Morton Grove, IL: Antenna recommendation

Either a Winegard HD7694 or Antennacraft HBU33 antenna will work for you. You rather close to the Sears Tower & John Hancock, that a pre-amp is not needed. You need VHF because of WBBM-TV being on RF 12. They do have a CP to add a translator on RF 26, but I don't know when that will be on the air, & if the UHF signal would be strong enough in your direction. The WBBM-TV translator has a null to the northwest in order to protect WKOW Madison, WI. If WOCK-CD is important for LATV & Mega TV (spanish language stations, & English language station America One), then you need an Antennacraft 5884.

As long as you don't want to get anything other than the Chicago stations, then just 1 antenna is needed & in a fixed position. If WYIN is important, it's approximately in the same direction, & the antenna most likely won't need to be moved either.

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

Hopefully you'll have better luck than I am here in 60099. If you have trees in your yard or neighbors yard, especially in the LOS of the stations then you most likely will need an antenna mounted almost to the stratosphere to get any station.

A bit too much antenna in my book. A simple unamplified $10 antenna should work.

In my opinion, the old fashioned element antennas are optimized better. I'd like to know why you think the Winegard HD7694p & Antennacraft HBU33 antennas are too much of an antenna? For how close the OP is from Chicago, the OP doesn't need that big of an antenna. The only station that is quite far is WYIN, & not sure if that channel is important. If it is, at least the antenna doesn't have to be rotated. VHF is still needed due to WBBM-TV (CBS) being on RF 12, & that's why I recommended the 2 antennas. Those 2 antennas also focus more on the UHF, which was also the reason I suggested them. Even though WBBM-TV has a CP for a translator on RF 26, I'm not sure when it'll go on the air, as it has to be constructed. The translator will also have a null to the NW, & could be weak, due to having to protect WKOW Madison, WI.

then you said


Seems like you answered your own question.

Personally I prefer to not get people to spend big money on antenna when they can get the job done for much less. If the "less good" antenna doesn't work take it back and get the bigger one. No harm no foul. I know I'd be ticked if I found out that someone I took as an "expert" made me spend 5-10 times more than was necessary.

For outdoor, I think an ANT751 would have been more than sufficient, if that TVFool report is correct. Smaller footprint, too.

well we all know where that got me,might not work with him either.

with your signals if the recommended antennas are not working because of interference issues then a "better" antenna isn't going to help much. The solution is to remove or reduce the interference.

Anyways in 2 months I'll be up that way to visit family in Lindenhurst. I plan on experimenting with OTA. So we will see what it actually takes to get a signal. And since the house I'm staying at has aluminum siding I think it will be a good test for any indoor antenna since that should kill a lot of signal.

I have an aunt who insists on an indoor antenna, & she doesn't get everything, & her house has no metal siding of any type. My house does, & I barely got anything with analog & nothing for digital. That's why I went with an outdoor antenna. I have plenty of trees & trains come in the nearby path of all the Chicago signals, & I still get most (all full power & some low power)stations with no problem. There's also the gigantic powerlines that are about 3/4 of a mile from my home, & most of us know how those can affect reception on VHF (especially RF 2-6).

Now as for claiming I answered my own question about the antennas I recommended to the OP as being too big; I don't believe I did answer it at all. For older neighborhoods that I've been thru, antennas similar in size (length of antenna, & not the length of the elements) are rather common, both in the city of Chicago & the nearby suburbs. Even for my area in Gary, IN, those are common size antennas. The only small antennas I otherwise saw were 2 & 4 bay UHF antennas along with the older VHF only antennas, or on newer homes, those cheap plastic cased antennas that people want that are barely seen. For those with the cheap, small, plastic cased antennas are the one who complain that they don't get everything (especially not WBBM-TV). If my 2 suggestions of the Winegard HD7694p & Antennacraft HBU33 are too big, then I'd rather recommend something that to someone might be too big than something too small, & might not work. The only other suggestion would have been separate VHF & UHF antennas (antennacraft Y5-7-13 for VHF-HI & a 2 or 4 bay whisker antenna for UHF). To the person who would have recommended the RCA ANT751, that's fine too, but that antenna still focuses more on VHF than UHF.

As for my own neighborhood, either one of those 2 antennas would have worked for me on full power stations, but not so much on low power stations like WWME-LD, WMEU-CD (yes, this has officially been made a Class A digital station), & my mom's favorite, W25DW-D for HSN. I chose separate VHF & UHF antennas, & my UHF antenna alone is almost the same size as my last combo antenna that heavily focused on VHF, & did well for that band, but was horrible for UHF. I have the Winegard HD9032 for UHF & Antennacraft CS600 (have it for WOCK-CD because I watch America One on 13.4 from time to time, or I would have bought the Antennacraft Y5-7-13 instead). Both antennas are hooked into the RCA TVPRAMP1R pre-amp, & get WOCK-CD with their puny 300 watt signal, along with low power stations WWME-LD & W25DW-D (I get WMEU-CD without pre-amp). I have a 3rd antenna, & that's the Winegard HD-1080, dedicated strictly for WYIN, since it transmits south of me, & my main antenna aimed at Chicago doesn't lock a steady signal of WYIN. Even without the pre-amp, my Winegard HD9032 (along with my former combo antenna) pointed at Chicago never locked a steady signal of WYIN. So in my case, an antenna dedicated to that station was needed. Luckily, the OP lives in an area where all the wanted stations come from 1 direction, while for me, all the stations I want are in 2 directions.

Gary Indiana and Lake county Illinois are apples and oranges. Hell I have an uncle that live less than 5 miles from the guy. So what you say you get form Chicago doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of what Eric should get.


Yes OLDER neighborhoods. The antennas were probably there BEOFRE the digital conversion when most channels were not only on VHF but low-VHF so yes one would expect lots of big antennas on the roofs. I doubt very much that many of those antennas were 3 year sold or less.

As I said I'd rather help someone find the cheapest and simplest solution. If a $10 antenna will work they should go for that. If they need a $100 antenna then fine, but find out FIRST.

+1
And also the smallest footprint.

Based on the TVFool report, the ANT751 should work just fine.

I've said it a million times: "Start cheap and keep receipts."