Amplifying OTA signal...

[felixrosbergen]

Gents...this maybe a stupid questions...but i have a TV that is publised as 'HD ready'...can i just put the coax from such an antenna in or do i need a special receiver? In the end it will go into a SageTV tuner card, but i was just curious if my TV would need anything special if i connect the antenna directly.

 

[beelzerob]

Yup, just plug it into the antenna input of your TV, and your TV probably has some auto scan capability to pick out the channels. That's how I'm able to do PiP on my TV....OTA on one screen, Dish on the other.

 

[felixrosbergen]

Yup, just plug it into the antenna input of your TV, and your TV probably has some auto scan capability to pick out the channels. That's how I'm able to do PiP on my TV....OTA on one screen, Dish on the other.

sweet, after i move into the new house I'll have to give that a try. A lot cheaper equipment wise to get a Hauppage 1800 vs the external HD tuner i think.

 

[amirm]

I do have a question about my Channel Master 4221:
If I decide to live in Orlando, let's say that I'll be living in an area that's 22 miles away from the station transmitters, which face at a 78 degree angle. Will my antenna be overkill? What if I live 15 miles away from the towers? I know that Channel Master 4220 2-bay antenna will satisfy that, but I just thought I could keep my antenna that I have.

It all depends on whether all the stations are in one direction or many. The way a higher gain antenna works is by focusing its reception area into a narrower cone. By doing so, it accumulates better signals in that smaller cone, at the expense of the rest which are now attenuated. So in general, you want an antenna with the least amount of gain which does the job (exception is if you are getting reflections from other larger objects).

So you need to buy the home, type in the address in the links provided earlier and see where the stations are. If they are all bunched up together (typical for large metropolitan areas) then any will work. If they are spread in multiple directions, but are close and strong otherwise, then get a lower gain/fewer bay unit.

Given the fact that you will be taking the current unit, you would definitly want to try that one before spending money on another one. As noted before, theory is one thing, practice another :blink:.

 

[GraysonPeddie]

Okay, so without an amp, if the TV stations is 5 to 10 miles away from me and still in one direction, with my CM4221 (45 miles max), will this overload my tuner (Mitsibushi WD-Y577 DLP HDTV)? That is assuming there's no buildings/trees blocking my antenna directing at the tower.

 

[amirm]

Okay, so without an amp, if the TV stations is 5 to 10 miles away from me and still in one direction, with my CM4221 (45 miles max), will this overload my tuner (Mitsibushi WD-Y577 DLP HDTV)? That is assuming there's no buildings/trees blocking my antenna directing at the tower.

There shouldn't be any overload issues with the tuner. There is probably an AGC of some sort in there. The overload issue is usually with external amps. And if there is an overload, you can simply turn the antenna a bit away from the direction of the transmitter and with it, reduce the signal level.

By the way, if you are that close to powerful stations, you may want to try something simpler. I just hang a simple wire on the back of my set and it picks up 90% of the stations! And we are line of sight about 20 miles from Seattle.