HDTV Antenna Newb needs help picking one

Yes you do. Digital (HD) channels are received by a plain old antenna. No such thing as an "HD antenna".

Check www.antennaweb.org to get an idea of distance/directions and channel assignments and we can go from there to provide a recommendation.

You basically want to point your antenna south, as most of the channels come out of the Needham area (ever see those giant towers if you drove down south on 128, right after the Newton Upper Falls exit)?

Select the "digital only" button on that page. Cut and paste the results and post them here.

Ratman, I live somewhat close to DingoAce but in a different direction and closer to the towers we both need, except he needs 204 deg while I need 78 degrees. Even though I am closer, I am guessing that you would reccommend pretty much the same type of antenna for both of us so I'll jump in here rather than start a new thread. A few antennas I have been looking at are DB2 or 4 (multi) and 42XG or 43XG (uni). I have been using a Silver sensor indoors with pretty good results (88% on average) , I just rather mount one outside on a pole where I have my 2 dishnetwork dishes. I moved the SS to the pole outside and it works slightly worse (about 76%) than when its indoors. Probably due to longer run of cable since indoors the cable is only 6 feet. Even though 90% of all my channels are in one direction, I know I should go Uni, but I guess I am getting greedy and was hoping a multi still might work for my primaries and then I might be able to get NH and RI as a bonus. alternatively there might be a good Uni that might still be able to pull in RI at 166 degrees (sometime they get different football games on Fox and CBS).

Here is my info; 01748 Zipcode

yellow - uhf WGBH-DT 2.1 PBS BOSTON MA 77° 16.9 19
yellow - uhf WGBX-DT 44.1 PBS BOSTON MA 77° 16.9 43
yellow - uhf WCVB-DT 5.1 ABC BOSTON MA 77° 16.9 20
yellow - uhf WHDH-DT 7.1 NBC BOSTON MA 78° 17.8 42
yellow - uhf WBZ-DT 4.1 CBS BOSTON MA 77° 16.9 30
green - uhf WUTF-DT 66.1 TFA MARLBOROUGH MA 23° 13.1 23
green - uhf WLVI-DT 56.1 CW CAMBRIDGE MA 79° 17.5 41
green - uhf WYDN-DT 47 DAY WORCESTER MA TBD 78° 17.4 47
green - uhf WSBK-DT 38.1 IND BOSTON MA 77° 16.9 39
red - uhf WWDP-DT 52.1 SAH NORWELL MA 134° 25.7 52
red - uhf WHDN-DT 26 IND BOSTON MA TBD 79° 26.5 26
red - uhf WUNI-DT 27.1 UNI WORCESTER MA 330° 13.5 29
red - uhf WMFP-DT 18.1 SAH LAWRENCE MA TBD 78° 17.4 18
red - uhf WFXT-DT 25.1 FOX BOSTON MA 79° 17.5 31
red - uhf WBPX-DT 68.1 i BOSTON MA 78° 17.4 32
blue - uhf WJAR-DT 10.1 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 166° 26.0 51
blue - uhf WNAC-DT 64.1 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 166° 25.5 54
blue - vhf WPRI-DT 12.1 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 165° 25.5 13
blue - uhf WMUR-DT 9.1 ABC MANCHESTER NH 11° 54.5 59
violet - uhf WLWC-DT 28.1 CW NEW BEDFORD MA 147° 42.3 22
violet - uhf WLNE-DT 6.1 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 166° 26.0 49

By the way Fox Boston is on half power, thats why its RED, I get it fine with SS

Since all your channels are UHF I would look at the Radioshack U-75R. It is a UHF antenna that is about $30. I use it in my attic and pull 100% signal strength on all my UHF stations that are 46 miles away. Tha added bonus is that if it does not work you can always return it easily. If you need the channels that are not in the 205° direction you would need a rotor with this antenna.

Good luck.

Try the RadioShack anetenna as mentioned above. Only because it's easily returnable if it doesn't work out.

Also consider a DB4 or a Channel Master 4221. That should suffice for all of the "yellows".
If for some reason you determin you want the others (different directions), you'll need to add a rotor.

Hey Dingo I am in Mass as well down in Brockton. I am new to the whole HD thing and will be getting a new TV soon. Not sure which one yet. Just curious as to what the advantages of these OTA antennas are other than you get free tv Is that what you are looking to do? Are you gonna dump your cable subsription altogether? We have Comcast and the prices are getting out of control and was wondering if an antenna would be an option for us. All I remeber from antennas is like from the 70s where you had to adjust it constantly and always got static and what not. I assume they have gotten better but I don't want to deal with anything like that!! here is what my search compiled




* yellow - uhf WNAC-DT 64.1 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 239° 19.1 54
* yellow - uhf WJAR-DT 10.1 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 238° 19.1 51
* yellow - uhf WLWC-DT 28.1 CW NEW BEDFORD MA 179° 20.8 22
* yellow - uhf WLVI-DT 56.1 CW CAMBRIDGE MA 345° 18.8 41
* yellow - uhf WGBH-DT 2.1 PBS BOSTON MA 343° 19.7 19
* yellow - uhf WGBX-DT 44.1 PBS BOSTON MA 343° 19.7 43
* yellow - uhf WBZ-DT 4.1 CBS BOSTON MA 343° 19.7 30
* yellow - uhf WCVB-DT 5.1 ABC BOSTON MA 343° 19.7 20
* yellow - uhf WHDH-DT 7.1 NBC BOSTON MA 346° 19.3 42
* green - uhf WSBK-DT 38.1 IND BOSTON MA 343° 19.7 39
* green - uhf WWDP-DT 52.1 SAH NORWELL MA 233° 4.8 52
* green - vhf WPRI-DT 12.1 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 239° 18.3 13
* red - uhf WLNE-DT 6.1 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 238° 19.1 49
* red - uhf WSBE-DT 36.1 PBS PROVIDENCE RI 238° 19.1 36
* red - uhf WMFP-DT 18.1 SAH LAWRENCE MA TBD 345° 19.2 18
* red - uhf WFXT-DT 25.1 FOX BOSTON MA 345° 18.8 31
* red - uhf WBPX-DT 68.1 i BOSTON MA 345° 19.2 32
* violet - uhf WDPX-DT 58.1 i VINEYARD HAVEN MA 141° 44.0 40
* violet - uhf WYDN-DT 47 DAY WORCESTER MA TBD 345° 19.2 47
* violet - uhf WPXQ-DT 69.1 i PROVIDENCE RI 237° 45.9 17
* violet - uhf WHDN-

I believe so, on both of your questions, through my own experimentation with an indoor antenna and a compass, but I'm a newb too, so don't take my word for it.

I think the U-75R is a very good suggestion cuz you can return it if does not work out. In our case, we should consider ourselves lucky all the primary and secondary networks are all in the same place.

I have a couple more questions, if anyone can answer;
If I wanted 2 directions, could I set up 2 separate U-75R on my pole and use a splitter near the 2 antennas and before I connect to a coax cable?

I would prefer this to a rotor since there is no electricity on that pole. Total cable run for me is around 75 feet of RG-6 coax.

Does this length warrant a preamp or signal booster of some type?

My cable run from my attic to my distribution box back up to my second floor is over 100' and I have 100% signal strength on all UHF without any amp or preamp. All on my channels on my old analog TV also look very good. Again, I am 46 miles from the towers and the antenna is in the attic.

I think if you were to use 2 of the U-75R you would want to filter out all the other signals from the antenna pointed at the single station. I think if you ran the two antennas into a splitter you may end up with interference and multipath. Please jump in and correct me if I have mispoken. I am not sure if they sell a jointenna that would work for the channel you want.

Again, you can always try two and see what happens. If you get signal interference then return the one and see what other options there are.

Good Luck!

Rather than setting up 2 U-75Rs in the same location, given the possible interference, I might opt to go for adding a second line to the attic and point a 2nd U75-R to the RI direction.

I did read a good article at hometheatermag.com that touted the ability of the CM 4221 to pick up all availble DTV stations from 2 locations 80 degrees apart and each being 25 miles from the house. The author set the 4221 to split the difference in degrees between the 2 locations. This piqued my interest. I have about a 80-90 degree separation, so this may work for me.

Also, in Antennaweb.org I input my address and zip and got back info that showed Boston stations at 78 degrees and RI at 166. But when I went to www.2150.com and input my exact longitude, latitude and magnetic declination, it comes back with 49 degrees for Bos and 136 for RI.

Which site is likely to be more accurate, I plan to try pointing to 49 degrees when I get home, if the signal increases I guess we'll know which one is more accurate.

I picked up a U-75R last night, I set it up indoors where the Silver Sensor was. Bottom line, the signal strength is slightly worse (very slightly) than the Silver Sensor. I will try to get it up on a pole outdoors tomorrow and see if there is any improvement.