Hooking up OTA, how to

[delta_charlie]

Here is the UHF/High VHF yagi antenna that works great for me.

Tough to beat a good old yagi if your broadcast stations are in the same general direction. The open un-covered design has little to catch the wind.

Not sure but I think the two longer sections at the back running at about 45 degrees are the elements for high VHF.

Hard to tell the scale from the picture, it's about 2 feet long.

 

[TheKrell]

Not sure but I think the two longer sections at the back running at about 45 degrees are the elements for high VHF.

I claim those are just the reflectors. The longest element at the back of the horizontal bar are probably the only elements actually connected to your down-lead.

 

[sabre170]

This thread is great! I'm in a similar boat. If I hook up my antenna to the white airTV dual tuner adapter, and then hook that up to my hopper, how does the hopper act?

I'm assuming there is a little setup to be done in the menus, however once all said and done:

1) Do the OTA channels show up in my guide?
1b) If so, does the programming show up with it?
2) Is my hopper able to record OTA programming
2b) If so, does my hopper see that there are major network channels (FOX, NBC) and auto record these with "Prime Time Anytime" recording??

I live in a big city so signal is no issue. Seems like a no brainer to dump the $12 monthly charge for local channels.

 

[Bobby]

This thread is great! I'm in a similar boat. If I hook up my antenna to the white airTV dual tuner adapter, and then hook that up to my hopper, how does the hopper act?

I'm assuming there is a little setup to be done in the menus, however once all said and done:

1) Do the OTA channels show up in my guide?
1b) If so, does the programming show up with it?
2) Is my hopper able to record OTA programming
2b) If so, does my hopper see that there are major network channels (FOX, NBC) and auto record these with "Prime Time Anytime" recording??

I live in a big city so signal is no issue. Seems like a no brainer to dump the $12 monthly charge for local channels.

Yes, there is a little setup. When you first plug in the adapter (with antenna attached) you will be asked to scan channels. Once you have scanned in the channels you save them. Those channels will show up in your guide as well as the programming. You can record that programming just like all the rest of your programming. You do not get Prime Time Anytime on OTA, only satellite big 4 local channels.

 

[sabre170]

Yes, there is a little setup. When you first plug in the adapter (with antenna attached) you will be asked to scan channels. Once you have scanned in the channels you save them. Those channels will show up in your guide as well as the programming. You can record that programming just like all the rest of your programming. You do not get Prime Time Anytime on OTA, only satellite big 4 local channels.

Thanks Bobby! Really seems like a no brainer.....unless there is something I'm missing. I live in the middle of Dallas, so I don't anticipate any sort of signal issue. I'm betting I'll get signal with a small antenna put on the wall behind my tv.

 

[TheKrell]

You do not get Prime Time Anytime on OTA, only satellite big 4 local channels.

Note that, if you turn on PTAT anyhow, you won't get them recording at all since they come only off satellite. But this will enable autohop even on the big 4 OTA channels.

 

[Bobby]

Note that, if you turn on PTAT anyhow, you won't get them recording at all since they come only off satellite. But this will enable autohop even on the big 4 OTA channels.

Very good point!

 

[pattykay]

...
I'm assuming there is a little setup to be done in the menus, however once all said and done:

Yes, there is a little setup. When you first plug in the adapter (with antenna attached) you will be asked to scan channels. Once you have scanned in the channels you save them. Those channels will show up in your guide as well as the programming. You can record that programming just like all the rest of your programming. You do not get Prime Time Anytime on OTA, only satellite big 4 local channels.

I would just add that after the first scan, you may want to scan again, just to see if you can find more channels. The OTA scan can be a little finicky, so it does not always find all of the available channels in a single scan.

 

[Templeton0543]

Well,I still have not sprung for the antenna and adapter...as soon as I do they will settle. I watch NBC local for the news and weather mainly, I prefer it over the others. I talked to a neighbor and I will not be able to get all of the big 4 ota so I would have to pay Dish anyway.He did say there are a few sub channels tho.

 

[pattykay]

Well,I still have not sprung for the antenna and adapter...as soon as I do they will settle. ...

Well then, please do so as quickly as possible, for all of our sakes! Seriously though, at least you would then be better prepared for the next dispute.

 

[delta_charlie]

I claim those are just the reflectors. The longest element at the back of the horizontal bar are probably the only elements actually connected to your down-lead.

I was up on the roof this morning working on and aiming my FTA dish so I took a picture looking down at my UHF/H-VHF antenna. Just wanted to follow up on what I found - the antenna has the two longer sections hooked into the feed for the UHF section. Looks to me this antenna is a high gain on UHF and only a simple folded dipole on H-VHF. That is consistent with the performance I see with it. It kicks butt on UHF and is just so so on H-VHF. It is a great antenna if you only need it for a couple of H-VHF stations that are not too far. Nice compact choice.

 

[Jim5506]

Those are to help VHF high band reception, maybe as good as a dipole.

Lets them claim VHF reception.

 

[DJ Lon]

I was up on the roof this morning working on and aiming my FTA dish so I took a picture looking down at my UHF/H-VHF antenna. Just wanted to follow up on what I found - the antenna has the two longer sections hooked into the feed for the UHF section. Looks to me this antenna is a high gain on UHF and only a simple folded dipole on H-VHF. That is consistent with the performance I see with it. It kicks butt on UHF and is just so so on H-VHF. It is a great antenna if you only need it for a couple of H-VHF stations that are not too far. Nice compact choice.

Oh yeah, something like that would work great here because we have 3 Hi-VHF stations and the rest UHF