Kenosha Antenna

[psubill78]

Just making the move from Illinois to Wisconsin. We are set to move into our new home in Kenosha, WI (just north of the intersection of Highway 50 & Highway H)

I'd like to pull in the Chicago HD locals (and, if possible the Milwaukee HD locals). I will be having DirecTV installing their HD equipment next week.

Any thoughts to which antenna would be best? I did a little searching and went to antenna web, but I don't really understand what it is showing me, plus our address is so new, it just goes to zip code level, and Kenosha is pretty big.

Help!  :rofl:

[JohnRacine]

Hi Bill,

Consider yourself to be very lucky to be living where you are.  I live just north of you on KR and Hwy 31.  With a very old, cheap, Radio Shack antenna (I believe it's called a Yagi - has a 6' boom with a horizontal V on the back), and a rotor, I can easily pick up all OTA stations from Milwaukee and Chicago.  Now that 58-1 is at higher power, CBS comes in just fine.  I don't think that anyone that lives outside of the Loop can recieve CBS 2-1 out of Chicago so don't feel badly about that.  The best thing for us viewers in Racine/Kenosha is that we don't have to deal with the weak signal from FOX 6 in Milwaukee.  Just point your little antenna toward the south and FOX 32 will come booming in and give you 100% on your meter at all times.  The other huge plus is that you never have to look at that obnoxious blue, channel 12 logo since you'll receive ABC 7 from Chicago.  I deleted 12-1 from my set top box two years ago to rid my screen of that logo.  Countless viewers in Racine/Kenosha no longer watch channels 12 and 36 from Milwaukee so join the group. You will also note that the logo that WTTW PBS 11 puts up is not as bad as the one from PBS 36-1 out of Milwaukee.  Yes, it is a more pleasant viewing experience to watch the Chicago stations vs. Milwaukee simply to rid your screen of the logos.  And, whenever there are severe weather watches/warnings, you'll find that the Chicago stations do not clutter the screen with constant notices.  The Chicago stations usually just do updates about every 20 minutes or so and often only during commercial breaks.  It's obvious that Chicago TV is superior to Milwaukee.  You picked a great area to live with regards to TV viewing...welcome to the neighborhood.

[psubill78]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply.

You are talking HD stations, correct? What type of antenna are we talking.

I know directv wanted to give me a winguard antenna. They couldn't give much detail...

[JohnRacine]

Yes, I am referring to HD channels.

My antenna is more than 20yrs old, I have no idea what the model number is and I'm only guessing that it's called "Yagi".  It's solely for UHF.  About 4 years ago I added a cheap amplifier (also from RS) which allowed me to watch 58-1 out of Milwaukee when they were transmitting at low power.  However, I could probably now remove the amp since every station from Milwaukee and Chicago gives me 100% on my set top box meter.  FOX 32 even comes in off of the back of the antenna.

The other people on this site know way more about antennas than I do so I'm sure you'll get the info that you are looking for.  But, I wouldn't spend a lot of money if I were you based upon the results that I'm getting on a cheap, old one from RS.  I have a two story house and my antenna/rotor is about 5' above the roof line.  I live 53 miles from the Sears Tower and maybe 30 or so from the Milwaukee antenna farm.

I've never had cable for premium channels as I'm a confirmed big dish (4DTV) user since 1984.  And, as I posted earlier, as for OTA, I avoid Milwaukee channels whenever possible as I don't want my 65" screen cluttered with the logos and weather info.

So, start small and cheap with your new antenna and you will likely be very happy while not spending much money.

[psubill78]

I'll tell ya, we moved from Lake Villa, IL, and we had DirecTV, with Chicago locals. We are in a temp. apartment where we have Time Warner HD DVR, and the Milwaukee locals are seriously a joke.

We saw a commercial for "fox" in milwaukee... I was like "this has to be a joke" - their cheesy song, and the horrible actors... what a joke...  I can't wait to have the Chicago locals back.

Does anyone in the area use the DirecTV setup with their antenna (I think it looks like a plane/bird...  How big is your antenna? Do you have any pictures?

[FiberOptic]

If you go with TWC, you get Chicago and Milwaukee locals

[psubill78]

If you go with TWC, you get Chicago and Milwaukee locals

TWC sucks.  We have them now, the picture quality is only good on their HD channels. All the other channels are fuzzy and poor quality.

DirecTV quality kills TWC....