Best outdoor and rotate based antennas for Digital TV in Chicago?
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on July 25, 2023, 8:30 pm
Jeremy? Phil? I know you guys are into this. Trying to help a friend. He bought an open box from BestBuy and his viewing experience is all boxy and digital artifacts. (Coax is OK).
What coax you recommend? What fixed outdoor antenna and what rotor based antenna? Thanks!
Z
Re: Best outdoor and rotate based antennas for Digital TV in Chicago?
Quad-shield RG6 is good for well over what is now the highest TV channel 36, which is approximately 600 MHz.
Based on all my research, when I someday get an antenna into my attic it will be the Televes DAT BOSS MIX Bi/Biii/UHF Antenna. Their claim “If the DAT BOSS can't receive it, nothing can” is reportedly true. They don’t provide absurd specs like “200 miles” or even better “990 miles reception” like cheap junk antennas. Televes antennas will hit you in the wallet pretty hard, though.
Note that my current indoor antenna setup is a $14 set of VHF rabbit ears + UHF loop. Second floor over flat terrain helps.
I am lucky enough to have an old Radio Shack rotor and controller with a small spool of controller cable stashed away in a storage bin. As for what to get today, I would just look for something in the amateur radio community that can handle the type and size of mast pipe you plan to use.
Make sure the mast / tripod / chimney mount / etc is properly grounded for lightning strikes with a braided strap type of cable, or very heavy gauge wire. Attach it to an iron stake driven deep into the soil, ideally 8 feet down. Don’t tie that to the same stake as your house’s electric service ground. You don’t want a million-volt lightning bolt to momentarily raise your entire house’s ground voltage from zero to several hundred volts, based on the slight resistance within that grounding stake.
Re: Best outdoor and rotate based antennas for Digital TV in Chicago?
Thanks Phil. He is a ham. So am I. We just had no idea what "good antennas" are.
Obviously the 900 mile and the stupid OTA commercial with the girl on the boat laughing at the TV, is laughing at people believing the crap they shove! LOL.