Best OTA Antenna?

[silversurfer]

What is the best OTA antenna for this situation?

I have FOX and CBS at 116 and 117 degrees 8 miles away. NBC and ABC are at 201 and 275. NBC is 4 miles away and ABC is 24 miles away.

I don't want a rotor unless they happen to make one that will change when the channel changes so that Tivo can record properly....

Thanks in advance!

 

[silversurfer]

Anyone?

 

[Kevinw]

As close as you are a small omni directional could work--ABC being the possible issue becuase of distance.

 

[Jim5506]

The Zenith Silver Sensor might do for you, depending on the power of the ABC transmitter. Buy one you can return and set it up pointing at the ABC tower. Most antenna selection is trial and error, within limits. My ABC tower is only 6 miles away but broadcasting at 0.98kw, my STB sees it but can't lock on even with an external antenna. If your ABC station is at full power the Silver Sensor should pull it in.

 

[dlsnyder]

One of those 4-bay bowtie/screen antennas might do the trick in your situation. Split the difference between the two bearings and aim it between them. It may just do the trick for you as those antennas are not as directional as a yagi but have similar gain. The only drawback would be if you are near a hill, tall building, or other potential source of multipath interference. If that is the case, unless you have a newer-model receiver, you may have some trouble holding the signal consistently.

 

[Carl B]

Hate to be contrary, but if you check out the beamwidth data for the popular Bays and Yagis you will see that the Yagi antennas, in general, have a wider beamwidth. That means they are less directional than the Bay antennas. There are probably particular model exceptions to this, but in general this is true. It is one of the reasons why the Bay type antennas are preferred in situations with multi-path problems.

If you want a better shot at picking up signals from a spread of locations, go with a Yagi styple antenna. One common exception to this is if the signals are 180 degrees apart. In that case, a Bay/Bow-Tie antenna w/o the screen will do a good job of picking up signals from behind it. A Yagi is less effective in this situation.

 

[dlsnyder]

Hate to be contrary, but if you check out the beamwidth data for the popular Bays and Yagis you will see that the Yagi antennas, in general, have a wider beamwidth. That means they are less directional than the Bay antennas. There are probably particular model exceptions to this, but in general this is true. It is one of the reasons why the Bay type antennas are preferred in situations with multi-path problems.

If you want a better shot at picking up signals from a spread of locations, go with a Yagi styple antenna. One common exception to this is if the signals are 180 degrees apart. In that case, a Bay/Bow-Tie antenna w/o the screen will do a good job of picking up signals from behind it. A Yagi is less effective in this situation.

The difference in beam headings between extremes (116 and 275) is 159 degrees. Might that be just enough for that idea to work here? And I apologize for the mis-information. I was merely going off of my limited personal experience, not specification charts for particular antennas.

 

[silversurfer]

Thanks everyone for all the help...I'll let you know how it goes....