[owls_2003]

I live in an apartment (I'm on the 2nd floor of a 4 story building) in austin. 78705. An outdoor antenna is not an option. Here's the info that antennaweb gave me


* yellow - uhf KLRU-DT 18.1 PBS AUSTIN TX 294° 3.5 22

* yellow - uhf KEYE-DT 42.1 CBS AUSTIN TX 287° 4.4 43

* yellow - uhf KXAN-DT 36.1 NBC AUSTIN TX 292° 4.3 21

* yellow - uhf KVUE-DT 24.1 ABC AUSTIN TX 287° 4.4 33

* yellow - uhf KNVA-DT 54.1 CW AUSTIN TX 292° 4.3 49

* yellow - uhf KTBC-DT 7.1 FOX AUSTIN TX 279° 3.5 56

* red - vhf KAKW-DT 62.1 UNI KILLEEN TX 327° 33.2 13

* blue - vhf KCWX-DT 2.1 CW FREDERICKSBURG TX TBD 253° 53.3 5


Thanks!

 

[Ken H]

An indoor antenna for some of those stations may not work; too far away. I'd try an outdoor 4 bay bow tie, inside, and if it works find a place to hide it.

 

[afiggatt]

owls_2003 is not going to get KCWX-DT CW station on VHF 5 with the 4 Bay. Besides, according to the FCC database and wikipedia, that station is not on the air digitally anyway.


All the other major stations are only 3 to 4 miles away, broadcasting on UHF, and are in the same direction. Try a Silver Sensor UHF antenna or a simple UHF loop (one without an amplifier). The Silver Sensor can be found at Circuit City under the Philips brand name; Best Buy carries the Terk copy of the Silver Sensor.

 

[Rammitinski]

If you get the Terk, be sure it's the HDTVi, and not the HDTVa, which is amped.

 

[mikemikeb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by afiggatt /forum/post/0


All the other major stations are only 3 to 4 miles away, broadcasting on UHF, and are in the same direction.

One problem: KTBC has designated channel 7 for DTV post-2008. Any UHF-only antenna might have trouble locking DTV7, even at that distance.


owl, the two distant stations are rather pointless unless you want a backup CW affiliate or a Spanish language station. With the closer stations, from that distance, I suggest the RadioShack 15-1838 for $15. Although it's technically amplified, from personal experience, the amp doesn't have to be plugged in for very good short-range reception on both VHF and UHF.


Be sure to have the antenna by a window generally facing the towers for the most reliable locks. Your building does generally face west, right? If not, report back here with your actual heading. Thanks.

 

[owls_2003]

My building faces west, but I don't have a window in the room that the TV is in. Why is it better to get an unamplified antenna?


Also, is there an easy way to switch between cable and antenna? Maybe an antenna what will pass cable through too? My tv has one coax input, and it automatically switches between normal cable (atsc?) and the QAM tuner when I switch inputs from DTV and TV. I guess if there's not really a good option for that then I guess it doesn't really matter...i can manually take the antenna off and put the cable in.


I think the TERK is looking kind of expensive, so I was thinking about the silver sensor (what's the philips product number at circuit city?) or a simple uhf loop, or the radioshack antenna. Which is going to be the best bang for the buck?


Thanks for all yalls help!

 

[mikemikeb]

The best bang for the buck is by far the 15-1838 I mentioned earlier. The other antennas listed are at least $10 more and are overkill for that sort of distance. You can always get a 25-foot Gold Series cable at the RS store and run it from the windowside antenna to the TV.


On the 15-1838, there's a knob in the middle of the antenna base. Use that along with the UHF loop to gather a solid lock on all your stations. It should be rather easy and take less than four hours to complete.

An amplified antenna's sometimes needed for picking up longer-range TV signals, but from where you are, you don't need to worry right now about that.

At the RS store, you can buy a push-button switcher that will allow you to choose between feeding only cable TV or only antenna programming into the TV. One of them is $12 and isn't too sturdy. The other is $37, and requires an external power source (unlike the $12 one), but is more sturdy and is remote-controllable.


With either switcher, buy a three-foot RS Gold Series cable, then when you get home, hook it up between the "out" connector on the switcher and the TV. Then hook up the antenna's cable to the "A" input, and the cable TV cable to the "B" input. From there, it's a matter of pressing "A" for over-the-air TV, and "B" for cable.


Hope this helps.

 

[afiggatt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by owls_2003 /forum/post/0


My building faces west, but I don't have a window in the room that the TV is in. Why is it better to get an unamplified antenna?

The built-in amplifier is likely to overload at your very close range to the broadcast towers. Besides the inexpensive amps add noise to the boosted signal. In general, most of the antennas with these built-in amps with silly amplification numbers are over priced junk.

Quote:
Also, is there an easy way to switch between cable and antenna? Maybe an antenna what will pass cable through too? My tv has one coax input, and it automatically switches between normal cable (atsc?) and the QAM tuner when I switch inputs from DTV and TV.

Check the manual to see if it stores the two settings. Most TVs don't, AFAIK. The intent is that the TV is only used for OTA reception or clear QAM hookup, not both. For cable, you will need to get a cable box to get the national digital and HD channels.

Quote:
I think the TERK is looking kind of expensive, so I was thinking about the silver sensor (what's the philips product number at circuit city?)

PHDTV1 IIRC. Check the antenna section at your local circuit city.