Antenna Help: Northwest Illinois

[plippens]

I need some help with choosing an antenna for OTA reception. My zip is 61443 and I live in Northwestern Illinois. About 25 miles from the UHF towers. Antennaweb recommends yellow and green.

I did purchase a 15-2160 from Radio Shack to test the reception, and I did get Fox and ABC rather well. NBC is a struggle and CBS is very poor (CBS is VHF). I tried a radio shack preamp but it was very touchy and didn't appear to work very well, so i'm taking that back.

I am considering a Channel Master 4228 or a bigger antenna from Radio Shack. Also a titan preamp from Channel Master might help too.

Has anyone any experience in Northwestern Illlinois, and what is the difference between the 4228 and the radio shack antennas. Is the Channel Master a better choice? Will it work better?

Thanks for your help.

Oh, yeah, don't know if this matters, but i'm getting the HDTV upgrade from DirecTV, so they will be sending a HUGHES HTL-HD or the Samsung 360 either one. Not sure if the receiver factors in when talking about ota signal reception.

[ruadmaa]

I live about 40 miles from Chicago and bought Radio Shacks largest antenna. With it I pick up all Chicago stations very well. I mounted the antenna on my roof. From where you are located I would think picking up Chicago with a large antenna would be a breeze.

Incidentally, until rather recently I could not pick up channel 2 digitally at all. They have increased the power to their transmitter and I now have no trouble.

I am using the Hughes E86 receiver which blends the antenna OTA signals and Directv signals seamlessly.

Good luck, you are really going to enjoy the digital broadcasts from Chicago.

[LeeS]

That 15-2160 should have worked very well at that distance. Do you have the antenna mounted on the roof? Single or two story home? Pointing the antenna should not be an issue, all the stations are in the same direction.

Also check out the antennas at www.antennasdirect.com. Their medium directionals should also do the job. Very good warranty and return policy.

Lee

[plippens]

Its a two story house and the 15-2160 worked ok, but I went back to Radio Shack and bought the second to largest VHF/UHF combo antenna, the xxxx-120 or something like that. It works much better. I now get CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX very clear.

So, now I probably won't be trying the Channel Master 4228.

Later this week I will get my HD receiver installed and then I'll be hooking up the OTA antenna to the Receiver to see how the HD signals fit in.

Question: If i can receive CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX on a regular tv, once I hook up the HD receiver, will I have to adjust the antenna to receive the digital OTA signals for the same stations? It looks like the digital broadcasts will be different channels that what I'm pullin in on a regular antenna.

Thanks for your help.

By the way, I wish i could get the Chicago channels but I live about 180 miles or so from the City. I'm only 40 or so miles from the Quad Cities (Davenport, Rock Island, Bettendorf, Moline).

[kevinw]

Later this week I will get my HD receiver installed and then I'll be hooking up the OTA antenna to the Receiver to see how the HD signals fit in.

Question: If i can receive CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX on a regular tv, once I hook up the HD receiver, will I have to adjust the antenna to receive the digital OTA signals for the same stations? It looks like the digital broadcasts will be different channels that what I'm pullin in on a regular antenna.

Thanks for your help.



Quite possibly, since the digital channels will most likely be UHF only. If you use a rotor youe should be able to get the Peoria sations as well.

[rschneider]

Chicago is always tough. Some of the stations can be challenging to receive no matter what antenna you get. Having WBBM on the low VHF band doesn’t help matters much. (Edit - i just re-red your post. 180 miles will be tough without a very tall tower)

As for the UHF signals, remember that these are line of sight and can be blocked by terrain obstacles. Get as much elevation as practical.
If your cable run is greater than 75’ you may want to invest in a good low noise mast mounted pre amplifier. The Radio shack line amps are often noisy and can cause more problems than they solve.