Indoor Antenna Suggestions?

[asr2k]

I'm looking for a great indoor HD antenna for my system.  I have a toshiba DST-3000 HD box and Direct TV.  I am looking for an indoor antenna that will get me some local HD channels.  Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Matt Heebner]

I use the funky-lookin Radio Shack Double Bow-Tie Antenna, and it works especially well with UHF frequencies. I have never seen one in a RS store though. I got mine for about $18 from radioshack.com.

Matt

[asr2k]

Thanks for the tip!  Do you have a model number on that one?  Did you do anything special with the antenna?

[MesaV]

 http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F002%5F008%5F001&Page=1

[Kevin Arnold]

I have a friend who bought the radio shack yagi style antenna and did a home-made indoor job.  He cut a mast to about 18 inches and epoxyed it to a 5 lb. circular weight. He mounted the yagi on the mast. Though he doesn't live around here, he claims the reception improvement over the radio shack double bow tie is dramatic. I imagine this is one of the uglier antennas ever constructed but sounds interesting.

[Pat]

I have one of those Radio Shack double bow-tie's that I'm no longer using.  Any offers?  Or shall I donate it to the group for a raffle or something?

[Todd Wiedemann]

Oooh, Pat !

Nice idea, if you're willing ...

It'd be nice to get that new chat system !

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Todd.
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Mitsubishi 55819
Panasonic TU-HDS20
Apex AD-600A

[Pat]

Consider it donated.  Let's have some ideas for a raffle or contest or something.  

[borghe]

Well, I'm currently using the RCA $40 amped antenna that has been around forever. I picked mine up before locals were on DSS... It is a pain in the ass and I have to severly mess with it to get 58 above 50. Channels 4 and 10 are pretty much swinging the elements a couple of degrees and they come in at 100. Tonight it should be noted that I didn't have to mess with it too bad and all 3 channels are coming in at 100. The atmosphere must be perfectly aligned.

I also just bought a Terk TV25 an hour or so ago that is being taken back. What a piece of semi-junk. I will say that unamplified it picks up signals much better than the RCA with the amplifier turned off. But turn the amplifier on and kiss those channels goodbye. With it on I couldn't even get 4 or 10 which are a snap with the RCA. Needless to say this thing is going back.

So for now I'll mess with the RCA. Who knows. Maybe 58 has actually turned up their power. Only time will tell.

Oh, and unfortunately I can't get a rooftop antenna. I live in a duplex, and even though my fiance's dad owns it and lives upstairs, I already owe him one for putting the 18x24 dish with 5 cables running downstairs along with the two cables for Road Runner and the telephones, etc.. It looks like a business class cabling job on the back of the house without the antenna.

[borghe]

$10 for the RS Double Bow Tie. Just bought it. Non-amplified, constant 93-100 on 58, 100 on 4, and a 12 on 10 . Looks like I'll still have to run a combiner to some rabbit ears for 10. At least every other station in Milwaukee will be on UHF. I honestly can't believe the results. I also can't believe RS discontinued it with no replacement. We should go round up all remaining ones in the city and sell them at cost to new board members with signal problems.

[Mike Sheahan]

Now that I put up the roof antenna, I don't need mine anymore.

I tried to mount it on the mast so it was facing toward the milwaukee towers when I had the big one aimed at Chicago, but I couldn't secure it well enough with what I had on hand, and my 4 hour rental on the ladder was closing in fast.  It was also about 500 degrees up there the day I decided to install it, and I was fading quickly.

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Mits 65819
Hughes E86

[Kevin Arnold]

Those Radio Shack antennas were made by Channel Master and as of right now CM is still making them. They look slightly different but do the same.

Model 4149
Allegro UHF Antenna

A style leader in bow-tie design for top UHF performance.  Gold screen.

  http://www.channelmaster.com/pages/ia1.htm

[Joseph S]

I picked up a Double Bow Tie for $10 last week. That's about the only good thing concerning the clearance. There were something like 58 of them left in the district at that time.

Doesn't make much sense to me, because when Fox and ABC move up to dual 9V batteries these will still be our best hope outside of a rooftop antenna.  

[borghe]

Hopefully the channelmaster one will stick around for a while.

I was getting worried last night because I didn't lose channel 58 until after I did the notorious mod to the antenna. However after the rain all is well and good. I did a search here for the mod and couldn't find it.

For those who haven't seen the post on avsforum, you should get rid of the twin 300-ohm leads as early as possible. I just cut the wires close enough to the rivets that I could still screw them onto a 75/300-ohm transformer. I then used a F-F coax adapter (suppose I could have just bought a 300ohm->75ohm female transformer) and then ran shielded cable the entire 3ft. It really works. I went from 90's on CBS58 to a solid 100. Even more interesting is that I can also get 70 on WMVS10 after the mod. Pretty good for a UHF antenna.

I also tried the multi-piece 20dB amplifier from RS (they were clearanced for $5). Unfortunately I lost all channels except for Fox6 which I was now getting at 12... a new record. The other channels must have been over amplified.

[Gregg Lengling]

You should have used a 300 to 75 ohm balun.  The setup you have now is a mismatch and will degrade you signals.  Of course it would be much more visible of the problem on analogue signals as the impedance mismatch not only degrades the signal but shows up as a herringbone in the picture.

In the future if anyone on the group needs antenna help:  ie: selection, installation I can help...can't do the real work but can be there with you to make sure you do it right.  I'm not physically able to do anything right now, had a MRI on my lower back yesterday and will find out this week if I need back surgery.  Never had pain like this in my life and believe me neither do any of you.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
gregg@camelcomm.com