[rahlquist]

Hey yall,

Occasionally we get rain fade. Being 27 miles or so west of Atlanta (zip 30180) I am wondering if there are any indoor antenna good enough to grab HD channels. I haven't tried any OTA with my HR20 and I am thinking it may be worth a crack for bad weather reception. If there are no indoor solutions, would it be worthwhile to go SWM and use one of my existing pairs of leads for the external antenna?

Thanks!

 

[Kansas Zephyr]

Hey yall,

Occasionally we get rain fade. Being 27 miles or so west of Atlanta (zip 30180) I am wondering if there are any indoor antenna good enough to grab HD channels. I haven't tried any OTA with my HR20 and I am thinking it may be worth a crack for bad weather reception. If there are no indoor solutions, would it be worthwhile to go SWM and use one of my existing pairs of leads for the external antenna?

Thanks!

Surf to tvfool.com...and see where you are in relation to the transmitters.

Then you can get a better feel if an indoor antenna may work.

You may want to consider an attic antenna, too.

 

[leww37334]

try antennaweb.org, and see what it says. If all Atlanta stations are UHF (not sure), I would recommend the Zenith silver Sensor as the best indoor UHF antenna around. It gets my locals from 31 miles away

 

[curt8403]

try antennaweb.org, and see what it says. If all Atlanta stations are UHF (not sure), I would recommend the Zenith silver Sensor as the best indoor UHF antenna around. It gets my locals from 31 miles away

i have seen medium and large antenna mounted in the attic if large enough

 

[Grentz]

Should be able to. I have used pretty normal indoor antennas around 30miles away with no issue.

OTA is very dependent on your exact location and many factors though, so it is best to just try it out. Also make sure to move the antenna around a lot to get the best alignment possible.

If it comes down to it, you could get a large antenna and do an attic mount. We have a large outdoor antenna mounted in our attic and it works great (we are about 40miles out).

 

[rahlquist]

Hmm looks like on the roof we go.

 

[BattleZone]

A $15 2-panel bowtie UHF antenna mounted on a piece of 1" EMT conduit is pretty small and unobstrusive, and should get plenty of signal.

http://www.summitsource.com/eagle-aspen-dtv2buhf-directv-2-bay-uhf-antenna-hdtv-bowtie-outdoor-roof-top-local-signal-bow-tie-aerial-red-zone-part-dtv2buhf-p-6505.html

 

[harsh]

Hmm looks like on the roof we go.

That chart is horrible! You must have a grounded copper mesh between you and the broadcast stations. An indoor antenna will not do.

 

[rahlquist]

That chart is horrible! You must have a grounded copper mesh between you and the broadcast stations. An indoor antenna will not do.

LOL no Faraday cages that I am aware of

 

[curt8403]

LOL no Faraday cages that I am aware of

hmm would a faraday cage be useful to control lightning bugs?

 

[rahlquist]

hmm would a faraday cage be useful to control lightning bugs?

Only if they where hydrogen hybrids :lol:

 

[hardcase]

I haven't tried any OTA with my HR20 and I am thinking it may be worth a crack for bad weather reception.

I looked up Villa Rica, GA on antennapoint.com. All the stations you want are UHF except NBC (digital 11). You should have no problem getting them with an indoor antenna.

Try a ClearStream1 antenna from Antennas Direct in your attic. It's a brand new antenna design and is great for indoor, outdoor and attic use. It has a range of up to 30 miles and may even pick up NBC.

Advanced design software allows these 10" x 10" antennas to be smaller and more powerful across the entire UHF DTV spectrum offering consistent high gain. With the efficiency of the C2, you'll get the range and power normally found in antennas up to 5 times the size. The C2 delivers TV signals from widely located broadcast towers and offers flexible aiming characteristics with an extremely wide beam width of 70 degrees.

Antennas Direct provides you with a 90-day, no-fault return guarantee on all Antennas Direct antennas and a lifetime warranty against failure, corrosion, defects in materials or workmanship. If they don't do the job for you, just return them for a full refund, no questions asked.

 

[ncxcstud]

I use this antenna from radio shack. I live about 27 miles from the antennas in Elgin, SC and I get all the channels with a reception around 60-90% on all channels. radio shack has a 30 day money back guarantee as well.

Granted, my house is laid out perfectly and the window right next to my TV faces directly at the antennas.

My nextdoor neighbor (who's house isn't as nicely pointed towards the towers) gets every channel but our local ABC (which is VHF). Her signal readings aren't as strong either.

Anyways, I love this antenna, but I can't wait until Columbia, SC finally gets local channels in HD.

 

[harsh]

I looked up Villa Rica, GA on antennapoint.com. All the stations you want are UHF except NBC (digital 11). You should have no problem getting them with an indoor antenna.

Did you look at the TVFool table? Most of the stations are projected for <-90db. This is not the domain of any newfangled indoor antenna.

 

[rahlquist]

Just for giggles I took the RF remote antenna and hooked it to the OTA antenna connection. I then went through the OTA setup. After setup I checked the signal strength on all the channels and they ran from 30-50%. Some even came in although they pixelated frequently. Keep in mind this was on an overcast day and the DVR is directly below our plasma screen (the dvr cant even slide under the tv). Seems to me that a moderately decent antenna may be all I need.

One other piece that may help me is I am on the downhill side of a hill that faces Atlanta. Directly behind me is a huge granite deposit and quarry not to mention enough quartz in the area to sink the titanic. So maybe geography and geology are working in my favor as well. Thanks for all the tips guys (and gals if there were any in the thread)!

 

[Grentz]

That chart is horrible! You must have a grounded copper mesh between you and the broadcast stations. An indoor antenna will not do.

Did you look at the TVFool table? Most of the stations are projected for <-90db. This is not the domain of any newfangled indoor antenna.

Umm, its not that bad at all really. It is very typical for 30mile+ distances from the transmitters and he should be fine with a good indoor or medium range outdoor antenna.

I have a similar chart and can use a decent indoor antenna just fine.

Just for giggles I took the RF remote antenna and hooked it to the OTA antenna connection. I then went through the OTA setup. After setup I checked the signal strength on all the channels and they ran from 30-50%. Some even came in although they pixelated frequently. Keep in mind this was on an overcast day and the DVR is directly below our plasma screen (the dvr cant even slide under the tv). Seems to me that a moderately decent antenna may be all I need.

One other piece that may help me is I am on the downhill side of a hill that faces Atlanta. Directly behind me is a huge granite deposit and quarry not to mention enough quartz in the area to sink the titanic. So maybe geography and geology are working in my favor as well. Thanks for all the tips guys (and gals if there were any in the thread)!

If you get those signal strengths with just the RF antenna, you should be fine with a decent indoor antenna (rabbit ears). OTA is very picky about location as well, so make sure to play with it a bit.

Honestly the charts are just a rough approximation. They are good to get an idea, but I have seen many times that they are completely wrong and OTA signals vary very much by very small tweaks and differences in antennas.

 

[jwd45244]

Hmm looks like on the roof we go.

You may not be able to do that. Did you see what tvfool.com said? It says that in order to get LOS (Line of sight) to the 2nd close station your antenna needs to be 96 feet high

 

[joe diamond]

I was told use 25% a a signal loss estimate for inside an attic. Directional alignment is also important. Can you point the thing in the attic?

Joe

Joe

 

[rahlquist]

I think I may go ahead and try one of these. Since the RF remote antenna was enough to make the channels almost watchable I figure one of these (prolly the 1400 or 1500) should do my needs just fine.

http://gizmodo.com/5051108/new-rca-antennas-boost-flatness-to-reception-ratio