what antenna to use with the 811

[korsjs]

Just had my 811 installed and am pretty happy with it. I had a 6000 before, which i moved into the bedroom, and was using a terk 55 and rca hdtv antenna for the off air.

For kicks, i took the rabbit ears antenna off my outside tv and pluged it into the 811. I tell you what, that 5 dollar antenna does and 100 percent better job pulling in the local hdtv than the 100 dollar terk or 30 rca one has ever done.

my question is, i am wondering if i am lossing picture quality with the way it is hooked up. the antenna has the "H" looking connector and I have it screwed into an adapter so it will go into the back of the 811. So basically, it is not using the rg6 cable. The antenna is the same old rabbit ears everyone used before cable and satellite came around.

and does anyone know if they make rabbit ear antennas with the rg6 cable instead of the old wire type mine has. I tell you, the signal strength on the 811 is better when I had the more expensive antennas hooked up and I don't have to mess with this antenna when i switch channels. i love it.

 

[Carl B]

Your old "rabbit ears" antenna uses a cable referred to as "twin-lead". You can buy an adaptor to convert from twin-lead to RG-59/6 at RadioShack and I strongly suggest you do so. Twin-lead in used on the 300 ohm system whereas RG-6/59 is 75 ohm, as is your 811. You need to impedance match for best performance and to ensure the safe (to your equipment) operation of your setup.

BTW, if all you have is the "rabbit ears" and it doesn't have the circular UHF piece with it, you aren't likely to be picking up very many OTA digital channels, just the old NTSC analog channels. Most of the DTV channels are broadcasting in the UHF spectrum. The digital channels are ATSC and that is the tuner the 811 has that most other E* receivers don't.

 

[korsjs]

thanks for the suggestion on the radio shack converter.

they are all digital channels. i had to go back and get the transmit numbers because i could not remember them when i had them in my 6000. watched the golf today in hdtv.

 

[SimpleSimon]

The adapter you mention in your first post is probably the necessary impedence matcher. They are very common devices - found in many TV & VCR install packs.

If it has 2 screw terminals on one side and an F-connector (standard coax plug) on the other, you're A-OK - assuming the flat lead isn't too long - 2-3' is negligible loss.

The way to tell if it's really doing the job you need is to count channels using the various antennas - if you get what you want with good strength, who cares what it looks like or whether it's "supposed" to drag in those stations. It's entirely possible for standard rabbit ears to receive UHF - just not as good as a UHF antenna - but if it's working, don't mess with it.

 

[korsjs]

I have what you mention above. And, it does work alot better than my UHF antennas.

thanks.