[Chris Ruhl]

I recently made the switch to the Dish Network and I have a 811 receiver. I live out in the middle of nowhere Minnesota and the closest HD tower is 35 miles away (CBS) and the next closest are the Minneapolis towers (about 70 miles). I can not mount a rooftop antenna. I guess I'm happy with just getting CBS for now, but hope that Dish will be offering locals in in HD sometime in the near future. (It is completely flat in Southern Minnesota.)


Anyway, I just bought a Radio Shack 15-1878 indoor antenna that has a 22dB amplifier with gain control. The guys at RS said it was the most powerful indoor antenna they had. I have hooked it up, and my results are pretty spotty. Sometimes I get around 80% signal, but most of the time it is the neighborhood of 60 - 70%. Tonight, the signal started dropping out and I was getting the dreaded 49% and the error message.


I happened to see a Phillips indoor antenna on sale at a local store and it advertised a 50dB amplifier and was the same price as the Radio Shack. Could I expect to get a better signal with this antenna?


I have looked around on the forum, and can't seem to make heads or tails in regards to a question like this. Any help would be mostly appreciated. Keep in mind, I can't modify the place where I'm living (no attic antennas, rooftops etc...). I have to stick with an indoor unit.


Thanks a bunch


CR

 

[mjones73]

The pre-amp can only amplify what you receive in the first place, it will also amplify any noise the antenna picks up. You could try the other one but at 35 and 70 miles out from your towers, I don't think you'll have much better luck.


Why the install limitation by the way?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Personally I have had no luck with the INDOOR Rat Shack antennas.

 

[Joxer]

Go with a good passive high gain outdoor antenna!

 

[formerly HTbuph]

I have a channel master 4228 in my attic along with a cm 7777 inserted in line. There are two towers about 30 miles away and receive both just fine. There are a few others about 70 miles away and get only one of them. Reception of the other two might improve if I put the antenna higher and if I used a VHF antenna. One of those two is definately in the UHF range (channel 55), the other (channel 13) is hi-vhf.


What are the frequency assignments for the stations you're trying to receive?

 

[Chris Ruhl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by formerly HTbuph I have a channel master 4228 in my attic along with a cm 7777 inserted in line. There are two towers about 30 miles away and receive both just fine. There are a few others about 70 miles away and get only one of them. Reception of the other two might improve if I put the antenna higher and if I used a VHF antenna. One of those two is definately in the UHF range (channel 55), the other (channel 13) is hi-vhf. What are the frequency assignments for the stations you're trying to receive?

Ummm...ok this is going to sound dumb, but I'm not sure what you mean by frequency assignments (or how to find them). Can't do an attic antenna or a roof-top antenna because of an agreement with the landlord.


Thanks for the help all of you.


CR

 

[Ratman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Ruhl ...I'm not sure what you mean by frequency assignments (or how to find them).

www.antennaweb.org

 

[formerly HTbuph]

Enter your zipcode into the appropriate field on the antennaweb site and it will return all the stations within a given radius (in miles) of your location. It will tell you the frequency assignment. The frequency assignment is the channel to which you'd tune to get the station. For example, here frequency assignment channel 25 is the analog ABC station, but frequency assignment channel 16 is the digital ABC station (HD). Both are broadcasting the same shows, one in analog and the other in digital hidef. So if I want to see ABC in HD, I'd tune to 16. If I want to see it in analog, I'd tune to 25. But a HD receiver will detect both and call them 25 (the analog station) and 25-1 (the HD station).


The antenna I'm using can be set up in your room, if you don't mind how it looks. Any antenna could be put inside the house if you don't mind how it looks.......

 

[Chris Ruhl]

Oh, ok. That was easy. Channel 38 is the frequency assignment. I'm assuing then, the more powerful Phillips (50 dB amplifier) wil not do much better than the 22 dB Rat Shack.


thakns for the help.

 

[kenglish]

No amount of amplification will help if there is too little signal to start with.


Maybe you could mount a small outdoor antenna, on a tripod, looking out of a window.