# OTA Antenna for 942



## FLApilot (Mar 23, 2005)

I have a 942 and am looking to buy an antenna to get my locals. Below is the info from Antenna Web. The CBS station is 47 miles away. I live in flat land (Panhandle of FL). Can anyone recommend an antenna. I want an indoor or attic mounted version if at all possible. Thanks for any help you can give.

Scott

DTV Antenna
Type Call Sign Channel Network City State Live
Date Compass
Orientation Miles
From Frequency
Assignment 
* red - vhf WPGX-DT 29.1 FOX PANAMA CITY FL 26° 11.4 9 
* red - uhf WMBB-DT 13.1 ABC PANAMA CITY FL 63° 15.1 19 
* red - uhf WFSG-DT 38.1 PBS Panama City FL 297° 20.5 38 
* red - vhf WJHG-DT 7.1 NBC PANAMA CITY FL 44° 17.6 8 
* red - uhf WBIF-DT 51 UPN MARIANNA FL TBD 24° 19.8 51 
* violet - uhf WPCT-DT 47 IND PANAMA CITY BEACH FL TBD 249° 10.8 47 
* violet - uhf WTVY-DT 4.1 CBS DOTHAN AL 353° 47.2 36


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## logray (Apr 8, 2005)

You'll want a rotator for sure since all of your stations are at different headings. Every time you tune to a different channel you'll need to have the rotator swing the antenna around to point at a different station. That might limit an indoor antenna unless you have a big attic that has enough space for an antenna to swing around. You lose a lot of signal strength with an antenna in the attic - so usually you want to upgrade to the next larger "size" antenna. Channel Master and Winegard make great antennas, rotators, etc. and are usually available at local TV/electronics stores or over the Internet. You probably won't need a pre-amp since the farthest station away is 47 miles. Flat land helps you a lot. You might want a distribution amp if you want to pipe the feed from the antenna to other receivers - but that depends on how strong CBS signal is and how good your antenna picks it up. You can try a splitter first. If you have only one receiver run a cable straight from the antenna to the receiver. Stay away from diplexers which involves hooking up your sat dish and your antenna on the same cable run - they lower your signal strength. Run RG6 Quad Shield cable. Stay away from Terk or Radio Shack antennas - this is more a "religious opinion" than anything. With a good powered indoor antenna you might have luck picking up FOX, ABC, NBC, IND, and maybe UPN and PBS. CBS would be out of the question though. You could get a separate antenna for just CBS and install frequency blocks coming from that antenna and combine an indoor antenna (if you don't mind physically rotating it every time you tune a station). Or perhaps another smaller antenna with the rotator in the attic for everything but CBS. You don't want to overpower your receiver with too large an antenna - but then again need something large enough to pick up CBS. Or maybe get a waiver and get CBS HD via satellite and then just a smaller antenna with a rotator for everything else. Decisions decisions decisions. Hopefully this didn't confuse you too much.


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## FLApilot (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks for the words. I do currently have a waiver with Dish for CBS out of Atlanta. I could have them give me the HD channel for that and go with a good indoor antenna. 

I have a huge attic. I could swing easily a 10' antenna 360 with no problem. I wired my house's low voltage and have run miles of RG-6. I have Covenants that won't let me put an outside antenna up. My Dish is below fence level and you can't see it from the front.

I saw the Channel Master stuff and they seem reasonably priced. I assume you need power for the rotator? How is it controlled? 

Thanks for the prompt reply.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

FLApilot said:


> I have a 942 and am looking to buy an antenna to get my locals. Below is the info from Antenna Web. The CBS station is 47 miles away. I live in flat land (Panhandle of FL). Can anyone recommend an antenna. I want an indoor or attic mounted version if at all possible. Thanks for any help you can give.
> 
> Scott


You should check out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45 and see if there is a forum for your area. I use the one for my location in the Seattle WA area and it's been a lifesaver.


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## datwell (Jan 26, 2005)

I am in a very poor signal area but I am really happy with with the performance of my CM-4228 (my digitals are all UHF). My setup also includes a CM rotor and a CM pre-amp. My souces include eBay (pre-amp from solid signal at a great price), solidsignal.com (CM-4228) and Warren Electronics (rotor). The fellow at Warren is particularly helpful and they don't rip you off for shipping, including multiple items.

--Doug


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## pjm877 (Apr 27, 2003)

FLApilot said:


> I have a huge attic. I could swing easily a 10' antenna 360 with no problem. I wired my house's low voltage and have run miles of RG-6. I have Covenants that won't let me put an outside antenna up. My Dish is below fence level and you can't see it from the front.


I thought the fed's have a Law that Small Ant. (not those 19 - 20+ foot c-ban) can be placed anywhere on the house that would give you best reception... and no home owner Assc. or such can over rule?

I have a nice outdoor ant but it is 8 foot long, and on a pole over the house... big because I need to over come a water tower 100 yards away..

I think there are some units that have a programable remote in such a way that when you change the tv/box the unit moves the ant.

just thinking?

Later


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## logray (Apr 8, 2005)

EDIT: After reading through my post again, I forgot to add a very important disclaimer before you go out and spend money on all this gear. I wanted to add that attic or indoor antennas are hit and miss at best - your milage may definately vary depending on a lot of situations. There will be a lot of experimentation with positioning, pointing, and even antenna size, etc. You lose a lot of signal with an antenna in the attic or in your house. For some people they can just put one up there and it will work the very first time, others will never be able to make anything work reliably. You best bet for reception is ALWAYS outside. And from 10-20 miles out a very small antenna on the roof will far outperform anything inside your house - a 16" square panel antenna that can be spraypainted (with a non-metallic spraypaint) and mounts to your chimeny, roof line, deck, etc. would be hardly noticable (if at all). Check this panel antenna out from winegard. After thinking about this more. This would be my pick for sure. This would probably pick up CBS too. For PBS, I would maybe get two of these and still use the jointenna or just a combiner. If you go to the flash gallery in this link you will see some pictures of this antenna mounted on the side of a house, it looks like it's supposed to be there - painted and all.

And no HOA can say anything about what you put on your roof. It is the law. You can't say that someone is going to tell you that can't go up on the side of your house. You can even call the police and they will defend your position because federal law says you can install an antenna on the outside of your house. Here's a good thread on this subject.



FLApilot said:


> I saw the Channel Master stuff and they seem reasonably priced. I assume you need power for the rotator? How is it controlled?


The CM stuff is well priced and performs quite well and is usually available in most places. Rotators are powered by separate AC line. With the 942 and DVR feature though you might want to tune an OTA channel and record it - the problem being rotating the antenna automatically when the 942 tunes to a different OTA channel for a scheduled recording at which point since that is done via separate remote control that comes with the rotator you could be recording a blank video signal if the antenna isn't pointed in the right direction. Now if only the 942 could IR blast the rotator controller when it tuned to an OTA channel automatically before a scheduled recording .

But now that I think about it...

Since all of your major stations except CBS, PBS, & IND are within 39 degrees of eachother, you might be better off with a larger multi directional fixed antenna that has a large enough field of view/beamwidth that you don't have to rotate. And if you don't care about receiving the IND channel and get CBSHD via satellite... then for PBS get a separate antenna with a trap for that frequency and combine it with the other antenna. You wouldn't have to worry about rotating anything ever. Now we're using our noodles. :hurah:

Without seeing if there are many houses or other obstructions between you and the transmitters, this would be my setup:
Point a Winegard 7210p or a CM2001 at 40 degrees and it will pickup everything from roughly 350 degrees to 90 degrees (UPN, FOX, NBC, & ABC). Your setup is a little tricky because you need an antenna that does VHF as well as UHF. FOX and NBC are VHF which is not common for Digital stations. This means you'll need an antenna that does both which means a little more interference than just a UHF antenna. So a good front to back ratio is a must. The Winegard being the "porsche" and the CM being the "volvo". Then get a 4308 and point it at 297 degrees for PBS. Since you are in the attic, you might need something larger for PBS since it is 20 miles away and that antenna is rated for 30 miles. Definately go with a Yagi for PBS though. Hard to say though. A lot of factors like whats in your attic and whats the house made of and how many obstructions are between you and the xmitters. Anyways, you'll want to trap and combine PBS with a Jointenna 0585-2 UHF passive. This will prevent the second antenna from "picking up" the channels that the other antenna is supposed to receive. If you cheat over from 297 towards 249 degrees you might be able to get the IND channel as well. Then I would get CBS HD over SAT. You could go for a larger antenna that could pickup CBS, but then you might run the risk of overpowering the receiver with the closer stations. With a bigger antenna you could get an attenuator and "turn down" the signal, but then the problem becomes that you cound't trap PBS anymore because it's in the same trappable range as CBS. So you would end up trapping out CBS to pickup PBS - then you would have to use a combiner but then you're signal's going to go to hell because both antennas would be fighting eachother to pickup the bouncing signals from all the stations. Not a good idea on the larger antenna for sure, but you could first try hooking everything up with a combiner and no trap and see if you get CBS and everything else reliably. Then if it doesn't work well get the jointenna trap.

Here's a good article on combining. Your setup would look like the second diagram from the bottom.

Since you've put $$$ into the 942, I would go with a quality attic antenna for sure. This is going to be more desirable than a "powered freestanding indoor" antenna for sure. Rotator or not. With the indoor antenna you might find you're always adjusting where it's pointing/where it's resting. Plus they look ugly IMHO because they're out in the open usually.

You could also forget all the combining and multiple antennas and get an omni directional antenna. Hard to say how well that would work though with all those signals bouncing off things in the attic. You might have to try several solutions until you find the one that works best.

Also, you should check out the Broadcast/HDTV Forum . This post really belongs there. Definatley get some feedback from people in your area though if you can. That always helps because YMMV depending on where you live and what stations you want to pick up.

And yes everyone is right no one can stop you from putting an antenna on the roof which would give you the VERY best reception indeed. The FCC says so! wanted to add that


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