Gautier 39553
I'm making the transition to HDTV and
want to take advantage of OTA HDTV. I pay the cable company
enough right now! It amazed and appaled me when I found out
that they want $20-30 more per month to provide HDTV
content to my house. Even worse - that's for
only 5 channels! But enough about
them...
I've been scouring the internet for over
a month while doing research on TVs, tuners, cabling/connections
and antennas. It was a blessing when I finally came across
your website - it's been extremely informative! Right
now I could use some of your expertise. My address
is _________ Rd, Gautier, MS, 39553. (**Please protect
my address info if you post this in the Ask Denny
section of your site). My home is single story, but it
has an extremely large attic and the roof is likely as tall
as an average two-story home. I'm trying to juggle
a few things in my antenna choice:
1. Maximizing reception -
especially HD content.
a.
Channel assignments range from a low of 9 up to channel 48, so
I need to be able to receive both VHF/UHF.
b.
HD content for the channels is coming from two different bearing
envelopes: 68 - 79 degrees and 310 - 324 degrees. A lot
of the good OTA programming comes from
East of me at 48-66 miles, but I still want HD ABC and it's
only being broadcast from West of me. :/
c.
Neither of the Fox channels, WXXV or WALA, are being broadcast in
HD right now. What can I do to influence them to send out the
HD signal? Additionally, WALA-
DT, channel 10, is only being broadcast at 29kW.
Even though the antenna is at 1250ft elevation, I'm
concerned about being able to receive this channel if WXXV does not
go
HD
at a reasonable transmission strength.
2. Minimizing impact on the
exterior aesthetics of my house. If I can avoid a large
directional antenna, then that is my preference.
3. Avoiding tuner issues when
redetecting/locking onto channels after rotating
antenna.
My biggest concern is whether or not
a roof-mounted MS2000 will be sufficient to pull the HD
signals from stations available in my area. If it won't
work, then I run into issues like:
1. What's the best large,
directional antenna that I should use for good
reception while minimizing size/aesthetic impact?
2. How do I avoid issues of having
to redetect/identify channels averytime I change bearings to
receive channels on other bearings?
Thanks in advance for your help and I
look forward to talking to you more!!
Sincerely,
William
Greetings William,
Cable and lately satellite are in my opinion shooting
themselves in the foot. In the near future they will offer
HDTV across the board for well over one hundred dollars for
basic and say take it or leave it. Not only are we in the
middle of a digital transition I see definite evidence we are also
in a transition from pay TV to free TV. Anyway the OTA signal
is a much better picture most of the time anyway.
About your antenna choices. We are getting very good reports
from customers using the
MS 2000 TV antenna for
digital reception. As a matter of fact you can find a customer
story in our site linked from the home page called
Marvin's page. Now I admit a chance
does exist that the MS 2000 will not deliver satisfactory results
at your location. I personally would try it because I believe
the chances are better than 50% that it will work. With all
the benefits that the MS 2000 offers it's worth the risk that you
may have to send it back for a different antenna.
If you decide to just go with the sure thing I would recommend
the PR 7037 antenna or the
HD
7082 antenna along with a
AP 8700 TV antenna preamplifier.
The biggest difference between these two antennas is the 7082
is better built. I know these antennas are not small but If
the MS 2000 fails I would be a little hesitant to try anything
much smaller, unless the reception problem is multipath
(reflected signal). If that was the issue and not signal strength
with the MS 2000 you could probably go with a smaller
antenna.
If I can assist you further William, please don't hesitate to
contact me.
Regards,
Denny
Denny,
Cable companies have gotten to the point
that they make my blood boil when I think about how much I pay for
services and how little I get in return. Especially
when I go to a service area with little or no
competition. If I could find a way to get a couple of my
prefered channels/programming, then I would drop them like the bad
habit they have become.
On a brighter note - thank you for the
advice! Your suggestion on trying the
MS2000 was the direction I was leaning towards.
I would hate to have to change out the antennas, but the
chance of the compact antenna working for my situation is worth the
risk. I'll have it mounted at least 4-5' above the roof to
try and maximize reception. After looking at the RF reception
characteristics on the Winegard site, it looks like the antenna
is stronger on certain bearings. Is there any way to
tell where the stronger reception bearings are externally or is it
better to just experiment before securing the
antenna?
Right now I am only planning on using
the antenna in one room. The cable run from the antenna will
likely be ~75-100'. If I wanted to plan for the future and
also run the feed to 3 bedrooms, then what other parts/costs
would I be facing? Rough estimate on extra cable is 150' -
3x50' cables.
The final question for this email...I'm
U.S. Navy and deployed overseas right now. What would you
consider to be a reasonable labor cost for me to hire someone to do
this work - labor only. I'll be getting the material from my
favorite antenna shop - Denny's Antenna Service!
Thank you again for all of your help and
have a Great Navy Day!!
Sincerely,
William
William,
To supply your three bedrooms would require a
4 way
signal splitter along with the cable. I would also recommend a
DA 25 distribution amplifier. By
splitting your signal 4 ways additional amplification will probably
be required. The order of things would go like this. From the
antenna your coax would run to the antenna power supply (included).
From the power supply to the DA 25 distribution amplifier. From the
DA 25 to the 4 way splitter. From the splitter to the TV's.
The cost of the wire is $0.26 a foot with the cable connectors
attached. The 4 way splitter is $4.49. The DA 25 distribution
amplifier is $39.00.
If I were to do the job I would charge between $125.00 to
$200.00.
There is a slight difference in reception as you rotate the
antenna, but no way to tell without experimenting. I haven't found
the variances to be as evident as the Winegard information
suggests.
Best Regards,
Denny
Raytown, 64133
I was wondering if you
have any suggestion on the antenna and rotator I would need for
digital signals only based off of the antennaweb, my home address
is________ Raytown, MO 64133
Thanks in Advance,
Michael
Greetings Mike,
I do have a suggestion the MS
2000 rotor free antenna. To my surprise we are receiving
outstanding reports from customer's from all across the country. To
be truthful I did not expect this antenna to do so well with
digital TV. I installed one for use with digital TV about two weeks
ago in a little town called Carson City here in Michigan.
We did the channel scan and it registered 61 channels From as
far away as Saginaw. (65 miles) Also you can check out Marvin's page in our website. He's
using the MS 2000 for digital reception near the Michigan and Ohio
border. We just received a positive report from Missouri yesterday.
We have also had good reports from the Chicago, San Francisco and
many other areas. My only concern with your location is
some of the channels may be to close. Frankly we haven't had enough
information reported to us to determine if that is gonna be a
problem (it could overload). I certainly would try it to avoid
the hassles of a rotor. If it doesn't provide satisfactory
reception because of the closeness of some of your channels return
it. Because we are in need of information from locations such as
yours, if it doesn't work out for you, I'll pay the shipping
back. View our guarantee If I can
assist you further Mike, please don't hesitate to contact
me. Best Regards,
Denny
