Best and smallest antenna for an apartment??

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Ice I live in an apartment I use a U-4000 antennacraft this antenna is great my bedroom is on the west edge of the house. the transmitters is on the sw to w so I can get great reception. But this is worth the money check it out.

Dan Rose
 
There is always the good ole Winegard Sensar (batwing) from the RV market. VHF/UHF very narrow and only about 3' wide should be able to fit on a shelf in that closet, comes both amplified and unamplified and has at least a 20 year history of performance.
 
danristheman said:
Ice I live in an apartment I use a U-4000 antennacraft this antenna is great my bedroom is on the west edge of the house. the transmitters is on the sw to w so I can get great reception. But this is worth the money check it out.

Dan Rose
Click to expand...

only drawback is it is UHF only and I need both VHF (for Fox & NBC) and UHF
 
now we're cooking with propane

Fits pretty good in the closet (at least I can aim it NE) and I get all the channels I would want. Only ones that dont come in
2 low powered religious (they log in but go from no signal to a little bit)
Ion (but the tower is 90 degrees off the rest....again it logs them but signal is iffy)

Signals are low 90s on most stations...mid 90's on the 2 VHF stations
 
I tried a couple indoor antennas and neither one worked right (or at least how I wanted it too)

There was one I picked up from WallyMart....looked like a corner yagi antenna that was designed for attic installs. Get it home and it looked like a damn Mr Potato Head...You had to build it. From scratch. All the elements were at the bottom of the box. I said screw that and returned it :)

But on a sidenote....Radio Shack people are (mainly) clueless. I went to my local one to see if they had the HBU22 in stock. I walk in and the "employee" asked me if he could help me find something. I said "yes. An Outdoor TV antenna"

Where does he take me to? THE INDOOR ANTENNA AREA
I look at him and said "I dont want indoor antenna...I want to see what outdoor antennas you have"

The kid looked clueless. Thank goodness the manager came out of the back room and helped me...sort of
He at least knew what an outdoor TV antenna was ;)
 
Ice,

I started getting set up with OTA reception, but also ended up moving so I am kind of out of the loop for everything currently, both satellite and OTA. When I began, I just purchased one of those $20-$30 RCA antennas that look like a miniature "hotplate". Because of the local terrain and the fact that I was on the top of a hill, that little el-cheapo antenna served me very well. I was pulling in UHF/VHF signals that TV-Fool didn't even list for me. I did have to be creative with the angle and location of the antenna to get them, but they worked very well to my suprise.

Then I moved! I still use this RCA antenna, but I set it up at my sister's cabin down in the river valley. It's really lousy for reception there. It get a few channels to come in, but you have to sit just right and if anyone gets up to go to the kitchen or the bathroon, the signal pixelates and or the audio chirps.

I believe that I will look into the HBU22 antenna for next year myself and I might buy one for my Mom as well.

RADAR
 
Radar
I've used 3 of the 4 "HBU" models now and have been satisfied with the results

HBU22 is the "baby" of the bunch. Real good for the stronger signals if youre close by (I'm 29 miles away)
HBU33 is the "suburban" model....7 feet long. I had that one originally at my house and it worked fine. The low powered religious stations it wouldnt get as it was split to 4 spots
HBU44 is alot bigger...almost 10 feet long. I upgraded to that at the house mainly for DX'ing (which worked real well) and also to get the low powered stations in better
HBU55 is the massive mother...12+ feet long

So either the HBU22 or 33 would probably work for ya....and they're pretty sleek looking
 
Ice,

Yes. I probably wouldn't go too extreme, the 22 or 33 model would probably suit my needs just fine. The majority of the good OTA channels here in my area are not too far away and all in the same general direction and fairly strong signals. When I get my home in Cedar Bluffs, NE remodeled, I will set one of those two models up there. I have plenty of space on the roof or even inside the attic for a fairly large sized antenna. Besides that, my home there is atop a hill once again, so it won't be like being down in the river valley where the signal is obscured and reduced by forests of trees and tall bluffs.

Before I started spending a lot of my time at my cabin and nearly living at the cabin, I just had an old style OTA VHF antenna at the house in Cedar Bluffs. There was nothing extremely unique about the antenna that came with the house when I bought it, but I was able to pick up a station from Sioux City, IA and that is a LONG ways away as the crow flies... More than ninety miles. I used to watch that station more often than I watched the Omaha, NE stations which were merely 35-45 miles away. The Sioux City station had better programming at the time so I really enjoyed it.

Now that every OTA station is purely digital today, that antenna (which is still in my attic) may not be as good as I can do. I will certainly give it a try before abandoning it, but I know it won't work for any of the UHF stations and currently, the Omaha area UHF stations are better programming.

What really bites is my satellite LOS at my house there in Cedar Bluffs. Between my yard and my neighbors we have some really HUGE American Sycamore trees which are totally in the wrong places for sat reception. I really am going to miss my rental farm that was out near my cabin. That was the most ultimate location for the FTA hobby! Anyone who was interested in Ku or C band reception would have been green with envy! And now I have no access to that anymore so I am green with envy because the people who have it now are not interested in satellite reception except for DN or DirecTV. Seems to be such a waste of the ultimate skyline! I am sure that you understand the scenario here. These new tenants at the farm have the ultimate LOS for everything and they are not interested in the hobby one bit. What a shame. And then, here folks like you and I and the others are just drooling for the ultimate location and we are stuck with what we have! Oh well, Que Sera, Sera!

RADAR
 
I've built several single bay grey-hoverman antennas for picking up the local VHF and UHF signals. VHF transmitters vary from 20-50mi, and a bunch of UHF at about 55mi. No preamps (so far). Installed them at various locations within about 10mi of my place and they all get all the local channels. I just clamp them onto the satellite dish mast or bring a spare J-mount along. Very simple and hardly visible from the street etc... but they have to be mounted outside to do much good so maybe not the solution for you Ice.

I use 14ga covered copperweld as the elements, 3/4" square aluminum tubing as the backbone, and 3/16 plexiglass as insulators. No reflectors. A jig made with plywood with nails at the bend points helps keep the elements consistent, and I solder two bolts (3/8 X 2") to the feed points to attach the balun. No idea how long they will last, depends on the plexiglass standoffs I guess, and if Big Bird lands on one of the wires...
Since they have no reflectors they can pick up US stations, always one fox station nearby and often PBS, and sometimes ABC and CBS from Grand Forks/Fargo.
 
good thing I kept one of my tripods when I moved. One was shoddy so I checked it (actually took it to the scrapyard). The other I kept.
Bought a 5 foot mast today and was able to raise the antenna a little bit (maybe a foot or so). Didnt help but got it off the shelf there (so I can pout stuff in there) and also is no longer a eye hazard (as in when you walk in there the one element for VHF was pretty much eyeball high) ;)
 
I ordered the Newest Leaf from Mohu. It will pick up stations within a 50 mile radius. I paid 80 plus dollars for it . Hooked it up and got nothing but one PBS local channel in my small 5,000 population town. I called Mohu and they checked and told me that some obstacle was blocking the reception between my house and the towers in Macon which is about 37-40 miles away. I had to send it back and was given a refund without a problem. I don't know what that obstacle could have been. I can rule out mountains. But there are plenty of forests between my area and Macon. Anyway , it would not pick up anything in two other near by towns either. I want to try another indoor antenna , but am afraid too.
 
Jillian said:
I ordered the Newest Leaf from Mohu. It will pick up stations within a 50 mile radius. I paid 80 plus dollars for it . Hooked it up and got nothing but one PBS local channel in my small 5,000 population town. I called Mohu and they checked and told me that some obstacle was blocking the reception between my house and the towers in Macon which is about 37-40 miles away. I had to send it back and was given a refund without a problem. I don't know what that obstacle could have been. I can rule out mountains. But there are plenty of forests between my area and Macon. Anyway , it would not pick up anything in two other near by towns either. I want to try another indoor antenna , but am afraid too.
Click to expand...

Unless your close to the towers,in pretty flat terrain,indoor antennas aren't really an optimal choice.
 
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