OTA Antenna in a townhouse...

[nathan118]

So my fiancee and I just bought our first place, and I'm super excited to buy an HDTV set! The only problem is we bought a townhouse, so I can't just throw a big OTA antenna on the roof. I'm in Los Angeles, 20 miles from everything according to antennaweb.

Right now the current owners have DirecTV and a dish mounted nice and high near the roof. I don't want to pay for DirecTV, but I've started looking into some of the Terk clip-on antennas. I'm hoping I can use the satellite dish as a good mount (since I can't put up a big one).

People on amazon love the terk clip on's, but other places give them bad reviews. My question is, are there better alternatives I could use for OTA in a townhouse, maybe other brands? I find it hard to believe that an indoor would work better than these Terk models mounted outside a good 35 feet off the ground. Any ideas would be great, glad I found this place!

 

[oljim]

Terk clipons are junk, try a Radioshack outside UHF for about $25

 

[Carl B]

Try a Zenith Silver Sensor or one of its lower priced clones.

 

[nathan118]

I did a little more reading, and I found some interesting stuff.

Right now the satellite dish is mounted, but I can put another antenna in it's place. Goverment passed some law saying you can put one up as long as it is within a certain size or something.

So, I thought...I can just take down the dish and put something up in it's place, like the Winegard Square Shooter. It's about the same size as a dish, and I should be able to put it outside. This would be a lot better than anything indoors right? I'm not sure if there are any better brands that are similar to this.

I guess after I decide on an antenna I need to decide if I need an amp or other stuff. Thanks!

 

[Tony N]

If you own the townhouse you have control over the premisis. The roof may be considered a "common area" however, if maintenance is the responsiblilty of the homeowners association. In that case you may need their permission to mount any antenna on the roof. Any portion of the townhouse not common with another unit is under your control. There may be CC&Rs or Association rules that say you can't install an outside antenna, but the FCC has overidden those rules by federal pre-emption. See http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html for the full skinny.

 

[nathan118]

Well I talked to a friend of mine, and now I'm second guessing the square shooter. I live 20 miles from the source, but the square shooting only does channels 2-6 analog from 0-10 miles, and digital to 15 miles.

We have an attic, though we haven't moved in yet so I can't go look at it. My friend suggested getting as big a yagi style antenna as possible and putting it in the attic, that this would work better at our range than the squareshooter on the outside.

Is the squareshooter really not going to work at 20 miles? My head is starting to hurt, haha.

 

[raymo721]

I live 1/2 way between Baltimore and DC and have a D* HD Tivo and a SquareShooter2 (Amped.) Towers are 15 to 18.5 miles either way. When its pointed toward DC I still get some Balt. stations and visa versa. Sigs are strong, in the 85-90 range. I'm on the third floor and its mounted right now on my deck facing DC. Talked my landlord into letting me put it on the roof, then I think I'll have even better reception. NCAA Tourny looked great even in a strong thunderstorm Sat. nite. Good luck.

 

[Kryspy]

Hi,

I live in Canada on the Canada/US border and I am pulling in US digital networks from 35-50 miles away with my Square Shooter SS-2000 (amp'd version).

My signal strngth is also in the high 70's to mid 80's.

Kryspy

 

[nathan118]

hmmm, so I think I need a clarification....

When I use antennaweb for here in Los Angeles...all the major stations show up as having a 'digital' feed. When my friend says it'd be tough to get analog stations, should I really even worry about that? All the major stations show up with a star next to them? That doesn't mean they're always HDTV...just a digital signal capable of hdtv?

It sounds like winegards distance estimates are low. Kryspy, can you pull in the lower channel range (2-6) even from that distance? If people find that it really does work I have no problem ignoring the instructions. Thanks guys, you rock!

 

[dlsnyder]

Nathan -

All of the digital broadcast channels in the LA area are on UHF. The square shooter is optimized for use on the UHF band so it should do just fine. You may do just as well with a much less expensive antenna, though. I know alot of people don't like Radio Shack antennas, but as long as you don't live by the beach they do OK. Take a look at this one http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=15-2160 or something similar to it. If you are in the San Fernando Valley, certain areas might need something more. Most places within 20 miles of Mt. Wilson and something like that antenna will be fine. I use a Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna mounted on a 5' mast on top of my house in Moreno Valley and it works just fine - and Moreno Valley is 55-60 miles out from Mt. Wilson! On top of that the thing has been on my roof for the last 12 years - no problems. I sprayed it with clear laquer before putting it up to reduce corrosion and so far it has worked very well. There is no noticeable oxidation on the elements.

 

[nathan118]

thanks for the tip snyder...i guess being in a townhouse gives me certain restrictions though. I can't put anything actually on the roof...because that's owned by the association. However, people are allowed to put up sattelite dishes on the eaves of the roof...like just below it. The cool part about the shooter is that it looks very similar to a satellite dish...just square, and it meets the size requirement of that law congress passed. It's pleasing to the eye and I can mount it just where the satellite dish was. There is already cable running to 3 rooms in the house from the satellite, so I can just hook up the square shooter to that. I'm planning on the getting the one with the amp since it's powering quite a bit of cable.

Thank you to all, I'm feeling a lot more confident about this choice.

 

[nathan118]

Well thanks to a member on here (gdarwin) I got myself an amped square shooter!

I haven't moved to our new place yet, but I decided to hook it up just here in my room to see if it worked, and sure enough it did. Once we hooked up the preamp that is.

It picked up UHF beautifully from inside my room, and inside the house. Once it is up on the roof a good 30 feet off the floor, should be beautiful.

Ok, my last question for a long while I think...I know that all the major stations here in Los Angeles broadcast their digital signal over UHF. To pick up those digital broadcasts you need an HDTV tuner...even if the digital signal isn't HDTV...right? For example I was getting channel 28 (PBS) nice and clear, but digital PBS (frequency 59, channel 28.1) can only be recognized with an ATSC tuner correct?

You guys have been way helpful, thank you!

 

[Carl B]

Digital TV (DTV) requires an ATSC tuner whether it is HD or SD. Unfortunately, the public is getting confusing information from all sources regarding DTV. They keep talking about HDTV. Well, HDTV is only one option of the DTV conversion mandated by Federal law. The bulk of it will be SD, but with all the benefits of digital signals versus the 60-year old NTSC analog broadcasts. HDTV is nice, but OTA DTV in SD is still a treat compared to any other current TV sources (e.g., DBS, cable, OTA NTSC).

 

[nathan118]

Awesome Carl, exactly what I wanted confirmed. Escrow closes in two weeks, and should get this bad boy installed in the next month or two. I'll be sure to post some pictures for you guys! Have a great weekend.

 

[nathan118]

Finally! My winegard square shooter is officially mounted and picking up digital stations great. All the major stations pull 92-98. I'll post up some pictures as soon as I take them. Thanks again for all the advice guys!

 

[Kryspy]

nathan118,

Sorry for the late reply. Yes I can pull in channel 2 and 4 on the SS-2000.

Those channel estimates were based on the ATSC tuner in my ExpressVU 6100. I have since switched to Starchoice and am getting a 52 inch Panasonic LCD (PT-52LCX65)with built in ATSC next week and will post my results.

I find the tuner in the 6100 was weak at best; same as it's Dish equivalent the 811.

Kryspy

 

[nathan118]

That's alright. I'm 20 miles from the tower, and I pull every major network betwen 89-98% signal. Even analog doesn't look to shabby.

 

[nathan118]

My squareshooter is finally installed! Take a gander fellas, couldn't have done it without you.

And here's my perty tv that it's powering. OTA HD is magnificent!