Wanted: TV antenna FAQ
 

My TV was bought about 1997. I have a Sony VCR/DVD player hooked up to it. TV
is in living room which faces south. Large picture window, 90"w x 33"h in
living room. TV reception is generally fair, but often goes to poor based on,
it appears, weather conditions. Sometimes UHF channels fade out to nothing,
like 35 and 41, sometimes VHF fades out, like ch 8. Some stations are local,
others are about 50 miles away. Of course, good reception depends on power of
transmitter, not necessarily distance from transmitter.

What can I do to improve reception? TV gets more signals via VCR than by
itself.
What kinds of external antennas work best? I mean, antennas in the living room,
or mounted on roof, or mounted in attic.
Do the disk type powered antennas, like from Radio Shack, work the best for the
price?
How about the powered rabbit ear types?
How about the can-shaped antenna marketed by Xium?

I have a T-shaped antenna with 2 wires at the bottom of the leg, I think it's
an old UHF antenna that is a complete loop. It is designed to be mounted
indoors on the wall. Will it work help to boost only UHF reception?

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I forgot to add, house is older, about 50 years old, and living room (where tv
is plugged in) has no grounds currently. I plan to add wiring with a ground
this summer. House is on a slab and has aluminum siding; will that interfere
with signal reception?

House also has Dish TV satellite dish (small dish that is) but no decoder box.
Can I use that somehow?

--
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A man wrote:

TV reception is generally fair, but often goes to poor based on,
it appears, weather conditions. Sometimes UHF channels fade out
to nothing, like 35 and 41, sometimes VHF fades out, like ch 8.
some stations are local, others are about 50 miles away.

What kinds of external antennas work best? I mean, antennas
in the living room, or mounted on roof, or mounted in attic.
Do the disk type powered antennas, like from Radio Shack, work
the best for the price?
How about the powered rabbit ear types?
How about the can-shaped antenna marketed by Xium?

I have a T-shaped antenna with 2 wires at the bottom of the
leg, I think it's an old UHF antenna that is a complete
loop. It is designed to be mounted indoors on the wall.
Will it work help to boost only UHF reception?

Conventional ugly outdoor antennas, mounted as high as possible, work
best, but for safety, earth ground the mast and install a lightning
arrestor inline with the cable and earth ground it as well. Directions
for doing this are included with every TV and VCR sold. Any ground rod
must be connected to the main ground rod of the house, and let the
cable sag at least 6" below the point where it enters the house, to
make rain water drip off rather than run inside. To find the best
outdoor antenna for your area, go to www.antennaweb.org, and realize
that distance alone isn't the only factor in choosing one. Radio Shack
may still sell outdoor antennas, and you probably want one with a
substantial UHF section at the front, meaning it has horizontal rods
above and below the centerline. If they don't have any, try an
electronics or TV parts supply or order one from a place like
www.mcminone.com. Some good brands are Winegard, Jerrold,
Antennacraft, and Radio Shack but not the heavily marketed Terk
antennas.

An antenna in the attic won't work as well as one on the roof because
of the lower height and the roofing material blocking the UHF,
especially in rain, but it should still be much better than an indoor
antenna or any of those gimmicky antennas that look like disks,
vertical poles, or radar dishes. A satellite TV antenna won't work
well for terrestial broadcasts because they're at much lower
frequencies than what direct-broadcast TV satellites use.

In my humble opinion, indoor (especially UHF) antennas are almost
useless for two main reasons.

1.) Ghosting... every time you walk around the room the signal reflects
off your body, etc, and the signal gets stronger or weaker, or ghosty...
Your aluminum siding isn't helping here either. The signal probably goes
through several "bounces" before arriving at your current indoor antenna
currently anyway...

2.)Lack of elevation. UHF channels are weaked by almost anything,
including tree leaves or wet roofing / siding... you want that UHF antenna
up as high and clear of obstructions as you can get it. People may consider
it an "eyesore" but I have a Winegard PR-2032 long-boom yagi up approx. 50
feet, with a Channel Master UHF-only two-piece preamp. I can get over 18
digital channels, abt. a dozen analog (UHF). My biggest problem is that the
local analog channels are TOO strong, causing digital freeze in some farther
away adjacent channels (only those 1 channel away from the strong ones...)
My channels look like cable (better, in the case of the digital channels.)
Weather isn't even a factor for me, but I suspect I should be even higher
for this summer when those tree leaves come back...

"A man" wrote in message
...
My TV was bought about 1997. I have a Sony VCR/DVD player hooked up to it.
TV
is in living room which faces south. Large picture window, 90"w x 33"h in
living room. TV reception is generally fair, but often goes to poor based
on,
it appears, weather conditions. Sometimes UHF channels fade out to
nothing,
like 35 and 41, sometimes VHF fades out, like ch 8. Some stations are
local,
others are about 50 miles away. Of course, good reception depends on power
of
transmitter, not necessarily distance from transmitter.

What can I do to improve reception? TV gets more signals via VCR than by
itself.
What kinds of external antennas work best? I mean, antennas in the living
room,
or mounted on roof, or mounted in attic.
Do the disk type powered antennas, like from Radio Shack, work the best
for the
price?
How about the powered rabbit ear types?
How about the can-shaped antenna marketed by Xium?

I have a T-shaped antenna with 2 wires at the bottom of the leg, I think
it's
an old UHF antenna that is a complete loop. It is designed to be mounted
indoors on the wall. Will it work help to boost only UHF reception?

--
Say no to fixed width tables. They look terrible in all browsers.

That being said, what about the TV itself -- Which brands/models/types
of TV's work best with an *antenna*, be it indoor or out, as opposed to
cable feed?


wrote:
A man wrote:


TV reception is generally fair, but often goes to poor based on,
it appears, weather conditions. Sometimes UHF channels fade out
to nothing, like 35 and 41, sometimes VHF fades out, like ch 8.
some stations are local, others are about 50 miles away.


What kinds of external antennas work best? I mean, antennas
in the living room, or mounted on roof, or mounted in attic.
Do the disk type powered antennas, like from Radio Shack, work
the best for the price?
How about the powered rabbit ear types?
How about the can-shaped antenna marketed by Xium?

I have a T-shaped antenna with 2 wires at the bottom of the
leg, I think it's an old UHF antenna that is a complete
loop. It is designed to be mounted indoors on the wall.
Will it work help to boost only UHF reception?


Conventional ugly outdoor antennas, mounted as high as possible, work
best, but for safety, earth ground the mast and install a lightning
arrestor inline with the cable and earth ground it as well. Directions
for doing this are included with every TV and VCR sold. Any ground rod
must be connected to the main ground rod of the house, and let the
cable sag at least 6" below the point where it enters the house, to
make rain water drip off rather than run inside. To find the best
outdoor antenna for your area, go to www.antennaweb.org, and realize
that distance alone isn't the only factor in choosing one. Radio Shack
may still sell outdoor antennas, and you probably want one with a
substantial UHF section at the front, meaning it has horizontal rods
above and below the centerline. If they don't have any, try an
electronics or TV parts supply or order one from a place like
www.mcminone.com. Some good brands are Winegard, Jerrold,
Antennacraft, and Radio Shack but not the heavily marketed Terk
antennas.

An antenna in the attic won't work as well as one on the roof because
of the lower height and the roofing material blocking the UHF,
especially in rain, but it should still be much better than an indoor
antenna or any of those gimmicky antennas that look like disks,
vertical poles, or radar dishes. A satellite TV antenna won't work
well for terrestial broadcasts because they're at much lower
frequencies than what direct-broadcast TV satellites use.

Al Schapira wrote:

what about the TV itself -- Which brands/models/types of
TV's work best with an *antenna*, be it indoor or out, as
opposed to cable feed?

Toshibas tended to have better than average tuners. I don't know if
that's so now, but the worst tuners are typically found in Chinese
designs, such as Apex, Haier, and some lower end Japanese brands.
Chinese-made TVs should be all right as long as they're Japanese
brands. Also the 3/2005 Consumer Reports indicates CRT TVs normally
give better on-air reception than plasma and LCD TVs do, probably
because manufacturers feel buyers of the latter will always have cable
or satellite service.

A good antenna, perhaps with a preamp, can partially make up for a poor
tuner, but it can't prevent interference from adjacent channels