Dummy needs advice on OTA HD antennae

[CoolBeans]

We have DirecTV and a HD Samsung TV and all is well............except Sinclair Broadcast and DirecTV are fussing over money and we might lose our local CBS Medford, OR station, KTVL 10.

This will probably resolve its self before the 1 March 13 deadline, as was the case last year when local Fox channel 26 was fussing with someone over money. Blackout was resolved. So now I am thinking about an OTA HD antenna for back-up, near the TV or in the attic (do asphalt shingles degrade the signal?)

There are LOTS of TALL trees CLOSE to the house. Is this a problem for an OTA. (UHF or VHF, I dunno)

If you could answer as tho you are talking to a 4th grade student.........that would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[Mr Tony]

The trees might be an issue but it really depends on how far you are away from the towers
Best thing to do is to post your tvfool report
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

You can enter your info and it will show how far away the towers are for your area. When you post the link it will not show your address, just the city.

As for the attic, in most cases you can lose a lot of signal by having it in the attic. But again if you are close to the towers you should be fine. As example I have an antenna in the closet of my apartment. While I lose some signal I am close enough to the towers here in Minneapolis for it to still work properly

 

[mike123abc]

An antenna in the attic is a lot more reliable than one outdoors. So, if you can get it working in the attic, I would keep it there.

 

[boba]

We have DirecTV and a HD Samsung TV and all is well............except Sinclair Broadcast and DirecTV are fussing over money and we might lose our local CBS Medford, OR station, KTVL 10.

This will probably resolve its self before the 1 March 13 deadline, as was the case last year when local Fox channel 26 was fussing with someone over money. Blackout was resolved. So now I am thinking about an OTA HD antenna for back-up, near the TV or in the attic (do asphalt shingles degrade the signal?)

There are LOTS of TALL trees CLOSE to the house. Is this a problem for an OTA. (UHF or VHF, I dunno)

If you could answer as tho you are talking to a 4th grade student.........that would be helpful.

Thanks

Where are you located? What directv equipment do you have? Are you going to use the TV's tuner or do you have the external tuner for Directv? How many TV/Tuners do you want to connect?

 

[raoul5788]

An antenna in the attic is a lot more reliable than one outdoors. So, if you can get it working in the attic, I would keep it there.

It is? How so? The signals in the attic are attenuated enough to make an outdoor antenna much more reliable if the signal is marginal at all.

 

[Blindowl1234]

An antenna in the attic is a lot more reliable than one outdoors. So, if you can get it working in the attic, I would keep it there.

An antenna outdoors is a lot more reliable. In an attic there is signal loss due to a variety of materials. If you're close to towers it's not as much of an issue

 

[jayn_j]

I think Todd was discussing long term reliability. An indoor antenna is not subject to weather, so connectors don't corrode, feedlines don't fatigue and elements don't break off in wind and ice storms. I tend to agree with him. If you can make an attic antenna work reliably, you will get many more years out of it before you need to go and service it again.

 

[Tampa8]

Both my antennas are in the attic/garage. I always try that first. Dependent on construction of the house, height, etc. over the years I just don't see a big enough difference to put antennas outdoors where strong winds and corrosion in both Fl and Ct tend to move or otherwise damage them. If a channel is far enough away or has a weaker signal it's possible outdoors would get it, indoors would not. But again depending on construction, it's not much of a difference.

 

[mike123abc]

An antenna outdoors is a lot more reliable. In an attic there is signal loss due to a variety of materials. If you're close to towers it's not as much of an issue

Yes signal is better outside, but you also have to deal with the elements. Which is why I said if you can get it working it is better inside and protected from high winds and perching large birds.