# Tech Newbie, OTA advice needed.



## emBARK (Aug 9, 2015)

With two young children in daycare, mortage, car payments, and the rising cost of DirecTV we just gashed our bill and am about ready to completly unplug and go with an antenna. We don't even know where start. I "think" we will need either a decent attic antenna or a roof mounted.

Zip code is14063, thanks for any help or advice.


----------



## John W (Dec 20, 2005)

Start here:

http://antennaweb.org/


----------



## mgavs (Jun 17, 2007)

A friend and I tested 3 popular antennas at both house and found the channel master 4228 blew them away. Handles signals from rear and multi path pretty good. No rotor needed for us. Check it out, we've had them for several years and no need to look further.


----------



## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

John W said:


> Start here:
> 
> http://antennaweb.org/


That's the worst place you can go, they're overly conservative with their predictions and many times tell you to get something more expensive than you actual need. (i.e. for me they claim I need an amplified large directional outdoor antenna, yet I can pick up more stations than they list with a rabbit ears/UHF loop combo)

There are so many variables, so what works for one person can result in you picking up nothing at all, or be more than what you need.

Go to TVFool.com and enter your exact address and see what they say. Things in Green should be easy to pick up indoors or an attic antenna, the higher yellows might come in with an attic antenna while the lower yellows would need an outdoor antenna, the higher reds will most likely be not available unless you got a large directional antenna while lower reds won't be available at all unless you do something like erect a tower in your backyard and get a highly directional deep fringe antenna. If your stations are in different directions you might need a non-directional antenna or a rotator.


----------



## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

emBARK said:


> With two young children in daycare, mortage, car payments, and the rising cost of DirecTV we just gashed our bill and am about ready to completly unplug and go with an antenna. We don't even know where start. I "think" we will need either a decent attic antenna or a roof mounted.
> 
> Zip code is14063, thanks for any help or advice.


I bought the Digital Advantage for my son and it works very well for him. He is 33 miles from the towers. However, we are in a part of the country that is totally FLAT.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Outdoor_Antennas_s/20.htm
It appears that it might be hilly or mountainous where you are and Digital signals are line of sight. This is something you have to decide.

Edit / Add: I have been to several sites to see what is available to you and it looks to me as if you could only get 3 channels and they might be in Canada. One web site shows several others in the US but thy might be blocked by hills and the site just does not know that and the other sites do.
You might want to look into:
1. Reduce your package to the lowest you can get
2. Change to another provider that has a lower package price.


----------



## RBA (Apr 14, 2013)

Agreed TV antenna may not be for you. All major networks except FOX are 2 edge which means hard to receive. The only good thing is UHF is all you need everything uses Channel 14 and above for broadcasts.


----------



## jsk (Dec 27, 2006)

According to tvfool.com, you might be able to get a couple of Canadian VHF stations, but they will be hard to receive so you might want to put out a little extra $$ for a long range UHF/VHF antenna for channels 7 and up. You might want to get a rotor as well because it looks like the stations are in different directions (but that is a PITA if you will be using a DVR). You can go to tvfool.com and put in your address and get a more accurate report. For me, TV Fool lists a lot of stations that I have no hope of receiving. The higher up on the list, the more likely that you can get the station.


----------

