[gingurus]

looking for some recommendations on outdoor HD ota antenna. preferably something i can get at radio shack or some other B&M place like Home Depot (do they carry them?) i would also prefer something that's not too big and cumbersome.


thanks.

 

[ThumperBoy]

The better models (high gain and smaller size) are not carried by those stores unfortunately. Fry's Electronics has a few models, but the best are sold mail-order like the Channel Master model 4221 or 4228. There might be some small electronics/TV supply stores locally that carry them - depends on your exact location.

 

[bierboy]

I would strongly recommend the CMs. I have the 4221 indoors working very well picking up a handful of UHF DTs about 15 miles out. Fortunately, I have a wonderful electronics store locally (Warren Electronics) that also does lots of Internet business ( www.warrenelectronics.com ). They handle midwest distribution of all three major antenna manufacturers (Winegard, Channel Master and Antennacraft). But they ship all over the country. If you don't have a local electronics store, contact them.

 

[barrygordon]

Starkelectronics.com has a very wide selection of all kinds of antennas and accessories. I am using a CM4228 and Titan 7777 Pre amp. I am about 40 miles from the Christmas antenna tower in Orlando FL and am very lucky to have almost all of the stations I want at that location. Line of site, no obstructions (after all it is FL). I do not get WESH-DT since it is on CH 11 but that will be solved this week with a single channel Yagi. I have a litlle multipath (Isuspect) from the attic which is fully lined in a foil radiant heat shield. All of the station engineers I have contacted are very interested in helping since they want to improve their siganals and they are as new to this as us.


All antennas are in the attic of a single story home with a concrete tile roof on south Merritt Island in the Intercoastal waterway. The total configuration will be the Channel 11 Yagi (Jerold) and the CM 4228 feeding into the CM titan 7777. The Titan can take separate UFV vs VHF feeds or a combined one, and has the proper band limiting filters and tuned amps. It also has a selectable FM trap. The downlead from the Titan runs into the garage where the house head end is (50 foot run in RG6). The power supply for the Titan is there. The output of the Titan is then fed into a wideband RF amp (long cable runs coming up) and into a Terk 5x8 cascade ready multiswitch. The multiswitch is fed by the OTA antenna rig as discussed and an Oval DirecTV dish with three LNB's. Reception is superb with most digital OTA coming at better than 77% with some rock solid at 100%.


Now that the antenna field is stable I will probably be looking to sell a Terk TV55 in excellent condition (less than 60 days old) and a CM remote control (IR) Antenna Rotor. Interested parties can drop me a line at [email protected] .