Greater LA area setup/equipment advice

[Venturan]

Hi there,
I need help figuring out what equipment I would need to be able to get a digital signal to my house, and would appreciate any advice y’all could give me. I saw the tigerbang setup thread, but read that it was outdated in later posts.

Noob here. Please forgive me, I know VERY LITTLE about this stuff, but am a quick learner (as long as layman’s terms are used), and am handy. I just couldn’t figure out what all the tvfool page was telling me. I think all the channels I want are in teh green area. I know I’m a little over 66 miles from the nearest transmitter (Mt. Wilson, in Los Angeles). I am ready to ditch Dish Network at the end of the year, but am a little apprehensive about canceling the account if I can’t receive a digital signal from an antenna.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dda3207bc3e7b4b

Let’s see what other info might be helpful: I have a 2 story house, no tall buildings (3+ stories) or humongous trees nearby. My house is Cat-5 wired. We live in a tract with CCRs within city limits, so I don’t know what kind of (unenforced?) limits I have on mast height if mounted outside. We currently have 3 tvs, but as the kids grow up, would need 5 eventually…if splitting makes a difference. We have a Roku unit for one of the tvs as well.

Would I mount outside or in the attic?

Thanks so much in advance! It's all pretty daunting to me at this point.

Michael

[John Candle]

You have it easy. The transmissions at 80 degree magnetic compass are LOS =Line Of Sight. The transmissions are strong and you will receive most of them with a simple indoor antenna if the house is not wrapped with metal siding or stucko with stucko Wire or does not have brick with woven wire behind the brick like the wire mesh that is used to hold stucko in place or does not have poured concrete walls or a metal roof. Give one of these Simple indoor antenna a try at one tv and see what you will receive. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=233 . And here is how to point tv antennas. http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html . Also read and understand this about Real digital tv channels and Virtual digital tv channels. The main point is that one needs to know what the real channels are so one can know the correct antenna for Tv reception. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=695 . When it's time to buy a outdoor antenna then a Winegard Hd7695P will do a real fine job of receiving the television transmissions at 80 degree magnetic compass. The most common types of antenna mounts are the tri-pod , chimney mount , eave mount. The best way to run RG-6 Coax wiring is , bring the coax from the antenna to a location where the coaxes come to one place , from the rooms in the house.

[John Candle]

Here are the Facts about installing antennas on the roof or any where outside your house. What it says is Yes You Can install antennas on your house and property and no one can prevent you from doing so. You might need to read it several times because what it says is Yes You Can. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

[Venturan]

So Cal is the stucco capital of the world, and also our roof is some sort of concrete-like composite, so I'm thinking I would probably end up having to do an eave mount. I hadn't thought about that.

Are any of the more aesthetically pleasing (eg Clearstream4, DB4) any good? If I have to do an eave mount, essentailly all I need is the antenna, mast/mount, and coax, correct? No preamp. Oh, and I MUST have a DVR in the living room!! I think I saw the ChannelMaster 7000 recommended in another thread. Anything else comparable?

So I would run a line from the antenna to my Cat 5 box, right? Will I automatically lose signal fidelity since the cat-5 is wired throughout the house?

Thanks for the advice!!

[Dave Loudin]

Cat-5 will not carry VHF/UHF signals. You need to run RG-6 coax cable from the antenna to a splitter and from the splitter to each each room where a TV will be.

What follows is a summary of what's in the Signal Analysis FAQ that's linked to at the top of your report.

You have strong signals, so a big, high-gain antenna is not needed. You do need an antenna designed to capture high-VHF (7-13) and UHF (14-51) channels. A Winegard HD7694P or an AntennaCraft HBU-33 will be perfectly fine. A pre-amp is probably not needed. Use a splitter (it;s OK to have extra ports, just be sure to terminate unused ones) that will have enough ports for the TVs to be connected.

[Tower Guy]

Are any of the more aesthetically pleasing (eg Clearstream4, DB4) any good?

Not in LA. Those are UHF only antennas. You have several VHF stations.

If you can get the antenna on the right side of the house with no trees or houses in the way you could consider an ANT751 with an HDP-269 preamp.

[John Candle]

Aesthetic , is a code word for , out of touch with reality.

[Venturan]

lol....point taken