OTA antenna at home

[Snowman9000]

I hope the moderator will allow me to ask this here, because of the knowledge available.

We are planning to stay for a few months at an empty house owned by a relative, while we get it ready to sell for them. We might just get a month to month cable plan, or use our DISH Tailgater. But let's say we don't.

It's in a Chicago suburb, probably 30 miles or less from the TV towers. I know from experience that in the RV this would be a piece of cake. How well could I do at this house with some kind of portable OTA antenna? Specific recommendations appreciated! 🙂

[BruceMc]

UHF antennas like the bowtie units work find with UHF, however, unless you are fairly close or have great line-of sight, they won't help with the high-band VHF.

A little primer:

TV channels used to be:
Low-band VHF: 54 and 88 MHz, containing channels 2 - 6
FM Radio
High-band VHF:174 and 216 MHz, containing channels 7 - 13
UHF 14-69

During the pilot as TV stations started broadcasting HD, in the Portland area they were all in the UHF band, so I started down this road with this:



which was fine for all HD broadcasts before the big switch-over in early 2009. However, at the switchover, three of the Portland stations decided to use the upper VHF bands (8, 10, 12), and guess what? I was unable to receive those stations.

I subsequently purchased a high-band VHF/UHF antenna, and put it on a 35' pole with a rotator and mast-type amplifier.

(new mast, old antenna)

This image shows the old antenna, where the new one is a horizontal Winegard like this:



Using antennaweb.org, you can define your location and antenna height (below or above 30'); a map displays your location and the transmitting towers available to you in your area.

Distance, trees and hills get in the way as does bad weather, so we struggle with channel 2 which is on UHF 43. Such as life for a cord-cutter in a rural setting.

Here's a list of my stations; I show this because the list contains both the HD channel AND the VHF/UHF channel.


Stations Antenna
KGW-DT 8.1 NBC
RF Channel: 8
31 miles at 41° Blue

KODT-LP 14 A1
RF Channel: 14
17 miles at 212° Blue

KOPB-DT 10.1 PBS
RF Channel: 10
31 miles at 41° Blue

KPTV-DT 12.1 FOX
RF Channel: 12
31 miles at 41° Blue

KATU-DT 2.1 ABC
RF Channel: 43
31 miles at 42° Violet
KOAC-DT 7.1 PBS
RF Channel: 7
38 miles at 188° Violet

KOIN-DT 6.1 CBS
RF Channel: 40
31 miles at 42° Violet

KPDX-DT 49.1 MNT
RF Channel: 30
31 miles at 41° Violet

KPXG-DT 22.1 ION
RF Channel: 22
31 miles at 41° Violet

KRCW-DT 32.1 CW
RF Channel: 33
31 miles at 42° Violet

KRCW-LD 32.1 CW
RF Channel: 5
31 miles at 42° Violet

[philh]

wa8yxm wrote:
First check your local covenants and restrictions and ordinances. Some places outdoor antennas are banned thanks to the effort of cable/sat TV companies.

As directed by Congress in Section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Over-the-Air Reception Devices (“OTARD”) rule concerning governmental and nongovernmental restrictions on viewers' ability to receive video programming signals from direct broadcast satellites ("DBS"), broadband radio service providers (formerly multichannel multipoint distribution service or MMDS), and television broadcast stations ("TVBS").

The rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) has been in effect since October 1996, and it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming. The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas. The rule prohibits most restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use; or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal.

https://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-rule

[wa8yxm]

NOTE.. You need to know what transmiters are around you

Bow Tie jobs work well for UHF.. not so good for VHF Hi and not at all for VHF low (2,3,4,5,6) Batwing (RV) works well for all the above with Wingman.

This is why I suggested a Channel Master of the proper range.

[burlmart]

snowman, if you have 30 min and a ballum, build this coat hanger OTA

you will be as good as tha RV batwing

there are youtubes that show simple wiring from 14" coat hanger lengths bent in 7" Vs.



IIRC that radio shack amp ($15) will also give it a big boost

hang it high in attic facing sears, and you will get almost all OTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

[az99]

Fizz wrote:

I made the Bow Tie version as a test before buying a 'real one'. It picked up everything around me. I bought the cheapest I could find, $17 and it works great.

Link doesn't work.

[Fizz]

BOW TIE ANTENNA
This one works

[wyocowboy00]

I have ordered a Winegard Sensor lV OTA (batwing) antenna to replace the worthless omni-direction OTA factory installed antenna. Living in Wyoming (especially where I am) presents some problems when trying to get OTA TV unless you live in one of the two cities that have TV stations. I am about 75 or 80 airline miles from the closest one of those cities and most of my camping is done in remote locations. My main need is to get the news and weather reports while out camping.
I'm also planning to cut the cable at home and replacing that with an OTA antenna. Been a ham since the 50s, so have played with antennas all my life.

[Tom_Trostel]

I made a single bay Gray-Hoverman for less than $10. It has no reflector. Used 1/2" pvc and aluminum wire. Put it on painters pole on the trailer and back side of chimney at home. It works very well.

Gray-Hoverman

[Snowman9000]

Thanks. This would be in Naperville, so closer than you.

[TakingThe5th]

I live west of the Fox River. The stick and brick uses an old outdoor antenna mounted in the attic of a two story home and gets all the HD channels. I also have a Wally World flat antenna sitting under another TV and it picks up everything except channel 2. The batwing in the 5er also picks up everything including channel 2. The TV in the barn is on rabbit ears and it doesn't work very well.

Getting the right flat antenna was a hit or miss proposition. The one I am using successfully did not work at Dads place which is much closer however we did find another cheaper one that worked very well at his place.

[1492]

Snowman9000 wrote:
I hope the moderator will allow me to ask this here, because of the knowledge available.

You're in the right forum. 🙂

RoyB wrote:

My best results was using one of those 8-BAY Solid Signal Xtreme Signal HDB8X VHF/UHF Outdoor TV Antenna (HDB8X) antennas from SOLID SIGNALS $69 which has a small separate panel position changes for the two 4-BOWTIE panels. This allows peaking up on both HDTV location in Washington DC some 15 degrees apart without losing any performance.

After reading your post, I decided to check out Solid Signal and ended up purchasing the above antenna for myself. It was on a daily deal today for $24.99 - Solid Signal Xtreme Signal HDB4X 4 Bay Outdoor TV Antenna (HDB4X)

I only live about 3 miles from DC, but do on occasion have weak signals from indoor antennas. Was looking for an external solution. Don't think my neighbors will say anything as the mounting area is masked by cherry trees.

[SCVJeff]

When you get to the house, look around the neighborhood and see what's in the air at the neighbors, that will get you an idea of how much and how high you may need to go. With the exception on CBS, TBN, and Mundo Fox, everything out of Sears and Hancock are UHF, so you may get away with a simple bow tie on the TV.

Dodge Guy lives in the area, and even though he and I whine at each other about other antennas (and he's wrong...), he certainly has a better feel for what to expect in the burbs. Maybe he'll see this and comment. I just build the transmitters..

[wa8yxm]

First check your local covenants and restrictions and ordinances. Some places outdoor antennas are banned thanks to the effort of cable/sat TV companies.

All is not lost.

IF not banned then I would go with a mid-range Channel master.. Something advertising say a 50 mile range.. ON a roof mounted tripod with rotor
(Or if all the stations are in the same direction you can point it manually with aid and skip the rotor.

True story: When my parents were alive and living in Union City, MI,, in an area where televison reception is not supposed to happen.. I put up a 100' Tower with Channel Master's Biggest or 2nd biggest signal plucker.

I watched Channel 2 out of Detroit (Southfield) and some UHF stations out of South Bend Indiana as well as Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek (All transmitting from Gun Lake) and Lansing/Jackson (Onedega) With rock solid signal.

You can plot the map distances.


IF.. You have a CC&R or Ordiance issue...

I had a boss once who mounted an antenna in the attic.. Using a rotor,, the roof only caused a slight degradation in performance (though when snow covered it might be worse) nothing visible from outside the house at all.
Of course this was in the analog days.

[greenrvgreen]

Umm, why aren't you using your Tailgater and a longer cord? Is it lingering Cord Hesitancy and/or Shyness? Because I've frequently run 150-ft of coax on my Tailgater with very good results.

I also have a Winegard Freevision OTA antenna, which is basically 1/4 of the 4-panel bowtie reflector shown above. My results have been good but not great, and when I experiemented with longer coax for my Tailgater I left the OTA at home for good.