OTA Antenna Question

[CharredPC]

Hey, all.
Usually I hang out in the FTA Satellite section, but when the opportunity came up to purchase a MTVHDA18 PCI AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 card for half normal cost, I couldn't resist. I plan on tossing it into my HTPC.

My question is; I already have a roof antenna, probably pretty old, but it works pretty well. I replaced the wiring on it about 6 months ago. Will this work (obviously not as well as something new) for digital OTA signals? Better than a coat hanger? I ask becuase it's already in place, and I'll try it anyhow, but I wasn't sure if the arial HAD to be a newer digital-ready design, or if the old ones worked if the signals were strong enough. According to http://www.checkhd.com (my zip is 84057) I have about 20 digital stations in my area! It'd be pretty sweet to even get half of them, even if I don't have an HDTV yet to truly take advantage of alot of it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dodge]

ota antenna

yes that antenna should work pretty well, If you can get analog on it you should be able to get the digital HDTV stations as long as your local stations are boradcasting in full power in your area. You may need an external amplifier, I reccomend the any of the winegard models that are mast mounted.

 

[rockaway1836]

As long as your antenna is capable of picking up UHF signals you should be ok. The term Digital Ready as far as antennas go is just a marketing ploy. You may also want to check www.antennaweb.com should your antenna turn out to be VHF only.

 

[CharredPC]

Thanks for the quick replies! Actually, the antenna does better on UHF than VHF, so I'd suspect it's UHF capable Or just really badly tuned, lol.

The inline amps actually work, then? I always kind of thought they were a bunch of hype, like the term 'digital ready'... if you have static, and amplify the whole RF, don't you get twice as much after? I suppose things have changed and there's built-in filters and what-not. Might also be correlating my "powered antenna" experiences with inline amplifiers, which I suppose are very different things... I just know on my satellite setup, adding an inline amp raises the signal a bit, but does nothing for quality, and sometimes even hurts it.

 

[hokiecb]

Amps work... i have an attic mount.. i get nothing without the amp, digital nbc fox cbs pbs wb with the amp.. stations are about 30 miles out.

 

[rockaway1836]

I woulld't go with an in-line amp. I think you really want a pre-amp. It's a powerd system and can increase your db gain by quite a bit depending on which one you choose.

 

[snathanb]

Ironically... I had to buy an attenuator for my system. My antenna was overdriving the receiver on some channels.

As for not actually having a HD set, you still see a great improvement. Digital clarity without the overcompression that are inherent to the satellite providers out there.

 

[rockaway1836]

Were the stations that were coming in too strong digital channels, or VHF analog or UHF analog or all of the above?

 

[CharredPC]

Well, nevermind. Turns out that card I bought is useless unless you have ANOTHER card for analog tuning. This makes no sense to me, and it didn't say that anywhere in the system requirements or reviews I read. Found it out later by reading further down on some faq page of AverMedia. Bleh. Still got a great deal, but now it's a paperweight to me. Anyone want to buy a like-new (never used ) HD card?

 

[rockaway1836]

Check your PMs It may come in useful in the future........Rich

 

[hancox]

BTW CharredPC - that might win my favorite avatar ever, aside from my beloved Jonathan, of course

 

[CharredPC]

Thank you, hancox!

I'm giving up on HD OTA for now. The Avermedia card will sit and collect dust on my desk unless someday I get handed a PCI analog tuner (Probably never). Thanks, everyone, for your input!