HDTV Antenna - Anybody use radio shack (see link)

[ROLLTIDE]

Well if your house is built like a Tank and there are lots of trees then your SOL

+ how can you rotate something in the attic ?

 

[xgrep]

Right now I have a radioshack VU 190 30 feet in the air with a Winegard Preamp and rotator. I can get ABC HD out of MS and watch Monday night football in HD.


It 2 weeks i'm going up with a wineguard 8200 and stronger preamp.

The Winegard antenna may improve things, but a higher gain preamp might not, and could actually make it worse. The preamp is mainly necessary to compensate for signal loss in a long cable run (or if you're using RG59 instead of RG6 or RG11, for example). It adds a small amount of noise to the signal (not much for Winegard and ChannelMaster preamps, but a lot for most others, including Radio Shack), and can overload the RF front end of your receiver, making it harder to get a good lock. It can't improve reception *much* when the antenna is not getting a good signal in the first place. Since you already have a Winegard amp (presumably a 19dB gain model), try with just the new antenna, first. You could even try without the preamp altogether if your cable run is 50ft or less.

Regarding the original question, the particular RS antenna shown is not terrible, and probably better for the money than far more expensive fashion antennas like Terk (though Terks aren't necessarily bad). There have been a lot of antenna tests and reviews on the web (for HDTV reception), and concensus is:

For outdoor (which many people need), get a good Winegard or ChannelMaster, though some of the RS and other boom models are fine. Get a preamp if your cable run is long enough to need it (there are some web sites that tell you how much signal loss you'll see over different lengths of various cable, and when you'll need a preamp and which one).

For indoor, on VHF, pretty much plain old rabbit ears are as good as you can do, because you can't really fit any decent VHF antenna indoors (other than in an attic or large closet). For indoor VHF/UHF, one of the RS antennas tested fairly well (model 15-1880), as it has a decent amplified bowtie for UHF and rabbit ears for VHF. The best indoor UHF-only was the "Silver Sensor" marketed by Zenith and others for around $30 (I also found this to be the best indoor antenna, amplified or not). And one UHF-only model from Radio Shack (930-0998) has also been well-reviewed (haven't tried it myself). Preamps for indoor antennas are often not too helpful, but, for reasons I'm not totally clear on, don't seem to hurt too much and may help in some cases. One of my best indoor UHF antennas is a little amplified Hirschmann log periodic that I paid around $20 for (but is apparently not available anymore).

Some of the smaller Winegard and ChannelMaster are a little better if you have the space, but these are still primarily outdoor antennas, just small enough to fit in a closet. My domestic partner wasn't ecstatic over the aesthetic qualities of the little ChannelMaster 4308 I had perched on top of the TV even though I considered it quite cool in a high-tech industrial sort of way . But it was the best antenna I had indoors.

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[SlicerMDM]

I'm in Frisco, TX .. just north of Plano. I have a RS VU-75 antenna in my attic and get great reception. http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2151

Note that this is one of the smaller boom antenna (about $40) and it works great inside my attic.

BTW, if your house has some kind of really good insulation (lining the roof and whatnot) the attic might not work as well.

 

[dlsnyder]

Why would you bother with a 1m dish for DBS reception when a 20" dish is more than enough for a good signal? Yes the signal will be somewhat attenuated by the roof of the house. If you are in a high signal area an attic mounted antenna may be enough for you. Heck, a Silver Sensor sitting on top of your TV may be enough! You probably won't get anything useable from the next DMA over but if all you are interested in are the locals from your city then you should be good as long as you are close enough to the towers and there is no intervening terrain (i.e. mountains or tall buildings).

One thing that seems to help some people, especially in an attic mount situation, is to have the antenna tilted slightly up - maybe 10 to 15 degrees. I am not sure why this helps in some situations. Perhaps someone else has an opionion on this? I seem to recall specifically someone at AVSforums using an 8-bay bowtie tilted up about 15 degrees and mounted on a rotor in his attic in the Washington DC area. He was able to pick up all Baltimore and DC channels just by turning the rotor.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

I disagree about how much the preamp can help


I had my Vu 190 30 feet in the air and couldn't get all my local HD channels without turning it. Even then they were very weak. I then took it down to install the preamp .


While it was proped up on a ladder with the preamp on I could get every HD channel and some that I had never seen before. That's when it was 5 ft off the ground . I was shocked

Preamp worked wonders for me

 

[dlsnyder]

I'm in Frisco, TX .. just north of Plano. I have a RS VU-75 antenna in my attic and get great reception. http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2151

BTW, if your house has some kind of really good insulation (lining the roof and whatnot) the attic might not work as well.

That's another good point! If your house has foil-lined insulation in the attic, or aluminum siding, or is built with steel studs as some out here in California are now, an attic antenna might not work well at all.

 

[glenn z]

In some subdivisions it is either prohibited or highly discouraged to have a huge antenna on your house.

 

[dlsnyder]

I disagree about how much the preamp can help


I had my Vu 190 30 feet in the air and couldn't get all my local HD channels without turning it. Even then they were very weak. I then took it down to install the preamp .


While it was proped up on a ladder with the preamp on I could get every HD channel and some that I had never seen before. That's when it was 5 ft off the ground . I was shocked

Preamp worked wonders for me

I agree - a preamp can be a very good thing and I use one myself. Just don't overdo it because it can hurt as well as help. If you are in a strong signal area you could overload the front end of your receiver. This would be seen as no signal lock and a signal strength that bounces up and down. If this happens you can put an attenuator on the input of the preamp, effectively reducing the total amount of signal coming in to your receiver. You don't have to have a great deal of signal to receive a good digital broadcast picture, you just have to have a good signal to noise ratio. You might get a fuzzy barely watchable picture on the analog channels but get a perfect picture on the digital channels. Its just funny that way but I have seen it happen!

 

[ROLLTIDE]

In some subdivisions it is either prohibited or highly discouraged to have a huge antenna on your house.

They can't stop you from installing one !

 

[dlsnyder]

I know that there is a size limit within the law but is there a height limit? Does the law permit me to put up a 50' tower with band-stacked yagis in my front yard if that's what it takes to get my HD locals?

 

[xgrep]

I disagree about how much the preamp can help


I had my Vu 190 30 feet in the air and couldn't get all my local HD channels without turning it. Even then they were very weak. I then took it down to install the preamp .


While it was proped up on a ladder with the preamp on I could get every HD channel and some that I had never seen before. That's when it was 5 ft off the ground . I was shocked

Preamp worked wonders for me

Well, with a cable run of >30' (altitude plus some horizontal), especially if it's RG59, it's reasonable that a preamp could help, depending on the receiver's front end gain section. It's just that it's worth trying without one, first. And if you've got one an it's doing a good job, adding more gain might not do any better.

I guess the point is that it's not always the case that a preamp will improve reception, and it's worth trying without one, first.

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