Looking for advice on antenna selection and installation.

[jbsayers]

Got this report from antenna web.

*yellow - vhf WKYC-DT 3.1 NBC CLEVELAND OH 336° 21.42
*yellow - uhf WDLI-DT 39.1 TBN CANTON OH 242° 8.039
*yellow - uhf WJW-DT 8.1 FOX CLEVELAND OH 330° 20.931
*yellow - uhf WEAO-DT 50.1 PBS AKRON OH 260° 8.950
*yellow - uhf WUAB-DT 43.1 MNT LORAIN OH 332° 21.928
*yellow - uhf WEWS-DT 5.1 ABC CLEVELAND OH 331° 21.615
*yellow - uhf WVPX-DT 59 ION AKRON OH TBD 243° 7.159
*yellow - uhf WBNX-DT 55.1 CW AKRON OH 335° 21.530
*green - vhf WOIO-DT 19.1 CBS SHAKER HEIGHTS OH 335° 21.710
*violet - uhf WKBN-DT 27.1 CBS YOUNGSTOWN OH 103° 43.241
*violet - uhf WVIZ-DT 25.1 PBS CLEVELAND OH 325° 20.626

Wondered which antenna(s) would suit me. I could also use some hints/advice on installation. I'm a first-time DIYer in this arena.

My HDTV has a built in HD tuner and we are ordering U-verse U200 package for SDTV and internet.

We have a monstrosity of an antenna on top of the 2 story house, prob left over from old school OTA TV, but I don't think it is wired into the house.

Thanks

 

[stone phillips420]

i use this antenna
i use this antenna in msp roughly 18 miles from big4
others go as far as 45 miles away

AntennaCraft D9000 Discovery for Extreme Deep Fringe VHF UHF FM HD Antenna (DS9000)
Antennacraft D9000 VHF/UHF/FM Antenna
works great

seems tobe priced around 100 dollars or so

 

[concord]

Cleveland is a bit flat, so you should be able to get great signals, esp. when all but one station is in the same direction. I would try the old antenna first, turn it toward 300 degrees and see what you can get. You may even get a few canadian channels too, if you point it north/north-east....

At 20mi away, you probably could use the old rabbit ear/UHF antenna! If you decide on another outside/attic antenna, location around the house can be a factor. I found a sweet spot in my attic by trying different locations within the attic.

If you don't care to get the one outliner (CBS Youngstown), a directional antenna, i.e. CM 4221 or similar) would do, otherwise you will need a rotator. You might also try an omni-directional antenna, however they are not as sensitive and 43mi may be too far for it to pick up the outliner...

 

[jbsayers]

Cleveland is a bit flat, so you should be able to get great signals, esp. when all but one station is in the same direction. I would try the old antenna first, turn it toward 300 degrees and see what you can get. You may even get a few canadian channels too, if you point it north/north-east....

At 20mi away, you probably could use the old rabbit ear/UHF antenna! If you decide on another outside/attic antenna, location around the house can be a factor. I found a sweet spot in my attic by trying different locations within the attic.

If you don't care to get the one outliner (CBS Youngstown), a directional antenna, i.e. CM 4221 or similar) would do, otherwise you will need a rotator. You might also try an omni-directional antenna, however they are not as sensitive and 43mi may be too far for it to pick up the outliner...

Can I just run plain old coax from the antenna into the house and straight to the TV or should I route it through some sort of surge protection?

There are antenna jacks in the wall but I am certain TWC disconnected the antenna and routed the cable to it.

 

[concord]

I would recommend RG-6 coax and make sure your antenna is grounded. My sat dishes are strapped to my chimmey and grounded (i.e. ground to water pipe). If it's not grounded, you can get RG-6 with a grounding wire attached.

Once you find the antenna works and since you are not using TW for internet nor cable, look for your box or splitter that goes to the wiring in the house. Try connecting the antenna cable to the box/splitter and see if it works. In the old days, TW used to disable the wall outlets and charged per TV...so it may not work. If it does work, you may need an amplified splitter to boost the signal, depending on the distance of the coax.