I'm aware that there is a huge db loss on an antenna in the attic. My zipcode is 60142. What is the recommended antenna that I can install in the attic? I don't care about those analog signals anymore, just all digitals.

Thanks. :)

Based on your zip code your tvfool.com results look like this:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d03fba9bfad1aab

The results would be more accurate if you go to tvfool.com and enter your exact address (the address will not show in the report) and give us the URL near the top of the page in bold type.

What are you using for a tv set/tuner for OTA 8VSB reception? How long will the coax be from the antenna to the tv set?

Are you mainly interested in the strongest signals from about 116 degrees true? The signals at the top of the list are fairly strong in spite of the fact that they are about 45 miles away.

The unknown factor, as you are aware, is the attic construction. Also, I hope there are no trees outside the attic to block the signals. The specific location in the attic can make a big difference. You need some way to monitor the signal strength to pick the best location and antenna aim in the attic, like a percent scale on the tv or converter box. The ideal instrument is a signal level meter (SLM), but that is beyond the budget of most people, unless you can find a suitable used one or borrow one.

Some tuner cards for desktops or USB tuners for laptops can give you signal strength, bit errors, and signal-to-noise ratio with the right software. A SNR of at least 15.5 to 16 dB is needed to lock on to a digital signal. In addition to my SLM, I use an Apex DT502 converter box that has a signal strength bar and a signal quality (related to BER.....bit error rate) bar.

Most of your signals are on UHF, but you will need an antenna that also covers VHF-hi (7-13) for ABC and CBS on Real CH 7 & 12.

Perhaps something like the Winegard HD7697 for UHF and VHF or maybe the HD-9032 for UHF combined with the YA-1713 for VHF-hi using some preamps or a UHF/VHF combiner called a UVSJ:
http://www.winegard.com/offair/antenna_list.php
http://www.winegard.com/offair/index.php
http://www.winegard.com/offair/zone4.php

Because of so many unknown factors, you must be willing to waste a little time and money experimenting to find the best antenna and location.

Have you asked any of the guys in your area what works for them?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=7&f=45

Because of so many unknown factors, you must be willing to waste a little time and money experimenting to find the best antenna and location.

Never have truer words been written. OTA is almost always "a try it and see if works" project. Attics can be a problem, however you probably do not have a radient barrier like I and many of us southerns do that makes the attic an RF dead zone:).

Based on your zip code your tvfool.com results look like this:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d03fba9bfad1aab

The results would be more accurate if you go to tvfool.com and enter your exact address (the address will not show in the report) and give us the URL near the top of the page in bold type.

Here is the result, http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d03fb47cff5bae4

What are you using for a tv set/tuner for OTA 8VSB reception? How long will the coax be from the antenna to the tv set?
My panasonic g10 has a built in OTA tuner. I also have a tuner card on my linux box. I think it supports atsc as well. The coax will most likely be 30-40 ft.

Are you mainly interested in the strongest signals from about 116 degrees true? The signals at the top of the list are fairly strong in spite of the fact that they are about 45 miles away.
Yep, I think that would be enough for me now. At my old house, I installed a vu-90 at the roof and I pointed it to chicago. I was able to receive them and never had any drops. The distance from house to tower is almost the same as where I live now.

The unknown factor, as you are aware, is the attic construction. Also, I hope there are no trees outside the attic to block the signals. The specific location in the attic can make a big difference. You need some way to monitor the signal strength to pick the best location and antenna aim in the attic, like a percent scale on the tv or converter box. The ideal instrument is a signal level meter (SLM), but that is beyond the budget of most people, unless you can find a suitable used one or borrow one.

I don't recall seeing tall trees outside. It's a new community. My roof is also made of wood and shingles. I don't recall seeing any metal when it was being built.

Some tuner cards for desktops or USB tuners for laptops can give you signal strength, bit errors, and signal-to-noise ratio with the right software. A SNR of at least 15.5 to 16 dB is needed to lock on to a digital signal. In addition to my SLM, I use an Apex DT502 converter box that has a signal strength bar and a signal quality (related to BER.....bit error rate) bar.
I can borrow my friends USB tuner card. I'll just my laptop with it so I can check signal strength. However, what software can I use to check signal strength?

Most of your signals are on UHF, but you will need an antenna that also covers VHF-hi (7-13) for ABC and CBS on Real CH 7 & 12.
So some HD broadcast are also now in VHF band?

Perhaps something like the Winegard HD7697 for UHF and VHF or maybe the HD-9032 for UHF combined with the YA-1713 for VHF-hi using some preamps or a UHF/VHF combiner called a UVSJ:
http://www.winegard.com/offair/antenna_list.php
http://www.winegard.com/offair/index.php
http://www.winegard.com/offair/zone4.php

Because of so many unknown factors, you must be willing to waste a little time and money experimenting to find the best antenna and location.

Have you asked any of the guys in your area what works for them?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=7&f=45
Haven't asked them. I'll check it out later.

Thank you sir. That was an awesome response! :)

Thank you sir. That was an awesome response!Thanks for your kind words.

Your tvfool report for street level is pretty close to the zip results.

The coax will most likely be 30-40 ft.You will probably need a preamp at the antenna to make up for the coax or splitter loss, which is about 6 dB per 100 ft. for UHF. But, don't expect a preamp to improve a poor signal. If it isn't a good quality signal coming out of the antenna, a preamp will not make it better. It is possible to have a strong but poor quality (many bit errors) signal.

So some HD broadcast are also now in VHF band?Yes, 7 & 12 in your case.

However, what software can I use to check signal strength?I don't have any personal experience with that type of software, either. If I ever have some extra funds, I would like to try it and compare the results with what my Apex DT502 says. You could send a PM to Trip in VA or IDRick and ask them:
Hehe, I love being able to do it. I have the WinTV-D with its amazing signal meter at my disposal, as well as my Pinnacle for using TSReader. If I had my own antenna, I could tie a rotor into the system and do full blown DXing from here!

I'm not surprised either, except that I saw zero improvement. Everything looks the same from my end and I expected something to change on at least one of my receivers. I am having a very hard time believing there's anything at my end causing it, though I don't have a spectrum analyzer to check on their signal to see if it looks decent or one of those fancy analyzers to check the SNR/EVM on it.

- Trip
While I certainly agree that there are far better tools for measurement, the CECB's can be very useful for finetuning antenna location. In my case, I have broadcast towers in two directions (200 and 270 degrees). My DIY 4-bay does a nice job of receiving signal from both directions with proper placement in the attic. The APEX 502 was invaluable for optimizing signal strength of my two lowest channels (1 at 270 and 1 at 200 degrees) and deciding final antenna location/orientation.

Signal quality readings from the APEX also had practical application. My antenna is connected to two tvs and a computer capture card. Anything less than 100 on signal quality scale results in audio and video dropouts with the capture card. I get marvelous recordings with proper placement of the antenna (optimized signal strength and signal quality = 100). I'm sure top quality equipment could fine tune my setup even further. I'm satisfied with a $20 tool versus a several hundred dollar tool, especially for a one time use.

Never have truer words been written. OTA is almost always "a try it and see if works" project. Attics can be a problem, however you probably do not have a radient barrier like I and many of us southerns do that makes the attic an RF dead zone:).

I went up to the attic last night. It was cold, maybe 40-45F. I've got a blown in insulation(color white). I think, it's rated R-38. I have a wood roof and single sheet of shingles. I don't have an aluminum siding. It's a hard plastic frame. I also see a wall that's made of rigid styrofoam. It's about 1" think.

I'm thinking of the Channel Master bowtie. I think it's 4228.

The 4228 might work for UHF, but maybe not for 7 & 12.

The 4228 might work for UHF, but maybe not for 7 & 12.

Well, the good news is that 7 won't be a problem anymore once they get moved to 44 (whenever that might be...)

Reportedly, WBBM's digital signal always sucked pre-transition and will likely continue to do so forever.... So not much would change in that regard.

Just bought a matching transformer and I would like to try those home made antennas on the other thread first. Hopefully it works. :)

Good luck with the DIY antenna. Please be careful of the sharp "whisker" wires. I have scratched myself many times when changing baluns. The 4221 that is use to find the best spot in an attic now has "tool dip" on the ends of the wires, and wood strips on the edges of the reflector screen.

Good luck with the DIY antenna. Please be careful of the sharp "whisker" wires. I have scratched myself many times when changing baluns. The 4221 that is use to find the best spot in an attic now has "tool dip" on the ends of the wires, and wood strips on the edges of the reflector screen.

I'm sorry, but what's a tool dip?

I finished the antenna. It was able to scan 30 channels. Some have weak signals. It didn't find channel 2 and 7 which I expected. So far, 83-86% signal strength on NBC. WTTW is only 60%. Other channels are at 65-75%

I'm sorry, but what's a tool dip?

A liquid plastic available at hardware stores. It's intended use is that you dip the handle of the tool into the plastic resin and, when it dries, you have a tough plastic coating. You could also screw wire nuts onto the end of the elemetns so they don't make such a poke hazard.

Have you tried making a simple high-VHF dipole for WBBM and WLS' signals? I made one out of Type M 1/2" copper tubing per holl_ands' posts to use as a reference for comparison experiments. As long as you don't have significant multi-path, it may work well enough for you. I used two 90 ells, two 90 street ells, and a couple of appropriately cut lengths of tubing and soldered it all together. Added a matching transformer and some hardware and it was complete.

If the dipole works on those two channels, merge it with your UHF antenna with a simple VHF/UHF diplexer (UVSJ). Given the signal strength forecasts from TVfool, you'll likely need more gain than a simple folded dipole will deliver, but it would make an interesting experiment.

A liquid plastic available at hardware stores. It's intended use is that you dip the handle of the tool into the plastic resin and, when it dries, you have a tough plastic coating. You could also screw wire nuts onto the end of the elemetns so they don't make such a poke hazard.

Have you tried making a simple high-VHF dipole for WBBM and WLS' signals? I made one out of Type M 1/2" copper tubing per holl_ands' posts to use as a reference for comparison experiments. As long as you don't have significant multi-path, it may work well enough for you. I used two 90 ells, two 90 street ells, and a couple of appropriately cut lengths of tubing and soldered it all together. Added a matching transformer and some hardware and it was complete.

If the dipole works on those two channels, merge it with your UHF antenna with a simple VHF/UHF diplexer (UVSJ). Given the signal strength forecasts from TVfool, you'll likely need more gain than a simple folded dipole will deliver, but it would make an interesting experiment.

Thanks for the explanation about the tool dip! :)

About the high VHF dipole you mentioned, do you have any instructions I can follow?

Once I get a chance, I should try this antenna in the attic.

Depending on where you tried the antenna the first time, you can expect the signal strength to be cut down by up to 50% in the attic. Probably gonna need an amp.

I hope that the amp I had will work. It's electroline. But I remember, it was hooked to the satellite.

Well, the good news is that 7 won't be a problem anymore once they get moved to 44 (whenever that might be...)
They're really draggin' their feet on that, so it probably ain't gonna be soon.

I hope that the amp I had will work. It's electroline. But I remember, it was hooked to the satellite.Wow - I didn't think you'd catch that so soon. Wasn't up more than a minute. I erased it after I went back and saw that it was all mentioned before.

By the way - we're sort of neighbors - I'm in C.L. (about 41 miles out - but on the Cary side, not the LITH/Huntley one).

I get all but the very low-powered (WWTO, WJYS, WYIN. etc.) with a VU90 XR, currently using no amp, and with one split - but I'm on the roof.

You guys are on pretty flat, open, former farmland - so you really shouldn't have too much trouble with the right equipment. (You know, you do legally have a right to put that antenna on the roof - I know how the prevailing attitudes out here are, though).

I am at 60083 about 40 miles out of Chicago with attic mounted antennas. I currently am using a Winegard YA1713 for VHF with an Antennas Direct DB8 for UHF. I am 90+ signal strength on all my Chicago stations so they are not an issue at all but I am lacking NBC and FOX Milwaukee which is a bit of a disappointment. I took the reflectors off my DB8 so that it could receive from both front and back (Chicago and Milwaukee) but the YA1713 is just for Chicago. I had a standard UVSJ which was fine but recently replaced it with a ChannelMaster 7777 preamp because I plan to split to several TV's soon. The preamp picked me up a couple points of signal strength across the board but did not help with the two missing stations. Perhaps you could do the same as me with bidirectional reception from Rockford and Chicago. My guess is that if you are trying just for Chicago stations, it should be a piece of cake with an attic mounted setup. Make sure that you take antenna size and the direction of the towers into account when buying because fitting a 14ft antenna in a truss attic and pointing it in the proper direction probably ain't happening unless your roof peak happens to point directly at Chicago. The bowties are much more attic friendly. Good luck.

v1rtu0s1ty,
If the styrofoam board in the wall has foil backed radiant barrier on either side of it, that can really attenuate attic reception.