Sully Posted September 19, 2016 Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 I've been doing research on the hd antennas. I didn't realize there were so many options. Directional, Omni-directional, powered, etc. So, what do you use, recommend, any suggestions on installation, etc? I am in Canal, but not in a housing development. I am surrounded by farm land. Ranch style house. A few tall trees, but not a forest. I was thinking about a long range Omni-directional, but read that those can pick up a lot of interference, which may result in a not so good picture. Since I currently have DirecTV, which I am working on cancelling, I was thinking I could use that post to mount the HD antenna on. Would that work? Do all of these antennas have to be plugged into power? How does that work? I don't have an outlet outside for one. I can't really find any info on the power piece. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted September 19, 2016 Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 Antennaweb.org will help you decide what style antenna you need and what direction to point it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffro Posted September 19, 2016 Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 I've been doing research on the hd antennas. I didn't realize there were so many options. Directional, Omni-directional, powered, etc. So, what do you use, recommend, any suggestions on installation, etc? I am in Canal, but not in a housing development. I am surrounded by farm land. Ranch style house. A few tall trees, but not a forest. I was thinking about a long range Omni-directional, but read that those can pick up a lot of interference, which may result in a not so good picture. Since I currently have DirecTV, which I am working on cancelling, I was thinking I could use that post to mount the HD antenna on. Would that work? Do all of these antennas have to be plugged into power? How does that work? I don't have an outlet outside for one. I can't really find any info on the power piece. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. On the power piece, From my experience... there is a single coax cable that runs from the antenna into your home. You then plug the coax into this box that should be included which has a power plug and output jack. Then you run a coax form the box to your tv. That box serves as a controller (if its motorized) and an amplifier. somehow they run a control wire through the coax. I had a cheapo from microcenter that worked like this. Dunno where you live, but a simple flat window antenna might work just as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyG Posted September 19, 2016 Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 Mounted this https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Durable-Compact-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1474324856&sr=8-6&keywords=antenna on my Directv dish that i dont use...used old cables, and its been working flawless. I live up by Alum Creek Lake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted September 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 Antennaweb.org will help you decide what style antenna you need and what direction to point it. Entered my addy and here are the results: A Small Multidirectional Antenna is recommended to receive this station. Look for the CTA-certified Yellow mark on the antenna's box. So, I need an Omni-directional then, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGU Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 yes, Omni-Directional is what you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 yes, Omni-Directional is what you want Actually, after a lot more reading last night, multi-directional and Omni-directional not the same thing. Either way, I ended up ordering this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EPP5ZSS/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I won't be able to install it until this weekend, but I'll update once it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl1647545492 Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 How are you going to mount it ? on your roof or in the attic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 How are you going to mount it ? on your roof or in the attic? On the roof in place of the DirecTV dish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Maybe it's because I'm inside of 270, but we have HD rabbit ears in our living room behind the flatscreen and it picks up OSU games just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffro Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 Maybe it's because I'm inside of 270, but we have HD rabbit ears in our living room behind the flatscreen and it picks up OSU games just fine. Hell i was picking up channel 6 w/o issues up in marion with rabbit ears sitting behind the TV. I had a cheapo amplifier helping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl1647545492 Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 There is enough signal out there to pick up 20 to 30 channels just from the hdtv tuner and nothig else and it looks great doing it. I understand what a antenna is but what are you looking to get out of it? Some cable stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 Mounted this https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Durable-Compact-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1474324856&sr=8-6&keywords=antenna on my Directv dish that i dont use...used old cables, and its been working flawless. I live up by Alum Creek Lake I have hte exact same antenna Very happy with it.. We are in the burbs and get good signal from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 I have hte exact same antenna Very happy with it.. We are in the burbs and get good signal from it. How many channels do you get with it? i have the cheapo $6 amazon one, and i get 4/6/10/28/34 fine, but i can't get 53 at all. might upgrade if i can get channel 53 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 How many channels do you get with it? i have the cheapo $6 amazon one, and i get 4/6/10/28/34 fine, but i can't get 53 at all. might upgrade if i can get channel 53 Try http://www.antennaweb.org it will tell you what you need for each station from your location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTA09 Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 I have hte exact same antenna<br /> Very happy with it.. We are in the burbs and get good signal from it.<br /> <br /> How many channels do you get with it? i have the cheapo $6 amazon one, and i get 4/6/10/28/34 fine, but i can't get 53 at all. might upgrade if i can get channel 53 I have tge same one and pick up 27 channels including 53 and im outside of 270 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Interesting read here. I've had two HD rabbit ears for a couple years and they are very limited on local channels, maybe 6-8 of them. Keep us posted. I'm going to check out that site Brian linked too. Looking into this more, what are you guys seeing for lose of viewing quality, channels or anything else, over distance in cable? I'm looking at 150' of coax from antenna to TV, if I mount outside. I have two bails of coax, so I'm not going to run out, but I question loss of transferred info in that long of a cable. Edited September 23, 2016 by Mojoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Cranium Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 Woot has several HD antennas today. http://electronics.woot.com/plus/hdtv-antennas-10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 Looking into this more, what are you guys seeing for lose of viewing quality, channels or anything else, over distance in cable? It's all digital. Either it works, or it doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakotart Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 I have hte exact same antenna<br /> Very happy with it.. We are in the burbs and get good signal from it.<br /> <br /> How many channels do you get with it? i have the cheapo $6 amazon one, and i get 4/6/10/28/34 fine, but i can't get 53 at all. might upgrade if i can get channel 53 I have tge same one and pick up 27 channels including 53 and im outside of 270 I'm out near Slate Run Metro park and I pick up 4/6/10/28/34/51/53. My antenna is sitting top of a bookshelf. I have to rotate it about 45* to get 6/34 to come in clear vs the others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted September 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 For testing purposes, I rigged a short post for the antenna and zip tied it to my directv dish post. I don't want to remove the dish until i'm 100% certain i'm going this route. as of now, the antenna is about 15' in the air, about level with the peak of my roof line. I am getting approximately 40 channels. I get all the local channels, plus some Hispanic, hindu or something, and a bunch of other crap I'll never watch. Thursday night football last night was crystal clear. I think the picture was better than DirecTV. Once I decide to remove the dish, I'll get a taller post and mount it to the dish post, which will put the antenna approximately 10' higher than it is now, for a total of about 25' in the air. Between this and kodi on amazon fire stick, and Netflix, I should be all set... EXCEPT FOR BTN, which is really starting to piss me off. I NEED TO GET BTN!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTA09 Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 For btn I use btn2go and used my parents log in info for twc to activate. Same with espn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted September 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 For btn I use btn2go and used my parents log in info for twc to activate. Same with espn. There's nothing for the Amazon Fire Stick or Kodi... So, I'd have to connect my laptop to my tv. Or buy a Roku for that tv, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTA09 Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 I use roku Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted September 24, 2016 Report Share Posted September 24, 2016 Interesting read here. I've had two HD rabbit ears for a couple years and they are very limited on local channels, maybe 6-8 of them. Keep us posted. I'm going to check out that site Brian linked too. Looking into this more, what are you guys seeing for lose of viewing quality, channels or anything else, over distance in cable? I'm looking at 150' of coax from antenna to TV, if I mount outside. I have two bails of coax, so I'm not going to run out, but I question loss of transferred info in that long of a cable. I have around 50-75 between antenna - tv. Signal is great on all but PBS. I dont know if they turned there antenna or what, but we got it great for a while then all of a sudden its like POOP all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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