Plan to shift to OTA - feedback on my plan and antenna?

[Traveller]

Hi everyone. First post, but I've spent HOURS reading this forum and coming up with a plan to break up with my satellite provider (sick of spending $100/month for 5 channels we actually watch).

Here is my signal analysis: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...8e0327bf3fd081

My goals are:
1) ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX,PBS (mandatory). Others are a bonus.
2) DVR Capability.
3) Viewable from all TVs in the house
4) DVR contents viewable remotely over the Internet
5) antenna mounted in the attic is strongly preferred over the roof

To address numbers 2,3,4 above, I bought a Tablo DVR device and just started playing with it this weekend. So far I am VERY impressed.

For number 1 above, I am thinking of a Winegard HD7694P. I plan on aiming it at 145* mag and hopefully I can receive PBS off the back of the antenna. I am an antenna rookie, so this is the piece I am most unsure of. Is this a good choice?

I'd appreciate any and all feedback on my plan. Thanks!

[rabbit73]

Welcome to the forum, Traveller:

For number 1 above, I am thinking of a Winegard HD7694P. I plan on aiming it at 145* mag and hopefully I can receive PBS off the back of the antenna. I am an antenna rookie, so this is the piece I am most unsure of. Is this a good choice?

That sounds like a good plan to me. The signal loss from an attic location is difficult to predict. A metal roof, aluminum thermal barrier, aluminum siding, and stucco will block signals, as will trees and other buildings.

Try the 7694 in the attic using a temporary setup with one TV and its tuner. Move the antenna around in the attic to find the best location.

WTLJ and WGUV are so strong they would probably overload a preamp.

[Traveller]

Rabbit - thank you for the feedback!

Originally Posted by rabbit73

The signal loss from an attic location is difficult to predict. A metal roof, aluminum thermal barrier, aluminum siding, and stucco will block signals, as will trees and other buildings.

Standard shingles and no metal or stucco, so I am hopeful. My home however is surrounded by tall trees - no getting around that unless I put up REALLY tall mast which I am trying to avoid. I am a little encouraged by a test I did with a small, flat window type antenna in an interior room. I was able to receive FOX, PBS, ABC, ION, and a bunch of the independant channels with just that small antenna by moving it around the room.

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Try the 7694 in the attic using a temporary setup with one TV and its tuner. Move the antenna around in the attic to find the best location.

Will do. I think the Tablo DVR device will help with that process since I can attach antenna to it and control it's tuner to rescan and show results remotely from my tablet while still in the attic. Also, since the Tablo streams live and recorded content to my other TV's, it will be the only device connected to the antenna - no splits to worry about.

Originally Posted by rabbit73

WTLJ and WGUV are so strong they would probably overload a preamp.

Good to know - thank you. I think you are right since I as able to get those channels no matter how or where I pointed that tiny test antenna...

Thanks again!

[Traveller]

I got out the ladder to go measure the attic today, turned around, and what do I see? An Antenna is already up there from the previous owner!!





I think its an FM antenna (???), but may be useful for testing before I buy the large antenna.

Now I need to go figure out which of the 25 unlabeled coax cables in my distribution cabinet connect to this thing and my wiring just got a lot easier.

[Stereocraig]

Yeah, that's a dual folded dipole for FM and its tuning center, would be 98MHZ, so probably not very strong, for the Low VHF band and even worse, for VHF Hi and UHF.

Not that it wont receive other bands, just not very well.
It certainly isn't going to blow anything, just if it doesn't work, you would need to buy the proper antenna, anyway.
Probably from Rat Shack and they are an excellent antenna, for FM stereo receivers.
Whatever you do, be extremely careful, if you need to fold it back up, to get it out.

[Traveller]

Found the right cable and attached the tiny flat window antenna thing up in the attic as a test.

Got the following channels:

8-1 NBC (3 bars) (out of 5)
8-2 Bounce
8-3 Radar
13-1 ABC (5 bars)
13-2 WX
13-3 Justice
17-1 Fox (5 bars)
17-2 Antenna
17-3 ThisTV
35-1 PBS (5 bars)
35-2 PBS
35-3 WGVU-11
35-4 WGVU-11
41-1 ABC (5 bars)
41-2 Radar
54-1 TBN (5 bars)
54-2 WTLJ-HD
54-3 WTLJ-SD2
64-1 WLLA D1 (1 bar)
64-2 WLLA D2
64-3 WLLA D3

So - I take all this to be encouraging that with a real antenna up there, I should be good to go. Thoughts or comments?

Thanks!

[Traveller]

Thank you all for your help! Today I installed the antenna in the attic and it's working like a champ. 33 channels including all my mandatory ones - ALL at 5 / 5 bars!

So long dish network...

[rabbit73]

Thanks for the report and the photos. Glad that we were able to help you make your plan a success.