Will the Silver Sensor Work?

[Brigadeer]

Well, thanks to this board and others out there like it, I have learned quite a bit on HDTV and antenna's. My current situation is that I have a 3LNB dish sitting in my living room waiting on installation (God knows when that will be) with a brand new Hughes E-86 receiver sitting in my living room as well.

I have the HD bug real bad, and I want to go ahead and set up my Hughes receiver. My question is twofold.

Can I set up my Hughes receiver, not worrying about anything to do with satellite at this point, and then plug in an antenna into the receiver, and then from the receiver into my TV, and get local OTA HD?

If so, do you think that the mighty Silver Sensor would work? I have gone to antenna web, and all of my digital stations are in the red, and I am approximately 35-40 miles from the tower. I have been told to get a directional antenna, as all of the signals are emminating from 195 degrees. All but one station is in the UHF range, with the exception of my local ABC station whose digital station is channel 9.

Given all that info, do you think there is a chance for me to be watching some primetime HD OTA tonight?

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

Brigadeer

[LeeS]

The Silver Sensor looks nice. Have you done your homework? :) Yes you have :) 'Red' antenna. That is a medium directional and perhaps an amplifier. I don't think an indoor would work. :(

You can go through the following procedures and find the direction and distance to the DTV stations in your area:

Go to this site http://www.geocode.com/modules.php?name=TestDrive_Eagle and enter your address, get the decimal latitude and longitude (the longitude will be a negative number)

Then go to this site http://www.2150.com/broadcast/ and enter the numbers you got from the prevous link. Don't worry about the magnetic declination. This site will give you the distances to the transmitters. Just use the bearing from www.antennaweb.org. Use your full address for a better bearing.

Silver Sensor info:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html

I am 'assuming' that you do not want an outdoor antenna or one in your attic? Bigger is better :).

Given all that info, do you think there is a chance for me to be watching some primetime HD OTA tonight?

Doesn't look too good :( Have you bought the Silver Sensor?

But hey, that's my opinion and we all know what opinions are like :)
Lee

[Brigadeer]

I decided against the silver senson, and am having an antenna mounted in my attic, a Wineguard antenna if I am not mistaken.

Does anyone know anything about Wineguard antenna's?

[LeeS]

57U,

Pls move to the OTA Antenna forum.

Thanks,
Lee

Does anyone know anything about Wineguard antenna's?

They appear to be a quality unit. I have no personal experience with them except what I've read.

http://www.winegard.com/offair/offairmain.htm

Did you figure out how far you are from the tower(s)?

Go BIG. The signal will be attenuated by the roof and supporting structure and most DTV stations are not transmitting at full power. I'm 12 miles from the towers and have a 72" UHF/VHF in my attic (might be a tad much). I get 100 on all our DTV stations.

There are four basic rules for TV signal reception that you should keep in mind:

1. Outdoor is generally better.
Outdoor antennas have a better view of the transmitting station, with no building-induced signal loss. They receive less interference from other household electronic/electrical appliances, and they are less likely to receive reflected ghost signals from the building structure.
2. Higher is better.
The higher an antenna is, the more direct signal it can receive from the TV transmitter, while at the same time reducing the reception of interfering signals from other household electronic/electrical appliances and reflected ghost-causing signals from other nearby structures. The higher the better, but any antenna should be at least four feet above the structure to which it is mounted, and ideally above the roofline.
3. Closer is better.
If a position above the roofline is not possible, the antenna should at least be on the side of your building facing the TV signal broadcast tower.
4. Bigger is better.
The larger an antenna, the more signal it receives. This is especially important on channels 2-6, where the longer wavelength requires a larger antenna in order to be efficiently received. Larger antennas also become directional which reduces ghosting caused by reflected signals coming from the side and the rear of the receiving antenna.

You can control 1, 2 and 4. Well, you can control 3 if you want to move. :D

Lee

[Brigadeer]

Lee, hopefully this will get moved to the antenna forum since this is where the conversation has turned to. So here goes:

I recently purchased a radioshack antenna, model VU-90 XR (80"). I was going to take that back for the Winegard Antenna that my installer recommended and uses. The model number on the Winegard is the Platinum HD7210P Ghostkiller.

Here are my questions. Per antennaweb.org, all of my DTV locals are in the red zone. So, I assume to look for the CEA pie chart on the antennas to see if they cover the zone. Well, I can't find one on the Winegard site for the HD7210P Antenna, and the RadioShack antenna does have it, but it only shows the colors Blue and Yellow I believe.

The Radioshack antenna is a UHF/VHF combo antenna, which is what I need, and is 80", fairly big in my estimation. The rating on the Radio Shack antenna is 70 miles for UHF, and 90 miles for VHF.

That leads me to my main question. I am about 40 miles from the towers, and the Radioshack antenna is more than suited per its ratings to work for me, yet it does not show the red pie on the CEA chart. That said, is this antenna going to work? Does the antenna have to be rated with a red pie to work? If so, would it be better to go with the Winegard antenna?

FYI, I will be installing the antenna in the attic.

Brigadeer

[LeeS]

The VU-120 XR has RED CEA mark, Radio Shack says VHF 120/UHF 90. Remember you are mounting it in the attic. You'll lose gain. Its in the RED segment.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D2154

The VU-90 XR says VHF 90/UHF 70 says GREEN segment.

The Winegard HD7210P doesn't look to be big enough. It is in the LIGHT GREEN or RED segment though.(Yellow, Green, Lt Green, Red) If it doesn't work will the installer replace it?

It really hard to tell from the specs. The HD7210P says VHF 30/UHF 25, unless its a misprint.

Obviously both companies must rate their antennas differently :(

I'd go with the installers recommendation, if you specify the antenna and it doesn't work you'll get an 'I told you so'. Just ask if its big enough considering its going into the attic.

Mine is similiar to the VU-90 XR, I'm 12 miles out and the VHF analog stations look bad, the UHF DTV signals are all maxed out.

Let me know how it goes,
Lee

[Brigadeer]

Lee, thank you so very much for your posts and help. For now, I am going to go with the installers antenna. Its only $20 more than the one I purchased at Radio Shack.

I will certainly reply back to this thread if I can find it, or start a new one letting everyone know whether or not I will be enjoying true HD next weekend.

Brigadeer