How accurate is TitanTV's antenna chooser?

[dispatcher_21]

Winegard Sensar II, how is it??

I was wondering, how accurate is the digital antenna selector on the titantv web page?? It states that I should use a Winegard Sensar II. I am about 48 miles from the farthest towers, will this little looking antenna work? Anyone have experience using titantv's suggestion or on this antenna??

 

[Carl B]

I hadn't seen the antenna selector on titanty until I read your post and searched for it. Looks nifty. However, I gave it several variations of my situation and its recommendations were clearly on the "lite" side. With a "rinky-dink" new-age omni-directional antenna, titanty stated that I would have EXCELLENT reception from my local ABC DT channel. Well I've already tried two more formidable antennas, w/ pre-amps, and I still can't lock the station. I'd say, whatever titantv says, take it up at least 2 levels. Also, their range of possible antennas is pretty limited compared with what is available.

Go to http: <http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.asp> and find out what they recommend. For any DTV channels that require a RED antenna or more, check the distance listed. Then go to: <http://home.earthlink.net/~w9wi/tvdb/index.htm> , find the channel and check out what power level it is currently operating at (also the broadcast antenna height). From this you should be able to shop the internet and find an antenna that will work for you. You can also try searching on the AVS Forum for whatever antenna model you are considering. There is often a lot of informal review of OTA antennas for HDTV programming.

 

[hancox]

Antennaweb.org seems to have gone in the other direction - it switched a high-power VHF that was once rated for YELLOW to RED. Same address, a mountain didn't pop up or anything

 

[mserrano]

I have a lot of experience with long distance TV reception (I used to install antennas as a side business) and I find TitanTV to be inconsistent. They range from overly optimistic to overly pessimistic, depending on location.

If you want to receive stations 50 miles away reliably, a small antenna will not work unless you sit on a mountain top. I recommend (and use) a Winegard HD9095P (http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/hd9095p.pdf) UHF-only antenna. It is very directional, has high forward gain, and is very well built. It has a built-in VHF coupler (all connectors are 75 ohm coax) which allows a separate VHF antenna to be pointed in a different direction.

Unless you want to try pick up Channel 3 in Lewiston, use either a Winegard YA-6713 (http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/ya-6713.pdf) or YA-1713 (http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/ya-1713.pdf). Both are designed only for channels 7-13 (VHF-hi), which makes them much smaller than an all VHF model.

You will also need a low-noise preamp. Two possible choices are the Winegard AP-4700 and the AP-8700 (http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/Chart29.pdf). The AP-4700 is UHF-only (passes VHF) and the AP-7800 is VHF/UHF. If you live very close to an FM transmitter, there is the risk of interference if you use the AP-8700 (Radio Shack sells an FM trap).

If you want to try to pick up more distant stations (for more money), Channel Master makes the excellent Titan series pre-amp (http://www.channelmaster.com/Pages/TVS/TitanAmp.htm) that a friend of mine is quite pleased with (he's 50 miles from the closest transmitter). Model 7775 is UHF-only, but it will not pass VHF. Model 7777 is UHF/VHF and offers the option of separate UHF and VHF inputs (be careful of potential overload from local stations). If you try the 7777 and VHF overloads, you can buy 6-db pads at Radio Shack for the VHF input. These pre-amps are specifically designed for Fringe reception.

A reputable mail-order source I have used for many years is Warren Electronics (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/), if you can't find these locally. You could also try http://shopping.yahoo.com and search by make/model (i.e. "Winegard AP-4700"), where you may, or may not find a better price.

If you have more questions, you can reach me at markserr@att.net

 

[dispatcher_21]

Thanks for the info MSerrano. The thing with the VHF antenna is that I need to pick up a low band channel 5 PBS that is about 55 miles away in Pendelton, OR and a high band channel 8 FOX about 25 miles away and I'm having a hard time finding an affordable antenna that does the entire VHF band. I can find them that do high band or low band but not the whole thing. I really dont want to buy three antenna's or have three on the house. I would like to recieve this PBS because they do HD and the one from Pasco,WA does not. Thank you for the info on the winegards though, I didnt know they made VHF antenna's.

 

[Hall]

I suspect it's NOT accurate for my location. I'm relatively close to Dayton's tv station antenna "farm" (all the stations have them in the same location), 5.5-5.8 miles from my house. They show up in 'yellow' for me. Someone who lives farther away, but in the same general direction, is able to pick them up with a low-cost $30 antenna.

According to TitanTV, I need a large roof-mount type antenna. Even when I specify to use an "indoor" antenna, it still shows me the larger type, Antennacraft AC-9.