Collinsville, IL: Help choosing antenna

That antenna is a hi-VHF/UHF antenna and you only have UHF signals in your area. So yes it's overkill. You signals are strong so you dont need much of an antenna. Wat are you signals closer to the groud? If they are just as strong I don't see a whole lot of reason why you couldn't use an indooor antenna.

A simple DB2 or DB4 or small UHF Yagi should work fine. As BCF68 pointed out, you don't need any VHF capability for the St Louis stations as we're UHF-only. You have plenty of signal power available, so a balanced 3-way splitter should do fine for sharing the signal.

The only VHF station within receiving range is WSIU (PBS from SIU-Carbondale) which has its main channel 8 transmitter near DuQuoin. If you want that signal. you'd need to install a separate high-VHF antenna and combine it to the other antenna via a UVSJ. Please note that WSIU has applied for and has been issued construction permits for UHF translators, one of which will cover your area when built. At last word, they didn't have funding to build them. They'll probably need to run beg-a-thons to raise that cash.

Please put a location in the title of all antenna help threads. See my edit.

I tend to avoid recommending Chinese knock-offs of other company's products...

I'm I making a knock off if I decide to build my own verison of that because it's really not to hard and much cheaper?

monoprice just put on sale a indoor/outdoor unit for under $20. Even as close as the towers are, you could basically take a six foot section of coax, strip the outer and inner core off of about two feet of the inner wire, and still pick up the locals.

Here is the link for the monoprice unit http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ly_Deal_P_4730

Making your own antenna for your own use that is based on a commercial product is one thing and is perfectly all right. That isn't the issue that was raised.

Just avoid the dollar store stuff when it comes to splitters. I've found the Ideal brand
splitters sold at the Borg home centers to be pretty good.

As long as it is rated for antenna use (UHF/VHF/FM). Just don't go and buy gold plated, stuff from dollar general. Lowes, Home Depot, Menard's sell decent ones. Check around your area, there should still be some mom & pop antenna shops down there, they would also have decent.

If you can get lucky at the local habitat store, you may find a decent one. We dropped a bunch of coax and other stuff off at our local one, and it was gone within a couple of days.

I tend to avoid overhyped overpriced chinese made products with misleading ads.

That would depend on where you live in collinsville, along with the material the house is made of. I can take a unamplified antenna and pick up every local but 23 & the pbs for our area, but go across the street, and barely can pick up three at my neighbors house. It is all about where the antenna is, and the building construction also.