View Full Version : Please help with OTA reception!
HSherm23
02-12-2005, 07:48 PM
I just moved to Southern Orlando and was looking help buying the right antenna. For everyone's sake I will not cut and paste the entire antennaweb.com page because there are SO many channels listed. I was wondering what is the best indoor antenna to use. My zip code is 32839. What does the dB number mean on an antenna? What is the most powerful indoor antenna I can buy? I want something that will also work well since HD since I soon plan to upgrade to an HDTV, but one thing at a time. Any suggestions on a good antenna would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.
mjones73
02-12-2005, 09:36 PM
Your closest stations are 20+ miles away and your NBC station is a VHF station it looks like, I wouldn't be considering an indoor antenna.
If you buy an antenna from a store that will let you return it, such as Radio Shack, there is no point to not trying. I would pick up the Radio Shack 15-1880 amplified indoor antenna and give it a shot. They will take it back if it does not work for you. You could also try the Silver Sensor if all you need is uhf.
rmastbro
02-13-2005, 04:03 AM
I just moved to Southern Orlando and was looking help buying the right antenna. For everyone's sake I will not cut and paste the entire antennaweb.com page because there are SO many channels listed. I was wondering what is the best indoor antenna to use. My zip code is 32839. What does the dB number mean on an antenna? What is the most powerful indoor antenna I can buy? I want something that will also work well since HD since I soon plan to upgrade to an HDTV, but one thing at a time. Any suggestions on a good antenna would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.
I live in DeBary about 20 miles north of Orlando and I bought the Samsung TV5.2 OTA indoor attenna from Best Buy for $99. I put it on top of my entertainment center and have been able to receive NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, WB, UPN, PBS HD,UCF station, PAX and a few others. Occasionally I will get some signal dropouts/fadeouts on ABC WB and UPN but for the most part it seems to work pretty good.
At first I couldn't get NBC and thought it was because the OTA antenna did not pick up VHF but it comes in ok after rescanning my stations on my Sony LCD RPTV tuner.
This is a temp solution until Directv upgrades to more stations. Overall I have to say I am satisfied with this antenna.
mjlinss
02-17-2005, 07:24 PM
rmastbro,
In speaking from experience, the Samsung antenna that you purchased is not worth the money. If you are looking for a high quality indoor antenna, I have had great luck with the RCA ANT1250. It is around $25 at WalMart, and I have had great luck with it. I'm around 27 miles from all towers. It is UHF/VHF, so you should be able to get NBC as well. I would definitely give it a try. It's the best indoor one that I've found so far.
rmastbro
02-24-2005, 02:38 AM
rmastbro,
In speaking from experience, the Samsung antenna that you purchased is not worth the money. If you are looking for a high quality indoor antenna, I have had great luck with the RCA ANT1250. It is around $25 at WalMart, and I have had great luck with it. I'm around 27 miles from all towers. It is UHF/VHF, so you should be able to get NBC as well. I would definitely give it a try. It's the best indoor one that I've found so far.
For the most part I have been pretty happen with this indoor antenna. Tried the RCA HDTV antenna I got from wal-mart... Didn't work for me. I have tuned in alot more stations with the Samsung than I did with the RCA.
The best part of using this antenna is that I got it off of eBay for $15!!! brand new in the box! Can't beat that :cheers:
mjones73
02-24-2005, 10:27 AM
Goes to show with OTA, what works for one person always doesn't work for the other....
hd4me2
02-24-2005, 03:06 PM
I just moved to Southern Orlando and was looking help buying the right antenna. For everyone's sake I will not cut and paste the entire antennaweb.com page because there are SO many channels listed. I was wondering what is the best indoor antenna to use. My zip code is 32839. What does the dB number mean on an antenna? What is the most powerful indoor antenna I can buy? I want something that will also work well since HD since I soon plan to upgrade to an HDTV, but one thing at a time. Any suggestions on a good antenna would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.
If you just want the Orlando stations and keep everything simple I'd try the Zenith Silver Sensor, it's an indoor that reports from many other people say it works great. Another choice would be an outdoor mounted CM 4221 aimed at ~75 degrees, this would get you the Orlando stations very reliably.
The ultimate set-up would be the CM 4228 with a CM 7777 pre-amp and a rotator. With this set-up you would have a shot at receiving most everything out there. You would probably want to add a variable attenuator in case the close in stuff starts to saturate/overload your receiver.
