Is it this easy... yeah, another antenna question

[charlatan]

So, I can't post a pic or link yet... not seasoned enough

I live in Denver proper, zip is 80230. A quick look at tvfool tells me all my channels are west (I knew that) and for most towers I am 17 miles distant. I do want to try and get the other PBS station, which is 31 miles.

Anyway, it seems as though my setup might be as easy as an attic antenna (or two to split the VHF / UHF). I would like to connect both to my in house coax cabling, so I am not sure I want to do the "radio shack" in house antenna.

Anwyay, given the distance, and the fact that my view is relatively unobstructed... am I over complicating things? One antenna good?

Also, I am still digging on just how I get these antennae connected to my coax...

Thanks in advance

Mike

 

[boba]

It looks that easy you need a VHF/UHF antenna post transition and compass heading of 262 looks like it will cover most of your broadcast channels. As far as distribution you need to tell us more like how many TVs will be connected.

 

[CowboyDren]

If there isn't another house between your attic and the towers, a single combo antenna should be quite adequate. An outdoor antenna no larger than a satellite dish will outperform an in attic installation, sometimes by a great margin. Are you more worried about aesthetics, performance, or durability? Pick any two.

 

[charlatan]

Wow, good news... I like simple solutions .

4 TV's total.

1 Plasma - has an ATSC tuner.
1 Flat panel monitor - maybe use my Slingbox w/ ATSC tuner.
1 Laptop PC ... not sure on this. Maybe use my Slingbox on this and find build an HTPC for the flatpanel.
1 old school TV - need converter.

Not sure how good the cabling is in the house, but it's only 5 years old so I am guessing it's decent. I have a bunch of dish network hardware.. and I think I have an old TERK amplifier from when I had cable (or DirecTV).

 

[charlatan]

If there isn't another house between your attic and the towers, a single combo antenna should be quite adequate. An outdoor antenna no larger than a satellite dish will outperform an in attic installation, sometimes by a great margin. Are you more worried about aesthetics, performance, or durability? Pick any two.

I am not opposed at all to putting an antenna outside. I currently have two dish network dish's on the roof, mounted with arms that extend up from the SIDE of my garage (read: wall). They are on the west side of the house no less. I guess I should mention, there are houses west of me. And trees... but I can see the buildings downtown, one of which currently houses some of the antenna's I believe.

I actually submitted a request for a recommendation from winegard last night just to see what they'd say.

I guess durability may be a concern in Colorado... the weather is decent, occasionally quite windy and we only occasionally get hammered with a big snow storm.

I want performance. Heck, if I had two I might be able to snag some Colorado Sprgs channels too ??

 

[Don_M]

80230... Lowry, I presume. Howdy, neighbor! I'm three blocks away from Cherry Creek State Park.

The transmitters/antennas for channels 4, 7, 9 and 20 were on the Republic Plaza building downtown until last May, when the four stations moved to the big new DTV tower on Lookout Mountain. I presume the "other" PBS station to which you referred is KBDI 12.x, which is on Squaw Mountain. KRMA 6.x broadcasts from Mt. Morrison. You have clear line of sight to all of them. If your home has a concrete tile roof, outdoor installation is advisable. Unless you happen to have a gable or wood-frame wall that faces 250 - 262 degrees, the concrete will block most of the signals from getting into the attic.

Please consider the Winegard HD-7694P antenna. Well-made, durable and compact, it should stand up to the wind and snow we get hereabouts. It's built for channels 7-69 -- perfect for us, as channel 7 will be our lowest post-transition assignment -- so its elements are fairly narrow, making it fairly easy to install.

First try the antenna by itself on all four TVs. If it's outdoors, high enough and aimed correctly, you may not need any amplification. If a boost is necessary, use a Winegard HDP-269 antenna pre-amplifier instead of the Terk. The 269 has just enough gain to overcome the signal loss involved in a four-way split, and it resists overload from our strong signals better than just about any other pre-amp available. (Overload prevents DTV reception, just like weak signals do.)

 

[charlatan]

80230... Lowry, I presume. Howdy, neighbor! I'm three blocks away from Cherry Creek State Park.

The transmitters/antennas for channels 4, 7, 9 and 20 were on the Republic Plaza building downtown until last May, when the four stations moved to the big new DTV tower on Lookout Mountain. I presume the "other" PBS station to which you referred is KBDI 12.x, which is on Squaw Mountain. KRMA 6.x broadcasts from Mt. Morrison. You have clear line of sight to all of them. If your home has a concrete tile roof, outdoor installation is advisable. Unless you happen to have a gable or wood-frame wall that faces 250 - 262 degrees, the concrete will block most of the signals from getting into the attic.

Please consider the Winegard HD-7694P antenna. Well-made, durable and compact, it should stand up to the wind and snow we get hereabouts. It's built for channels 7-69 -- perfect for us, as channel 7 will be our lowest post-transition assignment -- so its elements are fairly narrow, making it fairly easy to install.

First try the antenna by itself on all four TVs. If it's outdoors, high enough and aimed correctly, you may not need any amplification. If a boost is necessary, use a Winegard HDP-269 antenna pre-amplifier instead of the Terk. The 269 has just enough gain to overcome the signal loss involved in a four-way split, and it resists overload from our strong signals better than just about any other pre-amp available. (Overload prevents DTV reception, just like weak signals do.)

Well hello Don_M! You guessed right, I am in Lowry. 2 blocks off of Quebec on 11th to be precise. Thanks for your input.

Have no problem putting this outside, so I will go ahead and order the Winegard. I will need to take some pics, but I think I can mount it to the mast upon which my dish currently sits. FYI, it will wind up sitting outside between my first and second floors, west side of the house. Roof is asphalt shingles FYI.

Seems easy enough to setup...comes with coax connection

Does it matter what kind of splitter I use? My house came with an OnQ system like this ; http://www.onqlegrand.com/products/364222-01

You're correct on the PBS station too. I've read it's hard to get.

 

[Don_M]

I attached a spec sheet that contains gain figures as well as dimensions of the antenna. Minimum clearance behind the mast clamp isn't specified, but from the diagram, it looks like it needs about 24 inches.

The OnQ module looks just fine. At 1 GHz, it's rated for all OTA frequencies, and then some. That beveled F-connector panel sure looks convenient, too.

KBDI comes in well here at a steady signal-level reading of 87/100 from an attic-mounted, hand-built, 4-bay UHF antenna with no amp that's at the end of 55 feet of coax cable. While it is at reduced power on channel 38, you're four miles closer than I am (32 miles vs. 36), so an HD-7694 should receive KBDI easily on an outside mount. (Also, KBDI will be increasing power when it moves down to real channel 13 after the June 12 transition.)