I need an HDTV antenna for a tower

DonM · 02-23-2004, 08:07 AM

My old Winegard antenna on a 30' tubular tower was damaged from flying branches in a bad storm last fall. I am now getting a new Toshiba 57HX93 set and need a good antenna for OTA broadcasts locally. I live about 25 miles from the towers in Chicago. I prefer a one antenna solution but if the reception for HDTV would be better I could do the 2 antenna with a UHF and seperate UHF/VHF/FM route. I hear of people putting UHF antennas in the attic(I have a ranch style house) but I can't imagine that's the best performance. Any help or advice here fellas? I have a clear shot to the stations in line of sight.

Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 02-23-2004, 11:24 AM

Quote:

I hear of people putting UHF antennas in the attic(I have a ranch style house) but I can't imagine that's the best performance.

Why not? RF goes right through most anything except metal. I’ve had a combined VHF/UHF antenna in my attic for that past 20 years and it works just fine.

One trick to insure superior reception is to get an antenna that is much more powerful than you need – in you case one rated for 75-mile reception, for instance. I’m sure you can find what you need at your local Radio Shack or electronics hobby shop.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

02-23-2004, 01:17 PM

Don,

You may want to try:

AntennaWeb

A great source for determining what antenna, directional pointing etc. I used it when I went to HDTV and it was of immense help.

Allan Jayne · 02-23-2004, 05:16 PM

Putting the antenna outside gives a little better performance than putting it in the attic, but many folks don[t want to bother with climbing up on the roof or erecting a tower. Also, the antenna in the attic is protected from the weather.

HDTV over the air uses the UHF frequencies so you need a good UHF antenna.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm



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