wlepse
11-Oct-2013, 2:01 PM
I have to admit I hadn't given OTA much thought since I live in northwest NJ; couple the distance from the transmitters with the hills and it is a recipe for a whole lot of nothing. But I recently saw a deal on a tiny flat antenna from Meritline that was like 6 bucks delivered and figured what the hell. I hooked it up and was surprised to see I got around 7 channels. The best were out of the PA area. Since the wife has been on me about getting some TV back but I have been reluctant to add the ridiculous cable fees I figured I would run over to Walmart and see what they had and give them a shot. So I picked up a Phillips SDV8622T/27 an RCA multi directional amplified flat antenna and a Moho Leaf Ultimate. All three came with amplifiers and I did some playing around with mixing and matching just to see what I could get.
So this is where it gets interesting or confusing in my case since I have no idea about this stuff but the outcome kind of surprised me.
Both the Phillips and RCA units with amplifiers got less stations than the cheap Meritline unit w/o amplifiers, but using these amplifiers with the Meritline unit I was able to pull in about a dozen stations.
I had expected the most out of the Moho Ultimate just based on what I had read in the thread where I found the Meritline unit. Unfortunately this didn't really pan out. The Moho pulled in 17 stations, but if I connected its amp to the Meritline unit I got 22. Both were positioned in the same window facing approx east. So from what I read using amplifiers isn't the best option since it adds noise but I figured I had nothing to lose so I hooked up two amps with the Meritline and got 33 channels and with 3 amps I got 36. So there is definitely diminishing returns there. But what I found interesting was that in all cases this cheap antenna performed better.
Now on to the part that has me really confused. Here is a link to my signal analysis (please note this is at ground level): http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d46ae77159ada8a
According to this I should be getting 41.1 and 42.1 with ease, but in none of the iterations mentioned above did these channels ever come in. Not sure I care since I don't know what they are but this adds to my confusion since I am also getting a ton of channels that aren't listed. It is especially baffling since most of these stations are foreign language and that really isn't the make up of the community out here.
Anyway with two amps I am able to get CBS 2.1 and CBSNY 2.2 out of NY pretty much unpixelated. NBC 4.1 is all pixilated. If I go to three amps I can kind of get NBC 4.1 and WWOR-TV 9.1 but WNYW-DT 5.1 is pixelated. Now what makes me confused (besides the channels I get that are not listed) according to the analysis I should also be able to get WABC-TV 7 but I never do. I also find it strange that CBS is stronger than WWOR. So a lot of things don't seem to add up...at least to me.
But in the end I would like to be able to get CBS, NBC and PBS 100% and ABC, WWOR and WNYW would be bonuses. I am pretty close with what I have but having three amps and only one tv connected is not practical. So I am wondering what my options are. I would prefer not to have a huge outdoor antenna but I think I am pretty limited based on location. I could put something in the attic but I would imagine this would require a larger antenna and that might start to be an issue. I also don't want to have to move it to get other stations but based on locations listed I don't think I would have to. So what are the recommendations? Am I just too far out that cable is my best bet to keep the wife off my back?
So this is where it gets interesting or confusing in my case since I have no idea about this stuff but the outcome kind of surprised me.
Both the Phillips and RCA units with amplifiers got less stations than the cheap Meritline unit w/o amplifiers, but using these amplifiers with the Meritline unit I was able to pull in about a dozen stations.
I had expected the most out of the Moho Ultimate just based on what I had read in the thread where I found the Meritline unit. Unfortunately this didn't really pan out. The Moho pulled in 17 stations, but if I connected its amp to the Meritline unit I got 22. Both were positioned in the same window facing approx east. So from what I read using amplifiers isn't the best option since it adds noise but I figured I had nothing to lose so I hooked up two amps with the Meritline and got 33 channels and with 3 amps I got 36. So there is definitely diminishing returns there. But what I found interesting was that in all cases this cheap antenna performed better.
Now on to the part that has me really confused. Here is a link to my signal analysis (please note this is at ground level): http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d46ae77159ada8a
According to this I should be getting 41.1 and 42.1 with ease, but in none of the iterations mentioned above did these channels ever come in. Not sure I care since I don't know what they are but this adds to my confusion since I am also getting a ton of channels that aren't listed. It is especially baffling since most of these stations are foreign language and that really isn't the make up of the community out here.
Anyway with two amps I am able to get CBS 2.1 and CBSNY 2.2 out of NY pretty much unpixelated. NBC 4.1 is all pixilated. If I go to three amps I can kind of get NBC 4.1 and WWOR-TV 9.1 but WNYW-DT 5.1 is pixelated. Now what makes me confused (besides the channels I get that are not listed) according to the analysis I should also be able to get WABC-TV 7 but I never do. I also find it strange that CBS is stronger than WWOR. So a lot of things don't seem to add up...at least to me.
But in the end I would like to be able to get CBS, NBC and PBS 100% and ABC, WWOR and WNYW would be bonuses. I am pretty close with what I have but having three amps and only one tv connected is not practical. So I am wondering what my options are. I would prefer not to have a huge outdoor antenna but I think I am pretty limited based on location. I could put something in the attic but I would imagine this would require a larger antenna and that might start to be an issue. I also don't want to have to move it to get other stations but based on locations listed I don't think I would have to. So what are the recommendations? Am I just too far out that cable is my best bet to keep the wife off my back?