Still needing a little help

[Mr Tony]

I am needing both the VHF and UHF. Any ideas for that, ICE? It's gotta be a decent price range. Thanks

correct but you have 3 station on VHF and are the Big 3. I would try and make sure you can get them

UHF again I would do a 2 or 4 bay antenna. The issue is 2edge and not very good on the tvfool (so obviously terrain). Throw in the fact you are indoors and sure I could say get a badass XG91 but will it achieve results? Unknown
2 bay or 4 bay can be had for under $25 (I got a 2bay on amazon for like $15) and might work (at least better than the indoor antenna)

 

[andy_horton]

I used this at my apartment and it worked great. I was 30 miles from the towers (like you) but mine were LOS
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y5-7-13&ss=464905

this is the big brother (used that for a VHF 72 miles away)
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y10-7-13&ss=464906

This would work fine, but I also need UHF. Any ideas? Separate antennas for indoors? That's where they are going. In the laundry room away from view. Thanks.

 

[andy_horton]

I used this at my apartment and it worked great. I was 30 miles from the towers (like you) but mine were LOS
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y5-7-13&ss=464905

this is the big brother (used that for a VHF 72 miles away)
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y10-7-13&ss=464906

This would work fine, but I also need UHF. Any ideas? Separate antennas for indoors? That's where they are going. In the laundry room away from view. Thanks.

 

[Mr Tony]

yes you can use separate antennas for indoors. Thats what I did in my apartment
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3417756/

as for UHF I posted the info above

UHF again I would do a 2 or 4 bay antenna. The issue is 2edge and not very good on the tvfool (so obviously terrain). Throw in the fact you are indoors and sure I could say get a badass XG91 but will it achieve results? Unknown
2 bay or 4 bay can be had for under $25 (I got a 2bay on amazon for like $15) and might work (at least better than the indoor antenna)

 

[andy_horton]

Ok, with an RCA amp my signal strength has dropped from 30's to 10. The other channel that only had a signal strength of 10 is out completely. If I went to RadioShack and bought one of their big time amps would it help the signal since I can get a signal, just a weak one. I think I have found the sweet spot for the indoor spot for the UHF stations. Really starting to piss me off..

 

[spongella]

Digital TV again as was said is a little bit of voodoo. Now I know why the public has not embraced OTA. More difficult to get channels than when we had analog TV. The other thing complicating the situation is that the TV set is now in charge of what you see, that is, if the signal is not strong enough then it'll most times not show up or be very pixielated. With analog TV at least you got fuzzy signals that you could try optimizing.

Keep up the good work to all of you trying to get decent digital reception, a lot is trial and error. That is how many great inventors and scientists navigated. It is worth the effort, once you get OTA the picture is clear as a bell, nothing like it.

 

[jayn_j]

Well, good luck buying anything at Radio Shack. They closed all their stores last week. Best current bet is Amazon.

I have found the little amps in powered antennas to be less than worthless and they will often reduce signal strength. They are poorly made and fail often. If you need an amplifier, it is best to purchase a quality one from Channelmaster, Winegard or other suppliers, such as:
Amazon product ASIN B000GGKOG8

 

[larrykenney]

Jay wrote: "Well, good luck buying anything at Radio Shack. They closed all their stores last week."

Not all of them. There are two here in San Francisco that are remaining open, and I suspect that's true in some other places. What they're going to have in stock, I don't know, but so far there have been no changes at these two stores. All of the others have big signs up... "Closing... Everything Must Go".

 

[Radioguy41]

There are some interesting test comparison results for indoor antennas here:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/tag/channel-master/

 

[FTA4PA]

There are some interesting test comparison results for indoor antennas here:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/tag/channel-master/

I love it! That little old $3.99 Radio Shack bow tie did the best, even beat the expensive amplified ones!

 

[foghorn2]

I love it! That little old $3.99 Radio Shack bow tie did the best, even beat the expensive amplified ones!

Yeah but is there a "Digital HD" version ?

 

[Mr Tony]

Yeah but is there a "Digital HD" version ?

sure there is. It has tin foil on it

 

[andy_horton]

Digital TV again as was said is a little bit of voodoo. Now I know why the public has not embraced OTA. More difficult to get channels than when we had analog TV. The other thing complicating the situation is that the TV set is now in charge of what you see, that is, if the signal is not strong enough then it'll most times not show up or be very pixielated. With analog TV at least you got fuzzy signals that you could try optimizing.

Keep up the good work to all of you trying to get decent digital reception, a lot is trial and error. That is how many great inventors and scientists navigated. It is worth the effort, once you get OTA the picture is clear as a bell, nothing like it.

After trial and error, I found that the rabbit ears I was using had 2 "ports" on the back. One was bad and that was why I couldn't get reception on the UHF channels. Still can't get WFLI 53.1 but I get NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX. Plus the subchannels. So all in all I get 11 cannels OTA plus Roku on the net. I guess not bad. But I'm not done working on getting WFLI with a better antenna. Thanks for the encouragement!!

 

[andy_horton]

UPDATE--Found the sweet spots on the channels. One channel comes in when it wants to mostly at night but overall I'm satisfied for now until I order a different antenna. Thanks for all the help and keep chiming in with any help.

 

[andy_horton]

I installed an a/b switch to switch between uhf and vhf. Is this a good idea or will signal strength suffer? Should I just run 2 wires to the tv?

 

[jayn_j]

I installed an a/b switch to switch between uhf and vhf. Is this a good idea or will signal strength suffer? Should I just run 2 wires to the tv?

That's going to be inconvenient in these days with auto scanning. Why not combine the signals as close to the antennas as practical. Something like this:
Amazon product ASIN B000Q6AC56They make them in 75 ohm and 300 ohm versions, depending on your needs. 75 ohm is coax as seen on the left, and 300 ohm is flat twin lead as shown on the right. Just go find the model you need.

 

[Mr Tony]

or just get a UVSJ combiner
http://www.solidsignal.com/search.asp?q=uvsj

 

[andy_horton]

UPDATE--WDSI dropeed some with the leaves, but is steady at 20-30%. I'm going to buy another antenna at Amazon or at the Radioshack store still open in this area. WFLI is VERY weak at best but always has been. Do I need a preamp using an indoor/outdoor antenna on the inside of my house?

 

[jayn_j]

most likely. Best to put it outside as you will see a big drop in signal strength through a roof.