Wineguard and Channel Master are the good name brands to go with. As chuck mentioned there are very few channels on the lowest part of the VHF band (channels 1-6) and a lot of that reason is because they required a really big cutback in power over using the higher channels when they transitioned to digital. With the recent channel repack, many stations have again moved channels. As I recall the highest channel used now is 38 or something like that. The bowtie flat panel flyswatter type antennas are what I would go with. Much smaller and easier to deal with inside the attic and a wider beamwidth. Antennas direct appears to have some decent looking units on Amazon. Not sure if you have more than one direction you want to scan for channels but if you do they have units that have two panels of bowties on a hinge so you can have panels pointed in two separate directions without the need to have a rotor. Make sure to do a new scan for channels. That is actually a good reminder for everyone if they haven't recently.
Thank you, Brian Webster www.wirelessmapping.com -----Original Message----- From: AF [mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com] On Behalf Of ch...@wbmfg.com Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 10:23 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: OTA Antennas again What kind of bandwidth do you need from the lowest to the highest channel? I would assume all desired channels are in the UHF band. Yagi's are great for a channel or three, but they are inherently narrow band. A wide band log perodic will give you the most signal but do you really need that much signal? I recently purchased a dipole in front of a reflector from Home Depot and I actually have too much signal. I am only 5 miles away ( and one mile below) the majority of the transmitters, but I have tons of signal. https://www.homedepot.com/p/RCA-Attic-Outdoor-Compact-Design-HDTV-Antenna-AN T705E/303087505 BTW, I left off the VHF dipole during assembly on purpose. Very few areas have actual VHF tv transmitters any more. -----Original Message----- From: Nate Burke Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 7:37 PM To: Animal Farm Subject: [AFMUG] OT: OTA Antennas again I know it's been brought up in the past, but I'm too lazy to go look through the archives. What good OTA Antennas are out there now? Is channel master still the gold standard? Looking to mount inside an attic. 35 miles to the transmitter across water, and through a couple sand dunes and a forest (NW Indiana across lake Michigan to Chicago) Looks like there are square and yagi antennas. The Yagi antennas say 'line of sight' Does that really mean LOS like we think of LOS, or LOS as in it has to be aimed at the receiver? Has to go in the attic because my mom says 'anything that goes on the roof will leak', but she's ready to dump Comcast because they keep raising her price and taking away her channels (last straw was them pulling TCM from her package). I was at least smart enough to put in a conduit from the attic to the basement when they built the house. Yagi might be hard to aim in the attic. Would it work just the same on a post in the yard, or does the extra 15' of height to the attic really help. -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
