OTA Antenna

[Bowtieman]

Is it possible to get ota reception with an antenna that clips onto your present dish. Are they strong enough for a class "B" area that is surround by mountains. I believe I am approxiamt5ely 40 miles from signal source. My dish is around 14' high at this time.

The reason I ask. I have a dish up and know that I would have a fight on my hands from the HOA if I put up an antenna as well. I am aware of the FCC reg's. Just don't wish to fight the battle if I don't have to..

I have read about companies that make claim to having this kind of antenna but find it very hard to believe.

[Mike500]

No,

Antenna claims are highly exagerated. Go to www.antennaweb.org. Enter your address and get a listing and a map showing the directional location of your stations.

Also, visit www.ardman.net

[HTguy]

The "clip-on" antennas are low gain & omnidirectional. If you are in a Grade "B" area surrounded by mountains you would probably be lucky to pull in a couple of snowy channels with "ghosts" and even those could be intermittent.

Even one of the flat Terk antennas would be better and you wouldn't get any flack from your HOA if mounted nicely. See if you can get one from a local dealer to try and/or return if it doesn't work well enough.

But there's just no real substitute for a long-beam directional multi-element antenna for OTA TV.

[Mike Richardson]

FCC allows off air antennas right? The current satellite dish you have means nothing. It is legal and the HOA has no say in it. For all purposes it's like not having one at all. If you put up an antenna too and they got mad because you had BOTH (instead of just one), then tough for the HOA.

[Chris Blount]

Don't mess around. Put up the antenna you need and make sure you have a copy of the ruling to send to anyone who gives you flack. You have the power, not the HOA!

[AppliedAggression]

What's the HOA, and what does the FCC do to help you? My girlfriend has an apartment and she'd like to get Dish but now sure if they'd allow it. Any help here?

[Bowtieman]

I have read about companies that make claim to having this kind of antenna but find it very hard to believe.

One of the places I read about an antenna that fits right onto your dish. Was on the AVS forum about the Rainbow DBS. They stated they would have seamless intergration for the locals with an antenna that was part of the dish.

I found that a rather broad statment. Taking into consideration all the different terrains and distances they would have to cover. I wondered if they had some kind of amplified antenna that I was unaware of.

(HOA)=Home Owners Association.

[xgrep]

Is it possible to get ota reception with an antenna that clips onto your present dish. Are they strong enough for a class "B" area that is surround by mountains. I believe I am approxiamt5ely 40 miles from signal source. My dish is around 14' high at this time.At 40 miles in the circumstances you describe, it's not very likely a dish-mounted UHF antenna would work. Follow Mike500's recommendation to check antennaweb.org for specific recommendations on what kind of antenna. Then visit the sites of antenna makers like:

www.winegard.com
www.channelmaster.com
Jerrold/Delhi (can't find web site)

If your experience is anything like mine, you may want to consider an antenna that's at the high end of the gain and directionality for the category recommended on antennaweb.org. I also found that I needed a mast-mounted pre-amp (also available from winegard and channelmaster).

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[MadDogMike]

FCC allows off air antennas right? The current satellite dish you have means nothing. It is legal and the HOA has no say in it.

They might. I live in a condo, and our condo docs designate my balcony (where me dish is mounted) as a common area. The FCC ruling does not cover this. The FCC ruling only says that I can have a dish if fully within my condo unit.

I hear that there is another way I can win the battle, but I haven't been able to confirm it. I hear that GA law states that if a homeowner violates a HOA rule openly for at least a year & a day, and the HOA does nothing to enforce it, then the HOA can never enforce that rule on that homeowner. IOW, since my dish has been up for more than a year & a day, and they haven't told me to take it down yet, they can NEVER force me to take it down.

Can anyone confirm that this is true? I can't find the code that states this.

[fizgig]

Anyone have any experience with the small multidirectional type antennas like the Channel Master 3000 (disc like shape). I'm in a yellow area and this is the recommended type from antennaweb, just wondering if they do the job well.

[Mike500]

I've installed many Winegard and Channel Master antennas and amplifiers. I prefer the Winegard antennas and Channel Master amplifiers. Winegard has better antenna construction, while Channel Master has better co-channel rejection on their amplifiers.

FCC OTARD rules allow the antenna to go up to 12 feet above the roofline.

[scooper]

MadDogMike - Read the OTARD (see my sig for the link) - but in short - if your balcony is an exclusive use area (i.e. only you can use it) - the HOA can't enforce that as a common area. HOWEVER - the building CAN be considered common, so they could restrict you from attaching your dish to the building or drilling any holes.

[AppliedAggression]

MadDogMike - Read the OTARD (see my sig for the link) - but in short - if your balcony is an exclusive use area (i.e. only you can use it) - the HOA can't enforce that as a common area. HOWEVER - the building CAN be considered common, so they could restrict you from attaching your dish to the building or drilling any holes.


How about using one of those Dish mounts that holds the Dish outside of the window without any drilling? Is that covered under the FCC?

[xgrep]

Anyone have any experience with the small multidirectional type antennas like the Channel Master 3000 (disc like shape). I'm in a yellow area and this is the recommended type from antennaweb, just wondering if they do the job well.Sounds like you're referring to the "smartenna". This is an amplified omnidirection UHF antenna, and may indeed work for you. I've heard some people report good results and others not. Short of actually trying, there's no way to know. It's not a piece of garbage.

What you'll find in asking around and talking to people who have a lot of experience with antennas is that there are two ways to know if a given antenna will work for a given purpose in a given location: (1) get out there with a test antenna, a signal strength meter and a spectrum analyzer (this will get you a good guess without spending any money if you already have the test equipment), or (2) put up the antenna you want to know about and see what happens.

I don't have a spectrum analyzer (and this isn't a perfect test where digital tv is concerned, anyway, due to multipath), so I just ran through about a dozen different antennas. My sequence was ordered by (1) could it be returned, and (2) price. I first only tried those I could return, and then tried ones I'd have to keep in order of price. I never found one that did everything I wanted for my location, though I know I could have if I had been ready to do a serious installation. I just didn't want to run up the bill too much. And besides, Comcast came along with my HD locals, so I bagged the whole project.

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