Western New York antenna advice needed

[joebcassidy]

I'm ditching the dish and need to find a decent antenna. Right now I'm picking up ABC, NBC & CBS with a pair of broken rabbit ears. Bare minimum I'd like to add FOX to the lineup, but ideally I like to get some Canadian stations.

Would this one work?
http://www.espymall.com/hd.html?campaign=dealnews

Here's my tvfoolreport:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d7243e2cac2c879

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Joe

[mtownsend]

Hello and welcome!

You are really close to some transmitter like WGRZ, WIVB, WKBW, WNGS, and WNYO, which is what makes them very easy to receive.

Stations like WUTV are further away and on the north-west side of the house. That will make them more difficult to receive, but an attic or rooftop antenna should be able to pull them in quite nicely.

Would you consider a rooftop antenna installation?



The Canadian digital signals are at the edge of being receivable. You can probably get some of the channels most of the time, but it's hard to get reliable reception at these distances. In order to have a chance at getting these, you'll definitely need a rooftop antenna.

The analog Canadian channels seem to be a little easier to get, so you can at least enjoy them until their analog shutdown deadline of August 31, 2011. After that, we'll have to see how much power their digital transmitters come up with.



Would this one work?
http://www.espymall.com/hd.html?campaign=dealnews

From what I've heard, these antennas are built cheap (rotator gets stuck or fails after just 1 year) and have poor performance (not good for weaker signals). Your strong local transmitters are probably also too much for the built-in amp to handle (will cause overload). I'd steer clear of this antenna.



If you're only interested in local stations, then a smaller antenna like the Winegard HD7694P or Antennacraft HBU-33 would suffice (these antennas only cover channels 7-69 and are fine for the local broadcasts).

If you want to also get the Canadian analog broadcasts, then you'll want to go with something bigger like the Winegard HD7084P or HD8200U (these antennas have more range and also cover channels 2-6 so that you get CBLT). It's difficult to say whether this will be enough to pick up the Canadian broadcasts after they go fully digital because we don't know how much they will tweak the signal power as they deploy these new systems next year.

Do not get any antennas with a built-in amp. Your closest stations are too strong for most amps to handle, so you are better off without one.

[joebcassidy]

Thanks, that's awesome information!

I kind of figured that antenna wasn't very high quality. You get what you pay for.

I'm fine with a rooftop antenna, as long as I can find someone to do the installation ("my terrible balance" + "a wife & 4 kids to take care of" = "me staying off the roof"). What I think I'll do is look at getting either the HD7084P or the HD8200U and putting it in my attic for starters. If that doesn't do the trick, I'll look for help getting on the roof in the spring.

I really appreciate you help.
Joe

[mtownsend]

What I think I'll do is look at getting either the HD7084P or the HD8200U and putting it in my attic for starters.

FYI, the HD7084P and HD8200U are very large antennas. You might want to check if they will even fit in your attic. Also, if you plan on moving the antenna later, you'll have to think about how you'll get the antenna back out of the attic after it's been unfolded and assembled.