TV Antenna recommendation?

[Dave Kost]

Tired of paying the cable company for the poor service and channels we don't watch. Going to buy a Smart TV and local stations with an antenna.

What antenna's are best? Can I put a outdoor antenna , replacing the Satellite dish, on my roof? Its already wired? Anyone tried this with success?

Or just try the cheap indoor window/ wall mounted one's?

Thanks,

[stomachmonkey]

Start here.

https://www.antennaweb.org

[bivenator]

I have an antenna in the attic that splits the signal into 3 different TVs using the coax cables. I am approximately 15 miles from the transmitter and have had pretty good luck with my reception. The HD signal is beautiful and not compressed as with the satellite/cable companies.

My antenna is the Leaf and was about 35 bucks at Best Buy. You may have to experiment to find the proper antenna. Proximity to the transmission tower and geographical features between you and it will play a huge part in your reception.

I love the free TV.

[Tobra]

Go to youtube and look for it, HD antenna or something. You can make one using coat hangers that works better than the ones you buy

[kach22i]

I have this one, but don't expect any tech support from these folks - out to lunch all the time.

HD Stacker TV Antenna

The connections are important, don't go too tight with your cable loop radius, and loop them before a connection so they don't bind up.

I've found that mast height, antenna ground, mast ground, and cable ground are all improvements and devils in the detail.

I have found this forum below helpful, but a bit slow at times.

http://forum.tvfool.com/index.php

[Evans, Marv]

I'd love to get an antenna, but my location doesn't work for one. Every site I have visited says no signals are likely due to distance & topography. I'd love to get rid of satellite service.

[johnsjmc]

I used an outdoor roof mounted antenna at my Tampa winter home I didn,t want cable as I didn,t want an excuse to stay indoors in the nice weather. I bought radio shacks best for about $140 .
I was amazed I got about 45 channels (although 5 or 6 were the same PBS feeds from different places and another 4or 5 were Spanish ). I even picked up early morning news from Newfoundland Canada on more than one occasion

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I have this one, but don't expect any tech support from these folks - out to lunch all the time.

HD Stacker TV Antenna


TV Fool

I bought the Stacker TV antenna for my garage and was amazed at the number of stations it receieved. Living in a rural area...had tried the huge 10 ft antennas with rotors and they never compared to the stacker antenna. It's compact and easy to install.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I bought the Stacker TV antenna for my garage and was amazed at the number of stations it receieved. Living in a rural area...had tried the huge 10 ft antennas with rotors and they never compared to the stacker antenna. It's compact and easy to install.

Yea, it is a good design, the more compact layout is less prone to wind sway.

I just wish they would pick up the phone, the order came quickly enough but the five foot pole they send isn't enough to even clear a roof peak.

I picked up a longer pole/post locally, the higher, the better generally.

Basic cable used to provide about 25 channels, I get about 50 channels for free now.

If the signal gets spotty because of storms when I'm watch sci-fi on Comet TV, they have a live feed over the Internet which I can switch to.

[Don Ro]

TV Antenna Models Installed by Zip Code (, ) - Shop at SolidSignal.com

[nota]

Originally Posted by Dave Kost

Tired of paying the cable company for the poor service and channels we don't watch. Going to buy a Smart TV and local stations with an antenna.

What antenna's are best? Can I put a outdoor antenna , replacing the Satellite dish, on my roof? Its already wired? Anyone tried this with success?

Or just try the cheap indoor window/ wall mounted one's?

Thanks,

the cables for the sat tv are fine with an antenna
the splitters are not and need to be replaced with tv type spilters
if you run more than 1 tv

the location and type of antenna depends on the distance to the transmitter
close in a set top is fine at the far end a tall roof antenna is needed

btw no need for a HD antenna the older ones work fine

[John Rogers]

A couple years ago I asked one of my computer students who had a business installing home and business audio/visual systems and he said in the San Diego area where I live most any one from Best Buy or Walmart or Target would work since we have good strong signals. I checked and bought one at Wally World and it works great. I could always have bought it back if there were issues but it picks up all the San Diego HD channels.

It also picks up a bunch of Mexican channels which have those really beautiful weather girls!

[ledhedsymbols]

The new digital television format has made big changes to the types of antenna that works well. The new Digital TV stations are all UHF while the old channels 2-13 were VHF. The UHF freqs are higher, and the wavelength is by definition shorter. That allows the elements of the antenna to be resonant at a shorter length. No more need for the huge old school antennas.

TV Fool

This is a great website and a solid resource!

Make sure you map the local transmitters, that will help you choose an omnidirectional or unidirectional antenna depending on distance and heading to the transmitters.

[ledhedsymbols]

Originally Posted by nota

btw no need for a HD antenna the older ones work fine

Correct, the concept of an HD antenna is pure marketing.

I also must correct myself, looks like some stations are still high band VHF. Check TVFool and then verify frequencies against the antenna you want.