Indoor TV Antenna

[fargon]

Does anybody know anything about indoor antennas. Wich type works the best and is cheepest?

[wolf]

Hot damn, do they still make those things?

I got those free digital antenna thingies the gubbermint insisted I buy, but I threw them in a closet in case the cable goes out.

[glatt]

This website has more info than you can imagine. Most related to rooftop antennas, but the same principles can be applied to indoor. It will at least tell you what stations are near you and what type of antenna you need to get them. Won't tell you a brand though.

[Undertoad]

Indoor antennas generally suck and should be avoided. It might get you the stations in La Crosse, but if you want to get the NBC affiliate in Rochester, or maybe even Eau Claire if lucky, you will need an elite outdoor antenna with a view unblocked by stuff.

[Gravdigr]

I've not had anything resembling good luck with any kind of indoor set-up. We used to have an antenna that was about the width and thickness of a hockey puck, and about 5-6 feet long designed for mounting on the eave of the house. Seems like it was called The Stick Antenna, but a quick googling reveals something else. Anyway, with a cheap signal amplifier we were good for around thirty miles or so.

I can highly recommend a 45-foot mounting height, and the $300 outdoor-type antenna Radio Shack used to sell, and a signal amplifier.

14 feet on top of that set-up is my scanner antenna.

We pick up Mars.

Did I mention the signal amplifier?

[Pete Zicato]

Before you buy an antenna, you may want to try making your own. There's a good description here. This antenna works great for uhf signals, but sucks for vhf signals. I've built a couple and they work great for every channel in the Chicago burbs -- except for cbs which has a vhf signal.

There are posts out there about adding vhf capability, but I haven't tried any.

[zippyt]

We have a Omnidirectional RV antenna , it has a power tap(thingee you plug in that gives the antenna a power boost),
we have tryed a few others ,
indoor HD Sucked waste of money
out door hd Sucked waste of money
so the old ufo is hooked back up
works like a charm , hell i can get stations from 3-4 hrs drive from here
it looks like this http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...0Antennas&sku=

works like a charm

[Sperlock]

I purchased a standard RCA rabbit ear type antenna. I get the basic stations around here just fine except for CBS. I don't watch television all that often, so I don't mind. It beats paying for cable/satellite.

[tw]

Originally Posted by fargon

Does anybody know anything about indoor antennas. Wich type works the best and is cheepest?

I design and build my own. Indoor antennas work just fine if (and this is the hard part) you know basic RF concepts.

Step one to getting any antenna starts with facts and numbers. One good place to start is this from the FCC:
DTV.gov

Step two. You must determine which if three bands are used by each station. Channels 2 through 6 were below the FM radio bands. Channels 7 through 13 were just above the FM radio and Airplane bands. Most informed stations moved to 600 Mhz - well about those other two frequencies. Easiest stations will be on Channel 14 and higher.

Now, if your station is on channel 4, it may actually be on channel 29. The station once on channel 4 will continue to call itself channel four when it really is on channel 29. The FCC map will make that obvious. You must know that to select the appropriate antenna.