New Construction Attic Antenna Concerns

[TNGuy84]

I'm currently in the process of building a new home at the moment. When the sheetrock hadn't been put up, I had the electrical guy run RG-6 to the attic space at the far end of the garage. Now, the area in the attic where the coax runs were placed has a big air handler in the way. The house is on a slab, so the HVAC equipment is all in the attic space. I can't crawl over the equipment to place the antenna in the small area at the far end of the garage. I'm wondering if I can attach one to the rafters above the stairs. I'm thinking about having the electrical guy relocate the coax runs to the top of the attic over the stairs and have the antenna mounted to the top most rafters over the stairs. I've attached a top down view of the attic space from over the garage as reference. There's not much room for storage outside of the HVAC equipment. The only usable space is over the garage since the part over the house will have insulation blown in around the maze of HVAC piping. I'm thinking I can maybe get a medium sized antenna mounted directly above the steps, but I'm fearful that the motor in the air handler will cause a lot of electrical noise to the point that my signal quality won't be great. I have 2 channels in the VHF band in my area that likely won't be receivable when the A/C or heat is running, but I'm wondering about channels in the lower UHF band. One time I can recall that I had an indoor antenna placed near a motorized filter that caused low UHF frequencies to glitch out, but those higher (channels 25 and above) had no problem with reception. Thanks for your time looking at my post and for your advice.

 

[Pepper]

It all depends on available signal strength in your location and other factors, but I'll just say this:

I had an antenna in the attic once. Never again. Route that cable outside and mount an antenna on the roof or other suitable location.

 

[TNGuy84]

I have a great signal location for my main OTA market, and I can sometimes pick up the next nearest market when tropo or night time ducting occurs with an outdoor set up at my old house. I'm trying to avoid an outdoor mount due to the fact that my house is the first home in the neighborhood. My builder is trying to make it look ritzy due to its prime location, and I don't want to detract from the exterior look of the home. Believe me, if I didn't have all eyes on my home, I'd love to put it outside, but that's not doable. My only other solution is just to get some good indoor antennas for every TV room, but since I've gone to so much trouble for an attic install, I don't want to discount it completely.

 

[dishdude]

Mine is in my attic and it works fine. I'd recommend getting the coax terminations relocated to somewhere you can access them after the house is complete for future needs.

 

[arlo]

I pondered over your description. Because of efficiency requirements mandated on newer HVAC equipment I would guess the blower is a PWM type. So a switched lead on the controller board will tell the motor to change speeds and the motor will have its own integrated module. The air handler is a big grounded metal can and 'should' contain most RFI. But, who knows. Straight a/c with heat strips, or heat pump? Is the condensing unit compressor an inverter type?
Lot's of factors here. If you're in it for the long haul and an attic antenna is the only option. What's to say you couldn't build a Faraday cage with double layer window screening and its own dedicated earth ground to encase the air handler unit. But make it serviceable for the poor tech who will sweat his cay-jonnies off up there in the summer.
I don't know. Guess you'll have to try it and see.

 

[Jim5506]

Have you run the location through Rabbitears.info to see what signal strengths you will get at the new house?

BTY very few people will notice a TV antenna on a house, they are looking at everything else.

If your roof has any type of foil layer or tile roofing on it your attic antenna attempt will most likely fail.

If you're concerned about it being visible from the street, put it on the back side of the house below or only slightly above the peak of the roof.

 

[primestar31]

I have a great signal location for my main OTA market, and I can sometimes pick up the next nearest market when tropo or night time ducting occurs with an outdoor set up at my old house. I'm trying to avoid an outdoor mount due to the fact that my house is the first home in the neighborhood. My builder is trying to make it look ritzy due to its prime location, and I don't want to detract from the exterior look of the home. Believe me, if I didn't have all eyes on my home, I'd love to put it outside, but that's not doable. My only other solution is just to get some good indoor antennas for every TV room, but since I've gone to so much trouble for an attic install, I don't want to discount it completely.

Run a signal reception report on your EXACT home address or Google Map coordinates at the link I'm giving you, and post the RESULTS link in this thread. Then we can advise you without just GUESSING. Attic can be fine in some cases, BUT, 'what antenna and where to locate it', is always a guess without a reception report to at least give you a good idea what you are dealing with at your location: https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php

Otherwise you might spend a lot of time and money trying antenna after antenna, and location after location until it works "good enough", if ever...

 

[TNGuy84]

Run a signal reception report on your EXACT home address or Google Map coordinates at the link I'm giving you, and post the RESULTS link in this thread. Then we can advise you without just GUESSING. Attic can be fine in some cases, BUT, 'what antenna and where to locate it', is always a guess without a reception report to at least give you a good idea what you are dealing with at your location: https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php

Otherwise you might spend a lot of time and money trying antenna after antenna, and location after location until it works "good enough", if ever...

https://www.rabbitears.info/s/1770235

 

[primestar31]

https://www.rabbitears.info/s/1770235

Which stations are "must have"? Please give me the actual call letters, thanks.

This should get you everything down to WNAL-LD . Aim it a hair WEST of dead South: Televes 148883, ELLIPSE MIX HDTV antenna, Repack Ready! Channels 7-36,

It's fairly small, but very powerful. I tested it here, and later installed it at my sons house. It won't receive WHDF, which is LOW Vhf. For that station, you need a much larger antenna, and it won't fit in an attic
.
Here's the one that can also receive LOW Vhf. It's more than twice the size of the Ellipse, and MUCH wider for the LOW Vhf part: Televes 148383, DAT BOSS MIX LR antenna W/Preamp, Long Range, Low-VHF/

 

[MartyDe]

My antenna is in my attic attached to a rafter. Zero problems from my air handler.

 

[stecle]

I'm currently in the process of building a new home at the moment. When the sheetrock hadn't been put up, I had the electrical guy run RG-6 to the attic space at the far end of the garage. Now, the area in the attic where the coax runs were placed has a big air handler in the way. The house is on a slab, so the HVAC equipment is all in the attic space. I can't crawl over the equipment to place the antenna in the small area at the far end of the garage. I'm wondering if I can attach one to the rafters above the stairs. I'm thinking about having the electrical guy relocate the coax runs to the top of the attic over the stairs and have the antenna mounted to the top most rafters over the stairs. I've attached a top down view of the attic space from over the garage as reference. There's not much room for storage outside of the HVAC equipment. The only usable space is over the garage since the part over the house will have insulation blown in around the maze of HVAC piping. I'm thinking I can maybe get a medium sized antenna mounted directly above the steps, but I'm fearful that the motor in the air handler will cause a lot of electrical noise to the point that my signal quality won't be great. I have 2 channels in the VHF band in my area that likely won't be receivable when the A/C or heat is running, but I'm wondering about channels in the lower UHF band. One time I can recall that I had an indoor antenna placed near a motorized filter that caused low UHF frequencies to glitch out, but those higher (channels 25 and above) had no problem with reception. Thanks for your time looking at my post and for your advice.

If it isn't too late, run a 1 inch (or bigger) conduit from your attic to your electrical panel. Technology changes fast.

 

[sc4ram]

I'm sure there are people here much more knowledgeable on this subject than I, but I'll share my experience. After having issues with digital cable within my house, I talked to some pro-telecommunications guys , they recommended Gigahertz rated coax. I ended up with a TFC (times fiber cable) T-10 cable. It fixed my Digital Cable TV problems, and it gave me a noticeable better performance with OTA applications. Good luck with the proximity of the AC /air handler. My experience is that the digital signal is pretty finicky (i notice a reaction when I run my microwave oven) . You are giving up some performance by putting the antenna in the attic, but I have done the same (I'm in Florida, lightening capital of the world) and it gives me a lot of piece of mind. Good Luck!

 

[navychop]

Looks like you might do fine, distance and bearing, with an under rafter StealthTenna, if they’re still sold.

Named because they are stealthily mounted almost out of sight. NOT because they resemble stealth bombers. Predated the bomber.

On edit: It’s shaped like a wing. I see that name is now used for all sorts of bent paper clips. If I can find the real deal. I’ll post it.

 

[TNGuy84]

If it isn't too late, run a 1 inch (or bigger) conduit from your attic to your electrical panel. Technology changes fast.

It's likely too late at this point since sheetrock would be in the way of running that conduit.

 

[navychop]

Try Just Audio Home Audio / HiFi Store for the cassette player. I’ll go look and see if I still have mine

 

[RaiderPower]

There is a lot of good advice from others in this thread (well, with the possible exception of the cassette player recommendation).

My own experience is that I am currently in an area with the ability to receive 135+ OTA channels (a handful of which are actually in English), and one of the first things I have always done when moving into a new or new-to-me house is to throw a quality, decently placed, and well-aimed antenna and preamp in the attic, with overall excellent results. There are a number of apps available that will give you pretty good aiming advice while you are actually up in the attic.

The above notwithstanding, one thing I have yet not seen mentioned is that if your roof is constructed with a TechShield-type sheathing, as many houses are in my area, your chances of a successful attic-mount experience are greatly diminished, if not eliminated entirely, so you may want to plan accordingly.

Oh, and I have never experienced any issue whatsoever from either of the two air handlers that both reside within a couple of feet from the OTA antenna.

 

[Mister B]

Try Just Audio Home Audio / HiFi Store for the cassette player. I’ll go look and see if I still have mine

I think this post was meant to go under the classified ads section.

 

[FTA4PA]

I think this post was meant to go under the classified ads section.

Actually I think it was intended to go in the thread listed below.

WANTED - Stereo Cassette Deck with RCA Outputs

I've stumbled upon a box of old audio cassettes from my college days when I did some sports reports for our local radio station and would love to convert them and some old audio books that aren't available on audible over to digital formats. Does anyone happen to have an old stereo cassette...

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[navychop]

Yep.

 

[TNGuy84]

I tried to put in a full panoramic photo of the attic area, but the site said that was too big. Anyway, I opted for the Televes Dat Boss Mix LR Full band antenna. I did some measurements in the space shown, and I can just squeeze in the antenna without disturbing the duct work. It's a bit of a no man's land with no flooring, so I'd probably have to sit on those thin pieces of wood while assembling the whole thing, but it's the only usable space I have without having to crawl under all of the duct work.