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High def antennas

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phillyman36

Golden Member
Hey it seems that all my tower that carry the digital signals are 5 miles or lees from where i live. I have a cable box but my picture in picture on the tv only works with the antenna. My question is do indoor set top antennas really work well?
 
Originally posted by: Muadib
Yes, they work. I'm about 15 miles from where my locals are broadcast, and use the Silver Sensor.
Click to expand...

I have that same antenna, can't get it to work on either of my HDTVs. I'm pretty sure my HDTVs have built-in ATSC tuner. I ended up tearing the very very thin wires out from the housing. Maybe I'll solder it back on one of these days.
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: Muadib
Yes, they work. I'm about 15 miles from where my locals are broadcast, and use the Silver Sensor.
Click to expand...

I have that same antenna, can't get it to work on either of my HDTVs. I'm pretty sure my HDTVs have built-in ATSC tuner. I ended up tearing the very very thin wires out from the housing. Maybe I'll solder it back on one of these days.
Click to expand...

Did you set your TV to scan for "Air" signals?
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: Muadib
Yes, they work. I'm about 15 miles from where my locals are broadcast, and use the Silver Sensor.
Click to expand...

I have that same antenna, can't get it to work on either of my HDTVs. I'm pretty sure my HDTVs have built-in ATSC tuner. I ended up tearing the very very thin wires out from the housing. Maybe I'll solder it back on one of these days.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you need a QAM tuner
 
Did the channel scan, didn't pickup any signals. No biggie, we got cable anyway, but would be nice if we can pickup OTA HD signal as well.
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Did the channel scan, didn't pickup any signals. No biggie, we got cable anyway, but would be nice if we can pickup OTA HD signal as well.
Click to expand...

How far are you from where they broadcast your locals?
 
Originally posted by: BassBomb
Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: Muadib
Yes, they work. I'm about 15 miles from where my locals are broadcast, and use the Silver Sensor.
Click to expand...

I have that same antenna, can't get it to work on either of my HDTVs. I'm pretty sure my HDTVs have built-in ATSC tuner. I ended up tearing the very very thin wires out from the housing. Maybe I'll solder it back on one of these days.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you need a QAM tuner
Click to expand...

Que? His tvs has built in ATSC tuners... Why would be need a QAM tuner, which is for cable TV signal?
 
I'm at work right now, so I'll check the models when I get home. I bought them within the last 2 years, both TVs, so they definitely have built-in ATSC tuner, the component necessary to receive HD OTA signal. I actually got the smaller unit to display HD KQED once, it looked amazing.

As for the antenna, I broke the wire a few days ago trying to tighten the connector on the end of the silver antenna part. 🙁
 
i seriously bought 5 different "HD" antennas when i used broadcast...worked no better than a cheapo 5$ antenna. ended up with cable which worked best!
 
Originally posted by: LS21
i seriously bought 5 different "HD" antennas when i used broadcast...worked no better than a cheapo 5$ antenna. ended up with cable which worked best!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the cable looks significantly worse...
 
If your within 5 miles of the towers then you might not even need an antenna.
Take a piece of coax about 2-3 feet in length.
Remove the last 1 foot or so of the outer insulation , leaving just the center conductor enclosed in the plastic.
connect to tv and try it out.

I have done that for several friends that live close to towers.
Most receive in the 75-90 strength range.
 
This is probably daft, but OTA HD isn't affected by the migration to DTV in Feb '09, right?
 
At your distance, most any set top antenna should work well. The Silver Sensor is a good antenna for your current channel lineup, as it appears that all their digital signals are on UHF. The best place to get information about your local channel selection is TVfool.com. You can input your address and it will show the direction and approximate signal strength for each station in your area.

You can also see what your channel lineup will look like after Feb. 2009, since some channels will be changing frequencies. According to your post 2/2009 plot, it looks like WPVI-DT(ABC) will be switching to low VHF channel 6 and WHYY-DT(PBS) will be switching to high VHF channel 12. At your distance, there's a good chance the Silver Sensor could pick up digital channel 12, but I wouldn't count on it getting channel 6. As a rule, the lower the channel frequency, the larger the antenna you will need to get it. When you see the large all-channel antennas on people's roofs, the longest elements in the back are meant to pick up the lowest VHF frequencies, such as 2-3.

Anyway, in your instance you will want an antenna that at least has a shot at low VHF reception, and that will mean rabbit ears. If I were to recommend an indoor antenna for your location, I would suggest the Terk HDTVi. It's UHF reception is similar to the Silver Sensor, but it also has a pair of rabbit ears for VHF reception. Don't get the HDTVa, as this is the amplified version, and as close as you are to the transmitters you are likely to overpower your digital signal, which is just as bad as getting too little signal.

Every home's reception is different depending on certain factors, so it's a good idea to go cheap at first (for indoor antennas) just in case your first choice doesn't work so well. Most stores like Best Buy seriously over charge for the HDTVi, so I find the best place to get one is Ebay. It's pretty common to find one for $20-25, which is not bad.

Have you tried any indoor antennas yet? If not (before you spend for an antenna on Ebay), grab any cheap, unamplified rabbit ear set top antenna from Walmart or Target and see what kind of reception you get. The great thing about this is you can return the antenna for a refund if it doesn't do the job for you.

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck in your OTA reception hunt.
 
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