your attic.

Amps do two things: add gain & noise.
First the antenna must get a good signal and if it doesn't then the amp has only noise to add, thus making the signal to noise ratio worse.
Amps are mostly used when you can't use a big enough antenna because you're very far from the tower, and/or if your cable and splits to several TVs, causes losses after the antenna.

[Beerstalker]

Just because it is labeled as an outdoor antenna that doesn't mean you can't use it indoors. They just assume most people will use them outdoors because they are bigger/bulkier and won't look that great sitting on top of your TV etc.

I also believe most "Outdoor" antennas usually have design changes to help them stand up to outdoor weather. Using an indoor antenna outdoors they will usually rust/corrode and fall apart from the weather.

[Kansas Zephyr]

After all these years, I had no clue a amp Antenna could make the signal worse.
With analog TV you can tweak the set-top antenna for the best looking image possible. It may have noise and/or multi-path that affects the image...but you can still view it.

With digital, if you increase the noise and/or multi-path present...or if you distort the signal...using an amp, the tuner may not be able to lock into the signal and decode the stream, leaving you with no picture at all.

As new ATSC tuners should improve in the future, hopefully this will become less of an issue.

[JeffBowser]

I can tell you, as someone who tested ATSC from gen 1 tuners and a single available HD station in Miami, to the current 40 some-odd digital stations avail with my antenna reach and gen 5 tuners that their multi-path capabilities have exponentially gotten better already.

With analog TV you can tweak the set-top antenna for the best looking image possible. It may have noise and/or multi-path that affects the image...but you can still view it.

With digital, if you increase the noise and/or multi-path present...or if you distort the signal...using an amp, the tuner may not be able to lock into the signal and decode the stream, leaving you with no picture at all.

As new ATSC tuners should improve in the future, hopefully this will become less of an issue.

[jdspencer]

That raises a question from me. What generation ATSC tuners are in the HR20 and the AM21?

[veryoldschool]

That raises a question from me. What generation ATSC tuners are in the HR20 and the AM21?
The HR20s never seemed to have the best OTA tuner, and I've compared it to the fifth gen.
The AM21 does seem to be on par with the fifth gen.

[jdspencer]

Thanks. I think I may get one for my HR23 since it doesn't look good for our locals being offered by DirecTV any time soon. And then if they do, I'll have the OTA as a back up.

I just ordered it from DirecTV's website.