What kind of an antenna?

[trucker_wi]

Hey guys,

I think I posted it at the wrong forum section before, this one must be the right one.

I'm looking for an antenna to receive free over-the-air channels. This my radar profile. It looks like I need an outdoor antenna, do I really?



I live on the first floor, about 10 feet AGL. I would prefer an indoor antenna. It's enough for me to receive the first six or seven channels. Would an amplified indoor antenna doing its job too?

Hope you guys can help me out.

Thanks.

- trucker_wi

EDIT: What about the Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna. Would it fit my needs?

[John Candle]

As is True with ALL indoor Tv antennas , DO NOT use a amplified indoor antenna. If one of these NON Amplified indoor antennas does not receive the channels you will like to watch then WILL Need to use a outdoor Tv antenna. Is the building a , house , condo , apt. or _____________. Is there a window or patio that is in the direction of about 79 degree magnetic compass ?? Here is information about indoor Tv antennas. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=233 . Read and understand this about Real Digital Tv Channels and Virtual Digital Tv Channels and Analog Tv Channels. forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=695 Here is how to aim Tv antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

[trucker_wi]

Thanks for the explanations and links John. So I will take a look for an NON-amplified indoor antenna. I do not have the possibility to mount an outdoor antenna so I have to go with an indoor one.

I will do a report when I'm done.

[John Candle]

Read and understand the information presented here. Do not skim over it lightly. I suggest you read the other question askers questions and the answers. You will understand that all the answers about indoor Tv antennas are the same. Question after Question , Answer after Answer. The reason it's the same is because the Answer is True.

[trucker_wi]

So I'm thinking taking the Terk Technology HDTVi VHF/UHF HDTV Indoor or the Philips SDV2710/27 Passive Enhanced Digital Performance.

[John Candle]

Answer the all the questions I ask. And answer them with answers that provide real and useful information. Do not say I live in a condo --and boom thats it.

[John Candle]

The HDTVi NON Amplified indoor Tv antenna is a real fine antenna. And so are the other NON Amplified indoor Tv antennas. There is more then one way to have a outdoor Tv antenna. Answer the questions I have ask.

[trucker_wi]

It is an apartment on a first floor facing the living room and bedroom windows directly to the north. Facing the east side, where the strong signals I need are coming from - there are some trees, about 30 feet high.

[John Candle]

Are there window or windows on the east side of the apt.?? Is there a patio at the north , east or south side of the Apt.?? The patio can be a front door patio or a back door patio. Are there Any small satellite dishes on the outside wall or roof of the apt. building?? Are there Any small satellite dishes on any of the other Apt. buildings?? Are there Any Tv antennas on the outside walls or roofs of Any of the Apt. buildings?? Are there Any small satellite dishes or Tv antennas mounted on poles or stands of any type or kind that are not mounted/connected to the building or buildings??

[John Candle]

Instead of me asking very thin slices of questions. And you providing one thin slice of a answer at a time. It is Ok to think these situations through and provide answers that will be provided as a result of asking-- Many-- very thin slices of questions.

[trucker_wi]

1. There are no windows to the east side. There is a big glass-sliding door to the north, which leads to a balcony and a window in the bedroom, which faces also to the north.

2. There is a balcony facing to the north. There is only one satellite dish on the other counterpart apartment, the satellite dish faces to the south, direct to me.

I can't see any other dishes or antennas near my apartment.

EDIT: It's OK, I really appreciate your effort to help me.

[John Candle]

I suggest try a NON Amplified indoor antenna , one of the ones listed at http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=233 , FIRST. Connect the NON Amplified indoor Tv antenna to the Tv and select in the Tv's menu to scan for Broadcast Digital Tv Channels. IF the reception is not good then it is Ok to use a length of coax so that the antenna can be moved to the glass balcony/patio door for better reception. . . . Well the one satellite dish that is on the outside of the Apt. building has established the FACT that antennas are not totaly band from being mounted on the outside of the buildings , is it mounted on the building or on some type of pole or stand that is not directly atatched to the building?? . No I am not suggesting that you get a satellite dish. Believe it or not there is a world beyond arms length. And it is Ok to go around the outside of the other buildings and make mental notes of what you see in the way of antennas of All different types and kinds. Here is more information to read and understand , http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html . This says that YES you can install and use Tv antennas that are with in the direct use and control of your Apt. , such as patios and balconies. And further more not all Apt. complexes ban the the attatchment of satellite dishes or other types of Tv antennas to the outside of the building that is beyond your direct use and control. I suggest that the next time you are out and about on this world that open your eyes. There is a wonderful and brave new world waiting for you that is beyound arms length , go get it.

[trucker_wi]

I had forgotten to mention that the satellite dish is mounted on a pole which is on the ground and not attached to the building.

I do not really want to use the balcony or an outdoor antenna, because of the drilling which would be necessary. The neighbors dish coax cable is entering their apartment within a self-drilled hole. I don't have any prepared holes in my wall for any incoming cables and to be hones I don't want to drill any wholes.

[John Candle]

Well Ok it's your choice but before you give the final no. Check this out , http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-.../dp/B0002KR74A and a clearstream2 UHF Tv antenna. The antenna can be mounted on a tripod antenna mount and set outside on patio/balcony and you can bring it inside any time you like. . Be nice to the flat antenna coax cable , do not slam doors or windows on it. All your receivable Tv channels are UHF Channels so the UHF out door antenna will work real fine.

[trucker_wi]

This is a good idea John. The Clearstream2 Antenna costs $62.94 at Amazon, a Tripod Mount for Antenna by Winegard (SS-0010) for $19.40 and the Flat Coaxial Cable Coupler for $4.00.

Unfortunately I don't know whats in the Clearstream2 Antenna box. Is there a coaxial cable already provided?

EDIT: I would like to use the antenna with the Hauppauge 1193 WinTV HVR-1500 Notebook Express Card HDTV Tuner on my laptop. It should be fine, shouldn't it?

[trucker_wi]

According to BestBuy http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antennas...&skuId=9119642 there is no coaxial cable included. Which one should I buy? I know that shorter cables runs better than the longer ones.

[Reg]

I recently purchased a large and small flat panel tv's that had digital and analogue receivers built in. The large was a Sony and the small was a Dynex. I built two highly touted digital antenna's. The results were not impressive. Being a pack rat I installed an old UHF antenna for the older tv's. This antenna is simply a circular loop of wire. The chrome coated wire is 0.075 inch diameter and forms an approximate 8 inch diameter circle that can be incrementally adjusted with the loop being anywhere from horizontal to vertical. The antenna for the large tv was installed near east and south facing windows of our bungalow located near Car Canada between Manotick and North Gower. I used the tv channel search option to find tv channel reception. After looking at the signal of the worst channel I adjusted the rotation of the vertical circular loop antenna and performed a second channel search. My result for english channels was 6 analog channels and 5 digital channels. There were 6 french analog channels and 1 (CBC) digital channel. On my older tv's I used rabbit ears with 3 analog channels with decent reception and 3 analog channels with snowy reception. With the new tv's I have 2 analog channels that are snowy. The other analog and digital channels have perfectly clear signals. Better than what we are used to and equal to cable tv reception.The smaller tv has the antenna in a north facing window. The result is similar to the east and south facing windows but I had more difficulty adjusting the antenna to get good reception for SUN TV at 20.1. In future I am going to experiment with larger diameter loop antenna's. I use a 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter (from pack rat collection) between the loop antenna and the 75 ohm cable feeding the tv antenna input. Trucker, if you don't have access to one of the older UHF circular antenna's then try making an 8 inch loop with a wire coat hangar. You will still need a 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter to connect to the tv.

[John Candle]

The coax cables come in standard lengths of 3 feet , 6 feet , 10 feet , 20 feet , 50 feet , 100 feet and so forth. the length of coax in your Apt. will not be long enough to loose any signal that will make a real difference in signal reduction. Yes the Digital Tuner for the lap top will work fine with the clearstream 2 antenna. And as you all ready know you can buy different lengths of coax at places like Home Depot. Always look inside the connector on the end of the coax , see if the outer metal foil shield and shield wires are pushed in toward the center conductor wire. If so then push the outer metal foil shield and shield wires away from the center conductor. The coax cables are machine made and the metal cutting blades get dull and push the outer shied and shield wires , not cutting cleanly.

[John Candle]

And as for REG . I suggest you read and understand these and when you understand all of that then there is a Lot More here at tvfool. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=695 , http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=233 , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html . http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=491 , http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=231 And as for making the size of the loop larger , the larger the loop the lower the operating frequency. There are many web sites for calculating tv antenna wave length. And many web sites for Tv antenna builders. I am well aware of the Highly Toot ted so called HDTV antennas. I am also well aware that 99% home built antennas are copies of factory built antennas designs , these antenna designs have been around for a Very Long Time. I am 61 years old and I have been doing Tv antennas for a very long time. I suggest that read the history of antenna manufactures and how they got there start in the early days of television , how one person was home building antenna designs of the own making , no one to copy from , how they learned more and more and started a company to make antennas , you might read the history of Winegard and Channelmaster and Jerrold and JFD and TACO and Blonder Tongue and more about the early days of television when the pioners made from scratch what you are copying now. And when you learn all that and more then you will cry like I do when you come to the realization of what they really did for all of us.

[trucker_wi]

I have seen many cables with different nomenclatures like RG-6 or RG-59 and F-Connectors or F-Plugs at the end. What does it mean?

Would be that kind of coaxial cable fine? http://www.amazon.com/23275-Coaxial-...7036074&sr=8-4