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Old 10-Jan-2010, 8:37 AM   #2
mtownsend
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 632
It looks like most of your channels are coming from just two main directions. There's one group in the north-east mainly serving Raleigh, and other group in the south serving places like Myrtle Beach and Florence. You have access to more than one Fox, ABC, CBS, and other stations depending on which direction your antenna is more sensitive to.

Just guessing, but it sounds like the Fox, ABC, and CBS stations you're getting now are coming from the south (WFXB, WPDE, and WBTW). The closest and strongest CW and NBC stations are north of you (WLFL and WNCN).

Note that even though your antenna is marketed as an "omni-directional" antenna, it is probably not completely omni-directional, and you might get different results by turning the antenna in different directions.



Quote:
Will getting an amplified antenna help?
For indoor antennas, amplification is usually not worth the money. These kinds of indoor antennas are generally low-gain antennas. If the antenna cannot deliver a clean signal to begin with, boosting such a signal hardly helps. In general, amplification is used to overcome long cable runs that come after the antenna, but with most indoor setups, the antenna is so close to the TV, that the amplification is not really serving any purpose.

If you're going to spend the money, you're better off investing in an outdoor antenna. Indoor antennas are always at a disadvantage compared to outdoor setups because: a) you lose a lot of signal going through the building, and b) the signal is more prone to "echos" and "reflections" from the environment (a.k.a., multi-path) that make it more difficult for your receiver to lock onto each channel.



I see at least three possibilites here:



Option 1) Try a very basic set of rabbit ears + loop antenna (~$15). Rabbit ears (for VHF) and loop (for UHF) antennas are sensitive from the "front" and the "back", so they're a little more directional than an "omni" antenna. This slight directionality and the ability to aim the antenna at the stations you want to receive means you can probably get a little bit more gain out of the antenna. This cheap solution might out-perform the Terk, although it is still subject to all the challenges of indoor reception.



Option 2) Use an omni-directional antenna designed for outdoor installation like the Channel Master 3000A or the Winegard MS-2000. These antennas would no longer be hampered by the indoor environment, and their electronics are probably better quality than the Terk.



Option 3) If just the Raleigh stations are enough to satisfy your needs, then you can use a more directional antenna like the Antennacraft HBU22 or Winegard HD769P and point it in that direction. The channels south of you might be strong enough to come in through the "back" or "side" of the antenna, but the main focus would be on getting a very reliable set of Raleigh network channels.

The directional antenna solution will just concentrate on one group of transmitters, but should provide more reliable reception. It's a trade-off of quality over quantity.
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