Bye Bye cable, Hartsdale, NY

[ILoveCoffee]

Hello folks,

I am ready to cut the cord. I will be getting a Roku box and looking for OTA channels for live news coverage. Most likely, I will be watching OTA and DW watching Roku.

My location is http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df93846fe4812

This antenna will be used in a apartment block on a hillock, surrounded by the trees. The apartment is on the 1st floor and it will be a indoor antenna as I am not too sure if we are allowed to install our own antennas outdoor. (I will consider it only as a last option). I am more interested in the channels on the top of the list. It will be great if I could catch all of them but otherwise, top 10 is more than sufficient (WABC and CBS are most important)

I do not have any tool i.e. splitter etc. Whatever cable company provided that is the only stuff available and there is only one tube TV (Panasonic CT-27SL14J, if that makes any difference)

Many thanks in advance.

[tuffones]

I live in CT and i'm pointing to the Empire State tower where all the Networks are, ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX plus Pix11 channel, I get a lot of Long Island channels too, I use a Vinegard 7696P with a CPA 19pre-amp the signal is 80% above. Just point to 235 compass, you will get Newark channels too aiming your antenna to Manhattan. Good Luck.

If the apartment building is . wood with wood or vinyl siding , no metal roof , and no metal backed insulation then install a TERK HDTVa antenna aimed at about 220 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim indoor type antennas.
http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

The follow is a incomplete list of building construction that will reduce or block broadcast tv reception.

If the building is , concrete , concrete block , concrete roof tiles , bricks from ground to roof , big rocks for walls , metal siding , metal roof , metal backed insulation , solar panels .

Better reception will happen with the antenna in a south west facing window.

Is there a patio to the , west , south west , south??

As always , trees and tree leaves will reduce or block Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions.

It is best to install the antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the direction of reception.

The Tv/s Must Channel Scan for the Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , sometimes named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

[ILoveCoffee]

Originally Posted by tuffones

I live in CT and i'm pointing to the Empire State tower where all the Networks are, ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX plus Pix11 channel, I get a lot of Long Island channels too, I use a Vinegard 7696P with a CPA 19pre-amp the signal is 80% above. Just point to 235 compass, you will get Newark channels too aiming your antenna to Manhattan. Good Luck.

The antenna you mentioned looks like Outdoor antenna, right? I am looking for an indoor antenna. Outdoor antenna is my last resort as I live in rented apartment.

[ILoveCoffee]

Originally Posted by teleview

If the apartment building is . wood with wood or vinyl siding , no metal roof , and no metal backed insulation then install a TERK HDTVa antenna aimed at about 220 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim indoor type antennas.
http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

The follow is a incomplete list of building construction that will reduce or block broadcast tv reception.

If the building is , concrete , concrete block , concrete roof tiles , bricks from ground to roof , big rocks for walls , metal siding , metal roof , metal backed insulation , solar panels .

Better reception will happen with the antenna in a south west facing window.

Is there a patio to the , west , south west , south??

As always , trees and tree leaves will reduce or block Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions.

It is best to install the antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the direction of reception.

The Tv/s Must Channel Scan for the Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , sometimes named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

Thanks a ton with this help. The open side is East only. All other sides are covered by another apartment blocks or thick trees. Unfortunately, there are bricks from ground upto the roof.

Are you talking about http://www.crutchfield.com/p_209HDTV...a.html?tp=3261 ?

Do you think, its even worth a try?

Just curious, how did you come to the conclusion 220 degrees. Can you derive that from radar data? (Apologies if any questions here are stupid)

If you look at the tvfool channels list you will see the word - Azimuth - and you will see the words , True and (Magn) with numbers under them.

And at the tvfool radar plot you will see the group of Tv stations at 220 degree magnetic compass direction.

And you will see that those Tv stations/channels are the the ones to receive because those Tv stations are the strongest to receive in the yellow reception zone. And they are the ones that are , NBC , CBS , ABC , PBS , Fox , and etc. .

Yes the HDTVa at Crutch Field is a HDTVa antenna.

Yes you can try Tv reception Inside the apartment.


You can try the HDTVa in the east facing window , and it is Ok to receive Tv reception in other windows that are to the , west , south west and south , because that is where the Tv stations are at.

If required a long coax can go from the HDTVa antenna to the Tv.

Rescan for the digital broadcast Tv channels when the Tv antenna location or direction changed.
__________________________________

Question. Are there any of those small dish network or direct tv dishes on the outside of the apartments??

If so , then here is Broadcast Tv Antenna that looks like a small satellite dish , on purpose. http://www.antennacraft.net , HDX1000.

[ILoveCoffee]

Hi Teleview,

The converter box (Zinwell) and antenna (Terk FDTV1a) arrived today. I played with it for about 2 hours to see which direction/position gives me best channels. Finally, I guess I found the location and position where I will get maximum number of channels. I don't get all of them though. The ones I get are listed below. It will be great if you could go through and check why I am not getting others, if you could figure out the problem i.e. their wavelength or direction or anything else.

2.1 WCBS-HD
2.2 CBSNY+
4.1 WNBC
4.2 NonStop
5.1 WNYW
9.1 WWOR-TV
31.1 ION
31.2 qubo
31.3 ION life
31.100 Airbox
31.101 Starz
31.200 NFL
31.201 Redzone
31.209 GolTV
31.300 Telefor
31.301 CInemax
31.302 Pasions
41.1 WXTV-DT
41.2 WFUT-DT

Out of these only 2 to 9 are received reliably. 31.x reception is little finicky and 31.xxx reception is zero. It shows good signal and signal strenth but no picture or audio. No idea what is going on. I have no idea why I do not get first 3 channels in TVfool radar report. Any pointers are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

You are not responding to the directions that I gave about the best reception being in , west , south west , south , facing windows.

And the aiming directions for the antenna.

Is the antenna in a , west , south west , south , facing window.

Are there any windows or patio/balconly that are to the , west , south west , south??

Saying that directions are covered by other 'apartment blocks' and trees and ect. does not answer the question or address the point.

[ILoveCoffee]

There is a window on the east side. I kept the antenna in the window and received only 5 channels.
Next was on the TV set, next to the window, lying flat, received 17 channels (31.xxx never really received)
Now standing on the TV, next to the window facing south-west, received 25 channels, no new channels really identified, only few sub-channels (which were essentially the same like 9.1 and 9.2. Again, 31.xxx never really received.

Terk FDTV1a is an omni-directional antenna. Their manual suggests to keep it away from metallic objects. Most likely, that is the reason, why it recognized only 5 channels in the window and little more as it stood on top of the TV next to the window.

If you need, I will post the picture of the set up.

[tuffones]

not bad, I pointing to the same tower from 60miles away (N Heaven, CT) but you are missing the VHFs 13x. , 8channels. I dont know where you got those 31.100 to 31.01

As is with most apartment antenna reception situations , all of the channels will most likely not be received.

There are ways to try and get the most channels.

Install a HDTVa in a , west , south west , south , facing window.

And placing a antenna that is designed to receive Tv channels better then the FDTV1a , out on a patio/balcony will do a better job of receiving more Tv channels.