[mythtv-users] OT: Help choosing an antenna for ATSC

[Michael Anthon]

David Asher wrote:

> My understanding is that you can, but you need pass filters to prevent 
> causing multi-path reception problems.

<snipped stuff about filters>

If the signal strengths from the 2 separate antennas for each of the 
signals in question are significantly different in level then you can 
probably get away without the filters, particularly with digital.  The 
problem you may find is that most directional antennas have a fairly 
significant rear lobe and given that the 2 sources are close to 180 
degrees apart you may find the multi-path reception is a problem.  The 
other way around this is to arrange the antennas and cable lengths such 
that the signals from the 2 actually combine correctly BUT that is 
basically impossible to arrange for a broad frequency range.  Either way 
you need some pretty good test gear to set this sort of thing up.

The other option that comes to mind is to throw another tuner card into 
the computer and use 2 antennas with separate feeds to the separate 
tuners then you can configure mythtv to match up the channels and 
tuners.  Given the prices of tuner cards and cabling bits required to do 
fancy combinations of antennas it might actually work out cheaper anyway 
with the added benefit of being able to record 2 things at once (as long 
as they are on separate antennas)

Cheers,
Michael