[qanda]

I've read several post about the attic cutting down on reception ~30 % and how outside placement is best. Assuming outside placement is not practical, is it better to place a smaller indoor antenna (e.g., Silver Sensor or Amplified Terk) in the room, maybe behind the TV set, or put a larger outdoor antenna in the attic? Would the attic installation of a larger antenna be better even though reception is cut by the roof? I have not seen this discussed in other posts. P.S. I will be moving to the new location where I will be using the antenna and I will be between 17 - 21 miles from the stations according to the AntennaWeb.org site. I am about the same distance from the same stations in my current house and get decent reception (6 of 10 bars on Tv's strength meter) from a small un-amplified Terk behind the TV.


Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[johnpost]



Quote:
Originally Posted by qanda /forum/post/15455800


I've read several post about the attic cutting down on reception ~30 % and how outside placement is best. Assuming outside placement is not practical, is it better to place a smaller indoor antenna (e.g., Silver Sensor or Amplified Terk) in the room, maybe behind the TV set, or put a larger outdoor antenna in the attic? Would the attic installation of a larger antenna be better even though reception is cut by the roof? I have not seen this discussed in other posts. P.S. I will be moving to the new location where I will be using the antenna and I will be between 17 - 21 miles from the stations according to the AntennaWeb.org site. I am about the same distance from the same stations in my current house and get decent reception (6 of 10 bars on Tv's strength meter) from a small un-amplified Terk behind the TV.


Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

your actual results are what counts. if you get good signals for all your stations then why get something more. indoor antennas have lots of factors affecting them, see how what you have works in your new location, upgrade if you don't get all the channels reliably.


you could use an outdoor antenna in the attic but maybe a smaller one. you could base your antenna selection on increasing your distance by 30% to account for loss of being in attic and buy an antenna that suits that distance.


in selecting an antenna you want to know the real channels the stations will be on after the transition. goto


tvfool.com


you may not need a vhf low antenna which makes for a smaller outdoor antenna for use in the attic.

 

[jtbell]

It depends on the construction of the house. If the roof is metal, for example, it would block RF signals pretty effectively, so an antenna in the attic would not receive much signal, whereas a room antenna on a lower floor would be able to receive any signals that get through the exterior walls.


With a typical (for my area at least) wooden-frame house with asphalt shingles on the roof, I'd expect a better signal in the attic simply because it's higher in elevation.

 

[qanda]

jtbell and johnpost,


Thanks for the info and the quick replies. And, I checked out the tvfool site johnpost mentioned. It shows a table that provides a general guideline for the attic versus indoor question I asked. It seems all things being equal and no unusual factors (like a steel roof) that the attic is next up the food chain from the indoor antenna. Their table says:

Background color - Estimated signal strength


Green - An indoor "set-top" antenna is probably sufficient to pick up these channels


Yellow - An attic-mounted antenna is probably needed to pick up channels at this level and above