[mythtv-users] OTA and attic antenna

[R. G. Newbury]

On 10/03/2012 12:14 PM, Marc Paré wrote:
> I am considering moving from cable to OTA and was wondering if any on
> this list would have any recommendations for an attic antenna.
>
> All of my PC TVCards are analog and it's time to move to digital. I am
> hoping to go with OTA with an attic antenna running to HDHomeRun (my
> linux box only has PCI slots, so this seems the best option) with MythTV.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.


Marc,

OTA is exceedingly site dependant. From where you are in Waterloo, the 2 
nearby stations are west-south-west (near Wilmot or so), while the US 
stations are at about 120 degrees or so, almost straight behind 
Hamilton. The Toronto stations are all at about 75 degrees. And ALL of 
those are quite a distance away from you.

If you only want to grab the 2 Kitchener stations, and *maybe* Paris, 
then you might get by with an attic setup. But you would be 
*exceedingly* lucky to get anything else. And you likely would not get 
the locals if you point the antenna at Hamilton.

But to get any of the others you will need to put up a separate large 
antenna such as Channelmaster 8 bay ( about 1 metre square) on a 
pipe/tower etc. I used a length of pipe from Home Depot, normally used 
to chain link fence, and brackets mounted into the chimney to put my 
antenna up.
And last Saturday, I moved the second antenna which was *in* the attic 
out onto the chimney tower. I'm 12 nautical miles line of sight to 
downtown TO with a good 'view' but the inside setup just did not work 
when there was any snow. It is clearer now on the lower powered stations.

The only place I know which carries what you need is 
www.saveandreplay.com who are located on Kennedy south of Courtneypark:
Highway 410 and 401 in Brampton...so a LONG trek for you.
BUT they ARE knowledgeable and they do ship stuff and they are willing 
to talk on the phone.

There is LOTS of info about stations and a big map here:

http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/

and the forums are remotecentral are HUGE. The main HDTV forum has 
26,000 posts in 4000 threads. And there is LOTS of stuff about antennas.

You will need some time for browsing.

Geoff







              R. Geoffrey Newbury