OTA Ant input please.

[evilfud]

Hello guys i am buying a house about half a mile from an airport here in muncie indiana. i want to build a theatre room in the 21x32 room and also have my 50 inch DLP in the other room. I believe antenaweb said indy towers were about 50 miles from my house. i would like to get the HD OTA stattions to both rooms what would be the best antena to go with to do this if possible? if pic quality is affected by splitting then ill just want to go to my theatre room.

zip is 47304

Thanks,
Chris

 

[bpickell]

It looks like if you want fox you are going to need something in violet like one of these two:

Channel Master CM3671 or the Winegard HD8200P

 

[evilfud]

ok i looked both of those up the channel master is about $75 cheaper when shipping is added. is there a major difference in those? also do you have an answer to my question about splitting the HD OTA to 2 TVs?

 

[bpickell]

I found the winegard for about 10 dollars more than the channel master shipped. I just have to wait till I get home to tell you where I found it.

As far as splitting goes. I really don't know the answer to that one. My guess would be that it would be fine for just splitting it once. I wouldn't think you would notice any signal degredation untill you split 5 or six times.

 

[bpickell]

I don't know which antenna is better, I tried asking that question a few days ago and have yet to receive a response.

I live in Fort Wayne, and am trying to figure out a way to get Battle Creek MI HD channels. Fort Wayne only has HD on CBS and NBC. I want HD for Fox and ABC as well. And Battle Creek seems like my best bet.

 

[Jim5506]

As far as splitting goes. I really don't know the answer to that one. My guess would be that it would be fine for just splitting it once. I wouldn't think you would notice any signal degredation untill you split 5 or six times.

You lose a lot of signal with every joint of any kind, two signal splits can totally wipe out any chance of digital reception, especially for fringe reception.

 

[bpickell]

Winegard

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=HD8200P

169.99

 

[jolt]

What about getting stacking two antennas on the same mast? If it's unamplified, it should be an (almost) simple matter of getting a combiner mounted on the mast. Then make sure your cable runs are identical to each antenna.

The antennas will need a fair amount of difference between the antennas, but since it's UHF only, the can be closer than if you were trying to get VHF. You can split it once you get inside, and not get the full 3dB "loss" compared to splitting a single antenna.

 

[evilfud]

heh bpickel i dont know why but that ant in that link when i add it to cart to see the shipping it says shipping is $167.07 like a dollar less than the antena itself lmao. but the other one you listed shipping is like $25 .

I think to keep it simple i will run OTA to only one room to make sure the theatre experience is best in the home theatre. so do yall agree with bpickel on his choices for my antena needs?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Jim5506]

You have a good chance at all network stations from Indianapolis except CBS with Digital on UHF.

Ch9 WISH-DT - CBS - 15.8KW is badly underpowered. Most others are around 700-1000KW.

I would go with a CM 4228 and a CM7777 Pre-Amp as high as you can get it.

You might even be able to pull in analog WISH Ch8 with it (fair upper VHF reception).

 

[Kevinw]

I would go with a CM 4228 and a CM7777 Pre-Amp as high as you can get it.

I would Also recomned this package. If you want more options
try www.antennasdirect.com

 

[evilfud]

ok my next question is can i do this myself? or should i pay an installer to do it? if i do it myself i have a 2 story house what kind of mount should i use and any other accessories i would need? rotater dealie, poles,ky jelly,etc?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[evilfud]

anyone?

 

[mserrano]

For distances you are trying to cover, I strongly recommend the Antennas Direct 91XG (I use it myself - http://www.antennasdirect.com/91XG_HDTV_Antenna.html ).

For the person in Muncie, IN, you may have problems using a pre-amp due to your local channel 49 (WIPB - Ball State). I show Indianapolis as being your closest city for OTA HD. You could try using a Channel Master 7777 pre=amp and see what happens. But if you know you are too close to channel 49, C&E Filter ( http://www.cefilter.com/index.asp ) make a model TXFLN-(specify UHF 49) that can reduce channel 49 by either 10db or 20db. Tell them that it cannot interfere with DTV-46 (Indianapolis).

For the person in Fort Wayne, I doubt you can get any Michigan stations. You might get some from South Bend, Elkhart or Lima. But you'll still have the risk of local Fort Wayne stations either overloading the pre-amp, or causing interference on the distant stations.

Prior to getting the 91XG, I had tried the Channel Master 4228 and Winegard 9095P antennas. There were always 1 or 2 channels that weren't reliable. With the 91XG, I have no problems.