Best Directional HDTV antenna?

[Ninety-9 SE-L]

I'm going to be moving soon into a new house. I checked out antennaweb.org and found that from my address, 90% of my stations are coming from about the same location, 122-126deg and 25-28mi.

I already know the cable service I'm going with, so I'm first going to see what Clear QAM stations I'll be able to receive. If it's not enough, I'm going to get a directional antenna for outside.

I've been searching around, but I'm seeing mixed reviews on everything, most people are just completely dumb. They'll write a bad review on a single-directional antenna and claim that their *new* antenna (omni-directional) is far superior. Being that I know exactly where my stations are being broadcast from, I'm pretty much set on using a single-direction antenna.

P.S. I have no homeowner's association so you can be a little brutal on design and mounting height.

[Nick Burns]

Originally Posted by Ninety-9 SE-L

P.S. I have no homeowner's association so you can be a little brutal on design and mounting height.

Wellll.... in THAT case:



You should be able to pick up shows!

Sorry, I have nothing useful to add to this thread.

[CptKirk]

http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/

I haven't purchased from these folks yet but I've read pretty much all of the information on their site and they seem very knowledgeable.

[Ninety-9 SE-L]

^^^thanks for that link.

[DonK]

hit ebay, CM4221 Channel Master, I pick up stations 30 miles away with it just fine, no amplification, and I have a 100 foot coax run coming from it.

Mount that sucker 20 feet in the air (or a few feet off a rooft) on a mast and you'll be fine.

Trust me, it's worth it.

[Rich A]

Be careful with the type of antenna. A "Yagi" antenna will be more directional the higher the gain. Just moving a few degrees one way or the other might cause some channels to disappear.

The flat sided (reflector) type antennas have a wider angle of gain. Here I have a few stations that are about 10 to 12 degrees apart in one direction, while the bulk of the remaining stations are almost all within a degree or two of each other. So I went with the type of antenna you can see in my picture. They are mounted on a Ham Radio tower about 20 feet from the top. Height can be critical as well. That is one reason they are not at the top of the tower. I get better reception at the lower height. You just have to experiment a bit. With the two antennas I have, I get about 8 station OTA.

[billj214]

From what I hear, just get the biggest UHF antenna you can find!I have a large wing looking UHF antenna mounted in the attic. I think if you saved any of the old UHF/VHF antennas from the 70's your lucky! I have 43 channels at 100% on almost all channels.

Question?? When OTA VHF is off the air why not just "T" antenna and basic cable on same coax since there will be no interference from OTA VHF anymore? (dumb question?)

[NickHark]

Originally Posted by CptKirk

http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/

I haven't purchased from these folks yet but I've read pretty much all of the information on their site and they seem very knowledgeable.

I bought one of his HD antennas and the quality is very good. It has good reception for me. I am 50 miles south of Mt. Sutro (SF, CA) and I get all the stations from there and KNTV which is 40 miles north of me on Mt. St Bruno.

My only remaining issue is that I live in a common interest development and I can't put an antenna on the roof. I am in the process of mounting it in the attic, but it needs to pull in the signal through sloping terra cotta tiles on the roof. I believe that the signal will be substantially diminished. I haven't spent a lot of time with it, to date.

My fall back is to mount it on my north outside wall, in plain view. I am aware that it complies with the federal regulations that permit people to have small antennas on the outside, in my circumstances, but I dread the red-tape to get it done.

[teststrips]

I'm not really in the same situation as you as I'm about 65 miles by the way the crow flys to the stations I'm picking up. I have the CM4228 antenna and a CM7777 Pre-amp/booster.

Being that you're closer, you could probably get away with the smaller cm4221 antenna without a booster - or the newer model 4221HD which is basically the same thing but is marketed towards the HD upgraders (either antenna will work - can't speak to if the 4221HD would work better)

You probably don't need or want an amp on your line if you can avoid it. I'd move up to a bigger antenna if you are worried about your signal rather than using an amp or booster.

Also, if you will be feeding multiple sets and tuners with this, be sure to get a HIGH QUALITY splitter.... some of them are really junk + will cause a lot of problems.

[nrf]

Danger Will Robinson...

I suggest finding out if the post-feb configuration for your stations will include VHF or not. In my case, there is one VHF digital signal already (which I can't get from my attic even with a huge antenna) and a second station will be switching its DTV from UHF to VHF in february.

So if one of your stations is or is going to be a VHF odd-ball, these UHF solutions will not cut it for you.

I personally use the 4-bowtie uhf and get great reception from 30 miles out, in some cases 'on the bounce' as I can get both Cinci and Dayton channels with it pointed to Cinci. But again, it is no VHF antenna and doesn't do much with regard to FM either.

Another dimension is the VHF-low -vs- VHF-hi difference - you can get some combo VHF-hi + UHF antennas which are much shorter/smaller than full VHF+UHF+FM.

Bottom line, I suggest a trip to Antennaweb.org to see what the post-feb story will be in your area.

good luck and be safe!
nrf