OTA TV Reception, antenna question

[Wabatuckian]

Since you're working through trees I'd stay away from the Yagi antennas and go with a grid. Actually, if you know the frequency, a parabolic grid would probably be optimal.

TV stations should be horizontally polarized.

The tower may be using a bit of downtilt, so if you can get ahold of the station and find out, you'll be able to calculate the area you're in. For example, line-of-sight is only about 2 miles. FM isn't good with atmospheric bounce depending on frequency. In the 1.9 to 2.1 gHz frequency range, you'd be practically limited to about 10 miles with a parabolic grid and repeater/amplifier.

When you drop down to the VHF/UHF ranges, you do start getting a bit of atmospheric deflection (gHz range just shoot off into space) and the longer the wavelength, the better at penetrating and otherwise overcoming obstacles (reference ELF).

I would definitely use a grid at the minimum since tree penetration is an issue.

Josh

 

[AngryRooster]

Lots of good ideas here. Thanks for the channelmaster DVR info.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Thanks for the link. Now I'm irritated since i just spent $53 to get it . I may call channelmaster tomorrow and complain about that.

on a side note, need help with some connections

our bedroom has a cable to the closet where a cable box took the signal to a component cable and then to our TV. Now I don't have that cable box. Do I need a digital tuner box with component out and just run it in place of the Comcast box?

Does your TV have a co-ax input? Does your TV have a digital tuner? If so, then you can just run the cable straight to your tv.

If not, then yes, you need a box.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Does your TV have a co-ax input? Does your TV have a digital tuner? If so, then you can just run the cable straight to your tv.

If not, then yes, you need a box.

It should have both. I'm just not sure how they ran the coax to that closet. I may have to run it up to the attic and back down again, through 18" of fluffy insulation

 

[hoosierdoc]

Went to run a cable in the attic to my TV in the bedroom. I removed the wall plate to see what it looked like in the room, and found the coax passed through there first before heading to the closet! Score! TV working in room now.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I received my pre-amp and just got it installed. More ladder work and had to drill two more holes in the house, but it's working! My two channels 8/13 we had a few blips on before at times are now 100% signal strength. I am running an extension cord into my attic to power it which isn't idea but it works until I can hit HD and buy a box to mount an outlet under the light.

Rescanned for channels and now pick up 46 instead of 41 . No idea what the new ones are yet.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Just officially cut cable. I called and said I wanted Internet only. They tried to get me to stay with triple play, I said no. They then said I was liable for the remaining fees on my contract. I was having a very hard time hearing/understanding the lady and wanted her to call me back. She said bye. I called back, talked to a guy and he said $2.99 one-time service switch fee. BOOM.

i had bought a modem on amazon and I'm saving the modem rental fee. I disconnected the phone and then the tamper alert on our alarm went off. I couldn't hear it from the basement but my kids were freaking out. My phone died and I didn't get the call but several family members did. Got to meet a nice Johnson County officer though

I noticed I was running the cable through an unnecessary splitter so I gained another 3dB of signal.

OK Comcast, come and get it! #losingtowin

 

[38special]

Nice! Keep at it, man. Debt free is awesome - no other way to live. Gazelle intense!

 

[looney2ns]

I appreciate the low cost option but the channel master seems like what I am looking for. My wife isn't 100% behind this move so anything to make it easier would be helpful. I happen to have a spare 1tb drive sitting too.

Ok Doc, you've had the Channel Master DVR for awhile now. Give us the scoop. Does it have good WAF (wife acceptance factor)?

Any gotcha's you've encountered that you didn't foresee?

Does it indeed record in HD and playback in HD?

 

[hoosierdoc]

The image quality is great and seem to be full HD (uncompressed at that!). My wife thinks it's OK, but it's certainly not as streamlined as a cable box with built-in DVR and whole-house function. The three biggest drawbacks I've seen are the inability to only record new episodes of a show. You have to choose a title and record all instances, then find the new ones in there. Another is the small buttons on the fast forward/rewind/play options. They are the bottom of the remote and play is on a different horizontal plane than FF/RW. The last is the lack of app support (currently, they claim it's coming in the future). I think you really need to pair it with AppleTV, a Roku, Slingbox, or something like that. It is designed to work with a SlingBox 500 I believe.

I keep reminding my wife that we're doing this to save money, not upgrade what we had. It's not going to be as integrated or have on-demand function but she's getting used to it. Our kids are watching less TV which is nice.

I would also get a universal remote, like a Logitech Harmony model. I bought an HDMI switch so I can run the DVR+, appleTV, and our camcorder. That has a remote. The AppleTV has a remote. The DVR+ has a remote. Much easier to just get one and control all boxes with it. She is accepting it at this point, but has her moments of frustration when switching inputs on the HDMI switch and a few other things. I hope to resolve that with a universal remote.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

So......

Do we start an over/under pool to guess when MrsHoosierDoc calls ComCast or DirectTV or some such to get her TV life back to normal?

 

[saleen4971]

i bought the harmony hub with standard remote, and love it.

tons of customization - but the phone app leaves a bit to be desired IMO.

the unit has two IR blaster outputs - im sure if you needed, you could put a "multi-blaster" on it if you need more. the ability to control my PS3 with it is the only reason i upgraded from my last harmony (860?) - i checked all over for the best price i could on a new unit. best buy was the same as amazon, so i jsut ran down the road to pick it up. only finicky thing with the harmony remotes is figuring out the best timings - too slow, and you wait forever. too fast and you may end up hitting the activity button twice.

 

[looney2ns]

Thanks, I've had Harmony for several years. They rock once you get it programed.
I think it's the 890. It does both RF and IR. Everything is in the closet, DVR, A/V Receiver, Bluray, Roku, etc. but the TV on the wall. The Harmony does great.

 

[Tactical Dave]

If you are running the coax from the splitter straight into the tv it's not full HD.... Coax does not pass HD very well.

I have thigh about going antenna and Rouku but only pay $100 a month for tv and internet (not a promotion) with my employee discount.... Personally not worth the headaches....

comcast techs tend tend to hack things up.... Crummy cable end/wall plate barrels and spliced up cable all can drastically affect signal strength....


As for the directv comments you mean AT&T lol, they are buying them out.

 

[IndyBeerman]

If you are running the coax from the splitter straight into the tv it's not full HD.... Coax does not pass HD very well.

Enlighten me, please explain.

 

[radar8756]

If you are running the coax from the splitter straight into the tv it's not full HD.... Coax does not pass HD very well..

Coax (RG-6 quad shield) passes HD fine from the Satellite Dish / Antenna / Cable company to the Sat Receiver / ATCS tuner-converter / Cable box ...

You might be thinking of the RF output of a Sat Receiver / ATCS tuner-converter / Cable box being "Ch-3" which is RF modulated old time Analog TV ... i.e. Not HDTV

If you have a newer HDTV with a integrated ATCS tuner-converter built in ... you will get Full HD with the Coax connected directly to the ANTENNA connector

 

[JettaKnight]

If you are running the coax from the splitter straight into the tv it's not full HD.... Coax does not pass HD very well.

I have thigh about going antenna and Rouku but only pay $100 a month for tv and internet (not a promotion) with my employee discount.... Personally not worth the headaches....

comcast techs tend tend to hack things up.... Crummy cable end/wall plate barrels and spliced up cable all can drastically affect signal strength....


As for the directv comments you mean AT&T lol, they are buying them out.

LOLWUT?

ATSC is digital, and the feed from the antenna will happily transmit the signal, HD or otherwise.

 

[CHCRandy]

Nice! Keep at it, man. Debt free is awesome - no other way to live. Gazelle intense!

No such thing is there? I wish I could pay off my property taxes in advance.......that debt you will never eliminate, unless you rent.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Dang it, I was wanting TD to explain his mythical version of why coax does not pass HD well.

Maybe he's been playing with RG-58 for so long that he does not know RG-6 Quad shield passes HD signal just fine.

Might have to show him some RG-11, but that's very hard to get retail.

Coax (RG-6 quad shield) passes HD fine from the Satellite Dish / Antenna / Cable company to the Sat Receiver / ATCS tuner-converter / Cable box ...

You might be thinking of the RF output of a Sat Receiver / ATCS tuner-converter / Cable box being "Ch-3" which is RF modulated old time Analog TV ... i.e. Not HDTV

If you have a newer HDTV with a integrated ATCS tuner-converter built in ... you will get Full HD with the Coax connected directly to the ANTENNA connector

 

[PeaShooter]

I can save $100/mo by doing this if I pay for the 25Mbps internet service and stick to antenna, hulu, netflix, etc...

25MB is overkill for just hulu and netflix. We have been cable free with 6mb internet service for over 2 years and run 3 roku boxes at a time with no issues.