[kanjigirl]

First, we're in Fort Collins, CO and considering getting rid of cable. We would prefer an indoor or attic mount because of the wind, I'd really appreciate some advice on narrowing down our choices. I realize that an indoor mount may have no feasibility but I'd like find out for sure:


http:// www DOT tvfool DOT com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d3e474ee5484fa2


We live a couple of miles east of the foothills and don't have LOS issues to the north or south.


One that we're looking at is the Antennas Direct C2 ClearStream2 but are completely open to suggestions.


A few questions:


1) Will we need a preamp?

2) Are there any special considerations for connecting to a Tivo Premiere?

 

[BCF68]

can't help until you post the link correctly.

 

[kanjigirl]

I apologize, I am new on the boards and am not allowed to post a regular link. If you replace the ' DOT ' with a period, you should be able to use that link.

 

[deltaguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanjigirl I apologize, I am new on the boards and am not allowed to post a regular link. If you replace the ' DOT ' with a period, you should be able to use that link.

That didn't work. Try copying and then pasting the link please.

 

[kanjigirl]

I cannot do this. This is the warning I get when I try to paste the link:


"You are only allowed to post URLs once you have at least 3 posts. If you are a spammer, please go elsewhere. If not, sorry for this issue the spammers have made for."


Please tell me the recommended way to post URLs given that restriction - I'm happy to do whatever's needed.

 

[kanjigirl]

Let me try this:


www tvfool com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d3e474ee5484fa2

 

[Tower Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanjigirl One that we're looking at is the Antennas Direct C2 ClearStream2 but are completely open to suggestions. Are there any special considerations for connecting to a Tivo Premiere?

You have VHF stations. The C-2 is a "UHF-mostly" antenna. Consider an HBU-44 or HD-7696P. Try to avoid a preamp, KQCK is too strong to amplify.


Connection of an off air antenna to a DVR precludes the use of a rotor. Aim the antenna at Denver and no rotor is needed.

 

[deltaguy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tower Guy /forum/post/20777353


You have VHF stations. The C-2 is a "UHF-mostly" antenna. Consider an HBU-44 or HD-7696P. Try to avoid a preamp, KQCK is too strong to amplify.


Connection of an off air antenna to a DVR precludes the use of a rotor. Aim the antenna at Denver and no rotor is needed.

If the tv has a digital tuner, an a-b switch could be employed. This would allow trying to DX, and to try different antenna aims. With my reception history indoors here, I'd never consider not having a rotor.

 

[LithOTA]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tower Guy /forum/post/20777353


Connection of an off air antenna to a DVR precludes the use of a rotor.

There is a way to use a rotor with a DVR, but it's complicated. You need a rotor with remote control feature. You then set presets for each of your stations.

But the rotor's remote can't do anything when you're not home. So you would get one of those fancy Harmony remotes, which you can program to emulate the rotor's remote. Then, program the Harmony to excecute the appropriate rotor presets at the times your shows are on. You have to leave the Harmony sitting where it will hit the rotor control box with it's IR beam.

The Harmony remote could also be programmed to send commands to a CECB, VCR, DVR, or remote-controlled A/B switch.

 

[kanjigirl]

For the most part we'll be using the DVR to stream shows HuluPlus and Netflix, not so much for recording shows on the few digital channels we'll receive. So maybe a rotor's not necessary...

 

[cire2282]

 http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...3e474ee5484fa2

 

[kanjigirl]

Thank you cire2282 for posting the link.

 

[kanjigirl]

Any opinion on the Clearstream5? We have a spot on a side eave that would work for a smaller footprint antenna, clear views to the north and south.

 

[ADTech]



Quote:
You have VHF stations. The C-2 is a "UHF-mostly" antenna. Consider an HBU-44 or HD-7696P. Try to avoid a preamp, KQCK is too strong to amplify.

Our the first shipment of our new version of the C2 (which we called the C2-V during development) came in this week and should be on the website for sale sometime next week. It's a C2 with a unity gain high-VHF dipole on the back (combined with the best off-the-shelf diplexer I could find) that will now offer a predictable measure of VHF performance. It will be packaged as a turnkey consumer product and includes a 20" J-Mount and a 30' RG6 coax cable. However, I'd suspect that more VHF performance would be desirable in Ft Collins for the Denver VHF stations.

Quote:
Any opinion on the Clearstream5?

It would be great for the VHF stations but would likely need a separate UHF antenna such as the C2 or a "medium" UHF Yagi for best results. The alternative to the separates is a conventional 7-69 combo as has been suggested.

 

[kanjigirl]

The new C2 that you mentioned sounds pretty good - forgive my lack of knowledge but 7-13 are the VHF stations we'd be interested in, no need for any lower stations. So something that picks up 7-13 VHF and UHF up to 51 would be great.


Would I need a preamp with that new C2?

 

[mikepier]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cire2282 /forum/post/20779822

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...3e474ee5484fa2

I don't think an attic antenna is going to cut it based on that report. You might have LOS to the North, but not to the South, where the bulk of your stations are.

You can definately give it a shot and see what happens. If you don't get many channels in the attic, then I suggest putting the antenna outdoors. If all you care about is stations to the south, then you do not need a rotor


Also you might want to go with a more conventional antenna like this:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3739595

 

[kanjigirl]

We were planning on putting something outside in a spot with clear LOS to north and south, not in the attic based on what's been said here. Thanks for the link mikepier, this is another that we'd been looking at.

 

[lsilvest]

For what it's worth, I'm down in Pueblo and have the same kind of wind you experience. I'm using a plain old Radio Shack 10' VHF/UHF antenna and get everything from the Springs perfectly. I do use a CM pre-amp since I have 9 splits. I've had the antenna up for over 5 years mounted on a bracket attached to an eave. When I put mine up, the OTA digital was new and there weren't as many antenna choices (at least not locally) and from the discussions on the local forum thread it seems from the start I've had better luck than most. It wasn't consistent, but KBDI in Denver happened to be in my LOS with the Springs towers and I was picking that up intermittently.


My daughter in Longmont gets just about everything from Denver with an indoor rabbit ears antenna which surprised me, so the signals there must be pretty strong.

 

[kanjigirl]

Thanks lsilvest, good to know.

 

[HikeEagle97]

kanjigirl - Please let us know how its coming along. I also live in Fort Collins, near the center of town, and am a newbie to the antenna tv world. I live in a condo that's about 40 years old, and it has an attic antenna of the same age. I get one channel very poorly by hooking into that antenna. Last night I tried a GE Futura antenna from Home Depot mounted outside our building about 10 feet high, and got two channels with poor reception (about 30% signal strength). There are mature trees all around but we back up to a greenbelt, so the closest trees are at least 150 feet away. My TV fool report looks like we should be able to get decent reception, especially with an attic antenna. I guess we need to try and replace the attic antenna, but if anyone else has suggestions I would appreciate it.


www tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9e742e9449f0a1


I am able to get channels 22.1 & 22.2 from that TV Fool List with my Futura, but that's it. I'm just not sure of the best path forward. Thanks.