frenchmr
07-05-08, 06:30 PM
I have been using an indoor Phillips antenna for the last 9 months and I think it's finally time to upgrade to an outdoor antenna. I'm thinking of attaching it to the back corner of my house that is facing towards the towers so I'm looking more for one that I could attach to the side of the house.
I've attached the antenna web results below, I only care about the main broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW). The towers are 33.1 miles away, antennaweb says to use yellow or green rated antennas, everything I need today is UHF, but Fox is moving to VHF in Feb 2009 so I'd like to have support for VHF as well. What antennas would you recommend I look at? Thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14801942@N04/2640520614/
Mister B
07-06-08, 09:46 AM
You have a great selection of channels in Salt Lake City and most of them come from the same location. In fact KCBU which is actually near Price has a translator near the major towers and they should be moving to digital channel 39 next year. It is a great tv classics channel that I have received over big dish satellite.
The Winegard HD-1080 would be a good choice for your location. It is small and primarily a UHF antenna but does have two dipoles for upper VHF. There have been some very good reviews of it's performance. It is available at www.solidsignal.com among other on-line retailers.
SkiSmuggs
07-06-08, 10:57 AM
Another recommendation for the Winegard HD-1080 at $35.
frenchmr
07-06-08, 11:25 AM
Great, thanks for the replies. Will I need to buy a mounting kit for the antenna? Just wasn't sure if the Winegard HD-1080 comes with a basic mounting attachment. I originally was thinking I would attach it to the side of my house, but I went out and looked again and there is a section of the house that juts out of the house for the gas fireplace. There is a small roof area on top of that section so I'm thinking of putting it there. Any recommendations for a small mounting kit or will any basic kit work? Thanks again!
afiggatt
07-06-08, 10:27 PM
Any recommendations for a small mounting kit or will any basic kit work? Thanks again!
No, the antenna generally does not come with a mounting kit. For a flat bowtie on the side of a house, you can often use a J mount used for satellite dishes. See the photo for the CM 4220 at http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=CM4220 for an example. Just to be clear, I'm not recommending the CM 4220 as you need upper VHF reception. The Winegard HD-1080 is a good choice. I would expect on-line retailers such as Solidsignal.com or warrenelectronics.com will sell a J mount with it.
If you are putting up an outdoor antenna, you will also need a grounding block and wire to ground it. See http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html for antenna and mounting info.