OTA antenna for 921

[John W]

I wanted to get some recomendations for an OTA antenna for my 921 when I get it (and don't say not to buy it, I have read about the problems but am willing to take my chances, afterall I survived the 7100).

The city I live in does not allow your standard OTA antenna to be set up outside the house. I do have one in the attic. Not sure of the brand but my house is 20 years old and I am sure that was original equipment in the house. It has that flat brown cabling about 1/2 an inch wide with two wires coming from it. It would also be important to note that I have a barrel tile roof, 1 story and the antenna points south which is where the tv towers are (they are all situated pretty much in one area close to Pro Player Stadium about 15 mile south of me).

Now should I just rip out that antenna and put in a newer model? Should I just change the cabling? Should I put some sort of low profile antenna outside near my dish?
some links to models of antennas that i should use would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[David_Levin]

If you NEED a Radio Shack 57 element antenna to receive your OTA channels the "city" cannot stop you from putting it up (unless you don't own the roof or there is a safety issue). Federal Law Says so.

You best bet is to go here:

www.antennaweb.org

TitanTv is pretty good too:
www.titantv.com

You can put in your address and they'll tell you what you need. Otherwise you have to tell us a lot more. An old UHF antenna could be perfectly adequate...

Are you able to receive analog UHF now? Cleanly?
Are the digital channels coming from the same location with the same power?

If so, your current antenna will probably be ok.
At 15 miles, if the digital channels are putting out full power, they should be pretty easy to get.

Can you run a new cable (coax) down from the antenna? All antennas have two terminal connection points. From there you can attach the flat cable or a Coax with a Radio Shack 75 ohm adapter. Coax will bring in a better signal. You can also get an adapter to go from the flat cable back to coax (what the 921 needs).

 

[Grandude]

I wanted to get some recomendations for an OTA antenna for my 921 when I get it

The city I live in does not allow your standard OTA antenna to be set up outside the house. I do have one in the attic. Not sure of the brand but my house is 20 years old and I am sure that was original equipment in the house. It has that flat brown cabling about 1/2 an inch wide with two wires coming from it.

First, if the antenna in your attic now has UHF capabilities, that is a lot of short elements, then you may be good keeping it. I would certainly try with it before investing in another antenna.
I WOULD convert to RG6 coax and dump the ribbon cable. Radio Shack and a lot of hardware stores carry the necessary adapter to connect to the antenna terminals to convert to the coax.
There are outdoor antennas that don't look like your typical TV antenna which you perhaps could get away with in your community. Considering your closeness to the transmitting towers, I would expect that an antenna in your attic would be just fine.

 

[mfrodsha]

First, if the antenna in your attic now has UHF capabilities, that is a lot of short elements, then you may be good keeping it. I would certainly try with it before investing in another antenna.
I WOULD convert to RG6 coax and dump the ribbon cable. Radio Shack and a lot of hardware stores carry the necessary adapter to connect to the antenna terminals to convert to the coax.
There are outdoor antennas that don't look like your typical TV antenna which you perhaps could get away with in your community. Considering your closeness to the transmitting towers, I would expect that an antenna in your attic would be just fine.

By the way, the Radio Shack RG6 cable is unreliable with HD signals. I bought two of their highest end RG6 cables thinking "cable is cable is cable" only for their stupid cables to burn out and stop sending me HD signals, and only garble the analog channels (HD and non-HD sets) after a couple of days.

Hate to say it - but go Monster. I put in the high-grade Monster cables from antenna and from Dish to the 921, and it was worth every cent.

As for antenna, I bought a Terk "HD" antenna for about $100 that looks sort of like a cricket bat, that you lay flat on the roof. It's not unsightly, like a large antenna, and gives me great channel quality, assuming the signals don't keep getting "lost".

 

[BOTWHORT]

http://www.bobmerritt.com/dtv/dtv.htm

CHECK IT OUT

 

[mfrodsha]

http://www.bobmerritt.com/dtv/dtv.htm

CHECK IT OUT

Well, Botwhort, can there be any doubt that that is about the ugliest antenna available? What, are we trying to turn the neighborhoods into back into the unsightly 60's with these gargantuan antennas on everyone's home?

Personally, I prefer something much more discrete, less obvious, althought that's sort of a weird thing to say from a Dishowner who has a dish on top of the roof.

No offense intended, of course. To each his own!