antenna choice

[lilrat468]

I have analog right now (kicked cable to curb for now) and I bought a indoor antenna with gains booster. Seems kinda fuzzy and ahrd to keep in tune. Any ideas? Better antenna advice?

[sportz103]

First try the obvious things. Move it away from any electronics that give off a wireless signal (laptops, routers, etc.) Try facing it in all different directions, antennaweb should give you a good idea as to where to aim it. If nothing works try it in a different room, you might just get bad reception at your house or it could be a bum antenna.

Might letting us know what antenna you got?

[lilrat468]

It is a Antenna 5000. Don't see an actual brand. Got it at the local electronic parts outlet. Says UHF/VHF/FM. Digital ready, adjustable gain control. VHF up to 24 db, UHF up to 28 db abd FM up to 29db. It was only $12.95 but the guy said it worked well. NOT.

[bits]

I am not saying that it is not your antenna but you do not need an expensive one to get good reception. I have an indoor antenna that sells for $15-20 and I get very good OTA HD. The key is how close are you and is it line of sight to where the OTA is being broadcast?

As sportz103 said it could also be where the antenna is located in your dwelling. Do you have a way to monitor signal strength as you point your antenna in different directions? If you know what direction the broadcast is coming from then point your antenna in that direction near or in front of a window and see if the reception improves.

[lilrat468]

Not sure how to measure the strength other than watching the picture on the TV. I went to the antennaweb site but it doesn't show if OTA HD is in my area, or I'm not looking in the right spot. I have seen this internet TV where you can stream 3000+ channels for one time charge for d/l of software. Can't get any info, reason being I would like to get ESPN2 and I hate the fact that I might have to go back to cable/sat.

[BigBill]

You need to put your street address, city and zipcode only into the box, then answer the two questions at the bottom about trees and such and the house type single story or multi story. Then click submit.
When the next screen shows, the put the radio button in the correct type of stations your are looking for, digital, analog or both. For free HDTV you need to look at digital and you must have an ATSC tuner to pick that up.
The important parts on that screen are the "compass orientation" and "miles from" fields.
The information you get there also tells you what size antenna you might need.
This next site will help you determine the strength of the signal and how high you need to put an antenna to get Line of Site (LOS) for different stations from you house. Hope this helps. http://www.tvfool.com