Over-the-Air Antennas: Which are the Best?

What? Are you saying YCHTPOA?

 

exactly (what'd he say?)

 

IGYA.AASTMTE!

 

My favorite;

Winegard HD 7210P Ghost Killer VHF/UHF Yagi Style HDTV Antenna (HD7210P) from Solid Signal)

I installed it outside in 1999. It worked great with a Channel Master amplifier.

With the HDTV transition, Channel 7 was my lowest frequency channel. So, I shortened the elements to match Channel 7 and above.

When I had a new roof put on my house, I put it in the attic, since it was smaller with the cut elements.

It has been there since 2010.

Every digital channel comes it clear without drop-offs. I get 16 channels including the sub channels.

 

I looked at the short cable I'm using now, think it was from shAw cable, when they installed pvr some years back. Don't see either cable you mention. It says:

200896 F5967BVV (ETL)us CATV 2D AWG

There's another similar cable, assume same origin, has diff digits for the first two groups, and the remaining is the same. The first two are some sort of serial number, specific to one spool of cable??

BTW, thanks for all the tips, guess you've been in this game for a bit.

 

Just before the analog to digital transition in 2009, antennas were not the thing in America. The great majority were on cable and/or satellite.

But the digital transition did cause many viewers to re-discover antennas, especially when many cable systems didn't automatically pipe HD to customers without extra fees. The extra (sub)channels also helped.

In the digital era, many viewers (depending on local market) don't need any VHF, so they can use a more compact UHF-only model. I get only two channels still on VHF, the lowest at channel 9, and both so strong that antenna gain is not an issue. My former VHF channels at 4, 5, and 7 are now just virtual channels, physically transmitted on UHF (at 38, 49, and 39 respectively).

Ghosting is an analog-only issue. With digital, ghosts are automatically gone. Good tuners can even use that secondary RF path energy that caused analog ghosts to improve the digital signal-to-noise ratio.

Digital can produce a clean picture with a weaker signal than the old analog. I still get some breakups in foul weather from the lower and more obstructed antenna, but it is still better than the prior analog problems.

With subchannels, I'm getting at least 45 channels, several of them are even useful. The farthest (weakest) are the PBS station in Tacoma (front of antenna), and the strongest station from Bellingham (back of antenna). I believe that later signal is transmitted from Orcas Island, with is much closer to Mendel than to me.

 

While ghosting occurs only in analog signals, multipaths will degrade digital signals.

You don't see the "ghost," but you get a weaker signal and drop-offs.

 

Theoretically, digital rake receivers can detect each of those multipath components and appropriately combine them for a stronger overall signal.

I don't know how well any common consumer devices may implement this.

 

It seems that you should first focus on the stronger SSE stations. Then identify what programs you want to see on the weaker N stations that are not available on the SSE signals, and how badly you want to see them.

Omnidirectional and bidirectional antennas will have no problem with the opposite directions. Rabbit ears, old set-top UHF loops, dipoles, folded dipoles, and the homemade antenna Mendel pictured fall into this category. But you'd have to be very careful with your installation in order to not lose too much signal to tune the weaker N stations. Indoor and attic installations will have a tougher time of this than outdoor mounts.

For unidirectional antennas such as I linked to, performance will depend on the front-back ratio. You might be able to point such an antenna directly towards the weaker N stations (or split the difference between N and NNW) and still get enough signal from the strong stations in the back (SSE) to sufficiently tune them in. Again, this will work better with high outdoor mounts. Not being a real RF engineer, and lacking the proper signal analysis equipment at home, I use the trial-and-error method to determine what I can receive.

 

If you're signals are close to 180 deg apart that's actually very good, using a directional antenna without a reflector. There is no front or back to it.

The bulk of our stations are to the north west, but at least one is to the south east, albeit a bit further away.

Hah, see Fuzzy's on it. Good good.

 

I use Antennaweb.org alot at work. Its a good site. Just put your zip in and tells you how far away you are from the antennas.

 

Isn't it a mind blower?

With our stations and tuner if I press info I get just a terse explanation of the current show, and how long it's on. Depends on the area I guess.

 

Funny you should mention carpal tunnel syndrome. I was actually sliding into that, geesh, well over a decade back, now, come to think of it. Using an un-ergonomic tablet and puck, doing a lot of AutoCAD daily. Found I was getting increasing pain in my right wrist, forearm and shoulder. Mostly wrist.

Finally starting paying attention to getting myself out of the carpal hole. A few ploys:

1. Break up your routine. Vary what you're doing, choose different tasks.

I'm still doing autocad, use a mouse, but have about a million keyboard short cuts in my head. AND, switched my job description to "checker", so my AutoCAD is primarily on my own terms, for me, and for a large part of my day there's an old fashioned pencil in my hand.

(Well, except this spring I got let go due to slow down. I'm on the cusp of retirement. Know I'll have to get back in, but not rushing. Which is why I'm such a PriusChat pest, lol.)

2. With the computer, if there's a keyboard alternative to the mouse, use it, learn it.

3. Learn to touch-type. (biggy)

4. Definitely not last: exercise. Dumbells, push ups, you name it.

 

Have you tried your homemade antenna in the attic?

 

Nay. Just buy a regular antenna. That antenna bandwidth is 400-700 and there's quite a bit of stations here for instance below that freq here.
Go to antennaweb.org and look up the freq of all the stations in your area.

Go to mcm.com and look up antenna selections for a mid size antenna.

MCM Electronics - Search Results for antenna

 

Tony, I thought you were done, in post #34, lol.

Just to describe our situation: we've got strong local stations, coming from transmitter on nearish mountain. They're somewhat limited, but hey. There's a big hump of a hill to the south of us, and beyond that a few more US stations. But they're deep fringe, even if I could "see" over that hill, I'm not sure of my chances. And for what: a bit more commercial programming.

Between that issue, and our "internet tv" viewing habits, I just dubbed it good as is. Got the local news, an occasional Canucks game (whenever they're playing Saturdays, and ALL the play off games), and a mix of programming.

Our "internet tv" viewing is really the meat and potatos. Currently plowing through the Danish version of "The Killing", for example. Great show.