Antenna Selection Help Request

[razmichael]

I'm in the early process of working out the details of dropping my current Bell Sat and going OTA and would appreciate some advice on antenna design. My profile is http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d67d9e987ae4ddb
I have been playing with a very cheap set of rabbit ears (and a cheap HD to standard tuner/converter) to get a first cut at seeing the potential and have been able to pick up a number of channels both at the 65 and 119 degree (True) towers which would satisfy my needs (and those of my spouse). I have good spots to mount an external antenna or two and will be using the signals for two TVs (one standard and one HD but no internal tuner). I will eventually want to set up a DVR and am debating whether to use a dedicated system or build a media PC. Either way, this would need to be able to pick up signals from both towers without a switch or rotor.

What I'm hoping for is some advice on whether I could select a fairly wide band antenna that would pick up both towers or use a couple of directional ones and combine them (assuming the loss from the combining would be over come by the gain with the directional antennas and/or preamps).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I start shopping for antennas.

Thanks

[GroundUrMast]

Combining UHF antennas successfully, is rarely done using consumer grade RF components. There is a reason the cable company spends tens of thousands of dollars to combine OTA signal sources successfully.

However, if you are considering a Media PC, you can manage multiple tuners which opens some interesting options for you. The Silicondust HDHR3-US is a well supported option. The Silicondust tuner is actually two tuners in one unit and is attached via Ethernet rather than occupying an expansion slot in the PC. This allows you to dedicate a set of tuners to each antenna. Each tuner can be shared with more than one PC on the same LAN.

Take a look at this option: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=820 http://forum.tvfool.com/showpost.php?p=4351&postcount=2

If you desire to have reliable reception from both groups of stations, I'd suggest using two fixed aim antennas.

First a moderate size all channel antenna such as the Winegard HD7010 or Antennacraft C290 aimed at the 65°/78° (true/compass) group.

And secondly, a Winegard HD7696P or HD7698P aimed at the 119°/133° group. If you have to run more than just a few feet of coax or intend to split this signal, an Antennas Direct CPA-19 preamp will be needed to overcome the losses in the cable and/or splitter.

In addition to avoiding a potentially difficult and expensive RF combiner build, you get the hardware and software needed for PVR/DVR functionality. One last note, the Silicondust tuner is not capable of tuning analog signals. Products from Hauppauge such as the HVR-1850 may be required if you want analog view/record options.

[razmichael]

Thanks very much! I'll look at getting the antennas and may just try to combine the cheap and easy way to see what happens (but I fully understand how unlikely it will worth with a basic setup). Then I can make the remainder of the decisions on how to do the internal hookups and DVR capability. I admit that i'm doing this in steps to make it much easier to sell to my spouse! I really appreciate your quick and useful advice.

[GroundUrMast]

Here are a few more thought re. multi-antenna installations: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=2882

[razmichael]

Question on the HDHR3-US you mentioned. I recall you noted in another post (where you provided a diagram on your hookup using multiple HDHRs that this new model only has one antenna connector (and I checked the website/documentation). I'm thinking it might make sense to pick up a used older model (they seem to run around $60). From the FAQ entry on the product site and your description, you can then use the two separate antennas with the two tuners (assuming the PC software allows this). This would not let you watch one channel and record another unless the sources where from each antenna but this would be a minor inconvenience.

[GroundUrMast]

Question on the HDHR3-US you mentioned. I recall you noted in another post (where you provided a diagram on your hookup using multiple HDHRs that this new model only has one antenna connector (and I checked the website/documentation). I'm thinking it might make sense to pick up a used older model (they seem to run around $60). From the FAQ entry on the product site and your description, you can then use the two separate antennas with the two tuners (assuming the PC software allows this). This would not let you watch one channel and record another unless the sources where from each antenna but this would be a minor inconvenience.

If you install two fixed aim antennas and were to purchase only one HDHR3-US, you would be limited to using it with only one antenna. If you can find an earlier model at a fair price I think you'll find it an interesting and capable tuner. The older model will perform as well as the newer model, but you'll be able to connect two antennas.

I own both the older HDHR-dual and the current model HDHR3-US. My software sees no difference between the two models. Because I own several tuners, I have yet to encounter a situation where a tuner was not available to view or record from the desired antenna source.