What antenna for free HDTV? (Home Depot, living in, stations)

[VeeGer]

Howdy folks.

I cut the TV off my cable and now looking into OTA HDTV. I have an indoor antenna which did a decent job of pulling in 49 channels (18 channels with subs). Imagine my surprise when I saw the channels rolling in during the scan.

I prefer to have an outdoor antenna so for those living in 78221 area or close by what are y'all using?

And also were you able to pull in channel 2.x?

Thanks.

[dihappy]

I use a MOHU Leaf unpowered, there are also powered models for hard to get reception.

Channel Master makes great attic and outdoor antennas.

Goto Antennaweb.org for distance and directional maps.

[Deep Forest]

I've tried several and came to the conclusion that the only way to go for OTA is an outside antenna. The indoors have their good points and mostly bad points. The digital signal shifts way too much to get channels consistently with indoor antennas.

[EntropyGuardian]

I only have an indoor antenna but I will be getting an outdoor one soon.

For what it is worth directional ones seemed to get the most praise.

[VeeGer]

I went to Home Depot and got this:

Winegard Freevision Outdoor HDTV Antenna-FVHD30H - The Home Depot

I have it mounted 7 feet up on my East wall outside. Pulled in the weak channels better. After I add/delete channels I ended up with 22 channels (including subs) with strong signals and stuff I'd rather watch.

I'm really surprised we have all those channels for free OTA. My cable company told me I won't do any good using an antenna.

Yeah right, liars.

[EntropyGuardian]

Originally Posted by VeeGer

I'm really surprised we have all those channels for free OTA. My cable company told me I won't do any good using an antenna.

Yeah right, liars.

I've been OTA for years. Add on Netflix or Hulu for $8-9/mo and unless you need a sports network you're set, really. No need to pay 60-100$/mo for 500 channels with nothing worthwhile on them.

[VeeGer]

You got that right.

I still have internet/phone with TWC and I can practically watch anything I want on the net.

[need4speed2012]

Antennas Direct Model: DB8-E

[smitty12]

I went with one of these. Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM. Works for all the major stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RH5GZI/..._M3T1_ST1_dp_2

The only semi-major thing I don't get is KMYS (The CW). It transmits from the NW of town, while everything else is SE. That antenna probably has enough gain that if I pulled the reflector off, it could get KMYS from the backside and maintain the other stations, but it hasn't been important enough to bother. I tried pointing it to the NW, and getting the closer stuff to the SE through the reflector on the backside, and that worked somewhat with pixelation. But it was too distracting for me.

Both KLRN and KSAT are transmitting in the VHF spectrum, so any antenna needs VHF elements to be effective for them. the DB8e doesn't have a VHF element, but may still work depending on how far away one is, but I wouldn't bet on it. Some use the ClearStream C5 VHF antenna with the DB8e, the C5 includes the necessary combiner, but unless you are really far away that is probably overkill.

[VeeGer]

I found that in order to pull in channel 2.x (KCWX) I need an antenna that pull in VHF LO (FM) and it's 56 miles out from me. Will need a preamp on it. I don't want to do that and end up blowing my TV's tuner when all my signals are strong from the other channels.