dprljackson
10-Dec-2010, 5:09 PM
Hi all,
I'm a newbie when it comes to TV antennas. I live in Carlisle, PA. Here is a link to the tvfool report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dda32d95f4868c9
Here is the situation. We just moved to a new house and got our first HD television. We have a TV antenna that was purchased at Radio Shack about 10 years ago. I thought I'd try to use it in the attic of our new house. After a little fiddling around, we were able to pull in everything we wanted. abc, nbc, cbs, cw, pbs, and fox. The "tough" channels were nbc (8.1) and fox (43.1). So we lived like this for a month or so and then had solar panels installed on the roof. The antenna was pointed directly through the portion of the roof where the solar panels went. This messed up the reception. So I went into the attic and messed around. It didn't seem to help much until I moved the antenna way over so that it was pointing just past where the solar panels end. Voila, reception was back, although not quite as good, with the exception of fox which didn't come in at all.
After a while, we decided that we really wanted to get fox back. So I took the antenna out of the attic and went up on the roof. I thought that the reception would be far better once the antenna was out of the attic. I tried holding the antenna and walking all over the roof but could never get fox to come in. I'm really puzzled by this. I don't understand how I could have been receiving it inside the attic and now I can't get it outside. Could the solar panels be causing a problem? It thought perhaps there was some reflection problems but I tried the antenna a ways away from the panels and also in front of the panels and still no luck.
The antenna I'm using is a UHF/VHF that is approximately 7 feet in length with V-angled pieces that are about 4-5 feet in width. Sorry I can't be more specific about what kind it is. When the solar panels were first installed and we lost reception, I went and purchased an antennacraft HBU33 from radio shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3740646). I tried this in the attic and it was no better than the one we already have. I did not try the HBU33 outside.
So anyway. I'd appreciate any help I can get. I really want to pick up fox. I'm not against purchasing a newer (better) antenna. I guess the ideal scenario from my perspective would be to find something that would work in the attic. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of space up there and not a lot of room to "rotate" the antenna around. I'm not completely opposed to mounting it outside but would prefer something smaller that would be easier to mount and not so big and ugly. Perhaps one of those disc-type antennas. I'm guessing, however, that these disc-type antennas won't work for what I need.
aTdHvAaNnKcSe
David
I'm a newbie when it comes to TV antennas. I live in Carlisle, PA. Here is a link to the tvfool report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dda32d95f4868c9
Here is the situation. We just moved to a new house and got our first HD television. We have a TV antenna that was purchased at Radio Shack about 10 years ago. I thought I'd try to use it in the attic of our new house. After a little fiddling around, we were able to pull in everything we wanted. abc, nbc, cbs, cw, pbs, and fox. The "tough" channels were nbc (8.1) and fox (43.1). So we lived like this for a month or so and then had solar panels installed on the roof. The antenna was pointed directly through the portion of the roof where the solar panels went. This messed up the reception. So I went into the attic and messed around. It didn't seem to help much until I moved the antenna way over so that it was pointing just past where the solar panels end. Voila, reception was back, although not quite as good, with the exception of fox which didn't come in at all.
After a while, we decided that we really wanted to get fox back. So I took the antenna out of the attic and went up on the roof. I thought that the reception would be far better once the antenna was out of the attic. I tried holding the antenna and walking all over the roof but could never get fox to come in. I'm really puzzled by this. I don't understand how I could have been receiving it inside the attic and now I can't get it outside. Could the solar panels be causing a problem? It thought perhaps there was some reflection problems but I tried the antenna a ways away from the panels and also in front of the panels and still no luck.
The antenna I'm using is a UHF/VHF that is approximately 7 feet in length with V-angled pieces that are about 4-5 feet in width. Sorry I can't be more specific about what kind it is. When the solar panels were first installed and we lost reception, I went and purchased an antennacraft HBU33 from radio shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3740646). I tried this in the attic and it was no better than the one we already have. I did not try the HBU33 outside.
So anyway. I'd appreciate any help I can get. I really want to pick up fox. I'm not against purchasing a newer (better) antenna. I guess the ideal scenario from my perspective would be to find something that would work in the attic. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of space up there and not a lot of room to "rotate" the antenna around. I'm not completely opposed to mounting it outside but would prefer something smaller that would be easier to mount and not so big and ugly. Perhaps one of those disc-type antennas. I'm guessing, however, that these disc-type antennas won't work for what I need.
aTdHvAaNnKcSe
David