Which of these Radio Shack Antennas?

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Hello,

So, I have a 51" Toshiba HD-Ready Projection TV, and I just won a US
Digital DB-2010 HD Receiver on ebay for pretty cheap. Now I'm in the
market for a good antenna, and Radio Shack seems to have some decent
looking options.

I live in Morgan Hill, CA, 95037, which, according to antennaweb.org, is
pretty far away from almost everything. For me to receive the channels
I'm interested in, I need a "Large Directional w/pre-amp" antenna. So,
I'll be mounting something to the top of the house.

I considered Radio Shack's 160" Long Dual Boom, 57 Element antenna, but
quickly realized that my wife would never go for 13' of antenna on the
house. Would the similar 120", or better, the 80" or 50", be big enough
to pull in some of the more distant stations, which are as far as 65
miles away?

Also, I was looking at two of their other options: the "High-Definition
Amplified Outdoor TV Antenna", and the "Low-profile Omnidirectional
Amplified TV Antenna". I like the idea of these two, because they are
significantly smaller than the others. Also, they are amplified, and
one is omnidirectional.

So, I guess my quesions boil down to these:
1. Does size matter?
2. Does an amplified antenna REALLY do anything worthwhile?
3. Given that the stations I want are in different directions, is an
omnidirectional antenna what I really need?
4. Given my distance from decent stations, and the varying angles from
which I need to receive them, which antenna would YOU buy?

Thanks for your advice.

Scott

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

JH - how far are you from the TV transmitters?

Jim

"JH" <JH@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2005020303574816807%JH@nospamnet...
>
> I use the HD Wing antenna , works great here in Florida... Make sure you
> go for an outdoor install with a rotator so you can fine tune with ease.
>
>
>
>
> On 2005-02-03 02:22:38 -0500, Scott Gregg <scott@scottgregg.n.ospa.m.com>
> said:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> So, I have a 51" Toshiba HD-Ready Projection TV, and I just won a US
>> Digital DB-2010 HD Receiver on ebay for pretty cheap. Now I'm in the
>> market for a good antenna, and Radio Shack seems to have some decent
>> looking options.
>>
>> I live in Morgan Hill, CA, 95037, which, according to antennaweb.org, is
>> pretty far away from almost everything. For me to receive the channels
>> I'm interested in, I need a "Large Directional w/pre-amp" antenna. So,
>> I'll be mounting something to the top of the house.
>>
>> I considered Radio Shack's 160" Long Dual Boom, 57 Element antenna, but
>> quickly realized that my wife would never go for 13' of antenna on the
>> house. Would the similar 120", or better, the 80" or 50", be big enough
>> to pull in some of the more distant stations, which are as far as 65
>> miles away?
>>
>> Also, I was looking at two of their other options: the "High-Definition
>> Amplified Outdoor TV Antenna", and the "Low-profile Omnidirectional
>> Amplified TV Antenna". I like the idea of these two, because they are
>> significantly smaller than the others. Also, they are amplified, and one
>> is omnidirectional.
>>
>> So, I guess my quesions boil down to these:
>> 1. Does size matter?
>> 2. Does an amplified antenna REALLY do anything worthwhile?
>> 3. Given that the stations I want are in different directions, is an
>> omnidirectional antenna what I really need?
>> 4. Given my distance from decent stations, and the varying angles from
>> which I need to receive them, which antenna would YOU buy?
>>
>> Thanks for your advice.
>>
>> Scott
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Tim Keating <NotForJunkEmail@directinternet11.com1> wrote in
news:865401d30revgip8u8g2dh5b392qp98g1j@4ax.com:

>>3. Given that the stations I want are in different directions, is an
>>omnidirectional antenna what I really need?
>
> You could try something like the RS 15-1634.. if it doesn't work
> out , RS has a decent return policy.. (30days??, keep the
> packaging.)

Thanks for the informative reply. This is what I'm going to try first
then. I was leaning towards this antenna anyhow since it is amplified,
omnidirectional, and small. And, if that fails, I'll try out what you
described below.

Thank you very much for your help.

Scott



>>4. Given my distance from decent stations, and the varying angles from
>>which I need to receive them, which antenna would YOU buy?
>
> A second option, try using a small RS 15-2160, UHF only YAGI
> antenna coupled with a 15-2507 mast mount antenna amp. Be sure to
> waterproof your connections. Antenna size is about two foot.long and
> doesn' make much of a visual impact. Point the antenna using compass
> bearing ~160 degrees. You should be able to pick up the other
> stations with the side lobes.
>
> Note: Even though the RS 15-2160 is listed as a UHF only antenna.
> It will still pick up upper band (7-13) VHF stations. (Not optimally,
> but good enough for most digital reception). I use a similar setup
> to pickup all the UHF (H)DTV stations within 70 miles, plus it also
> does a decent of pulling in the upper VHF (8,9, and 13) digital
> stations, 22 to 24 miles away. Icing on the cake, I still am able
> to pickup the VHF digitalis while the UHF antenna is pointed 140
> degrees in the opposite direction.
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Be sure to use it with a rotator. I cant tell you how many trips it
will save you to the roof!

The added $80 bucks is small potatoes when you want to fine tune your
antenna or make small changes...


On 2005-02-04 00:40:20 -0500, Scott Gregg <scott@scottgregg.n.ospa.m.com> said:

> Tim Keating <NotForJunkEmail@directinternet11.com1> wrote in
> news:865401d30revgip8u8g2dh5b392qp98g1j@4ax.com:
>
>>> 3. Given that the stations I want are in different directions, is an
>>> omnidirectional antenna what I really need?
>>
>> You could try something like the RS 15-1634.. if it doesn't work
>> out , RS has a decent return policy.. (30days??, keep the
>> packaging.)
>
> Thanks for the informative reply. This is what I'm going to try first
> then. I was leaning towards this antenna anyhow since it is amplified,
> omnidirectional, and small. And, if that fails, I'll try out what you
> described below.
>
> Thank you very much for your help.
>
> Scott
>
>
>
>>> 4. Given my distance from decent stations, and the varying angles from
>>> which I need to receive them, which antenna would YOU buy?
>>
>> A second option, try using a small RS 15-2160, UHF only YAGI
>> antenna coupled with a 15-2507 mast mount antenna amp. Be sure to
>> waterproof your connections. Antenna size is about two foot.long and
>> doesn' make much of a visual impact. Point the antenna using compass
>> bearing ~160 degrees. You should be able to pick up the other
>> stations with the side lobes.
>> Note: Even though the RS 15-2160 is listed as a UHF only antenna.
>> It will still pick up upper band (7-13) VHF stations. (Not optimally,
>> but good enough for most digital reception). I use a similar setup
>> to pickup all the UHF (H)DTV stations within 70 miles, plus it also
>> does a decent of pulling in the upper VHF (8,9, and 13) digital
>> stations, 22 to 24 miles away. Icing on the cake, I still am able
>> to pickup the VHF digitalis while the UHF antenna is pointed 140
>> degrees in the opposite direction.