Antenna Setup for Family

My sister in law is considering cutting the cord and I’m trying to budget out an antenna set up. (Tablo or another solution will be another conversation). Your expert feedback is much appreciated.

Here is the TV fool report. Basically she’s 40 miles away. I’m leaning towards an attic install because the house is tall and I’d rather stay alive than fall (trying to get this done in an affordable manner).

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3D51341428b6e313

I’m leaning towards one of two set ups:

  1. Attic install:
    Antenna: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD7694P-High-Definition-Antenna/dp/B001DFTGR4
    Amplifier: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-LNA-200-Boost-Digital-Preamplifier/dp/B00DQN3R9O

  2. Attic install:
    Antenna: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD7698P-HDTV-High-Antenna/dp/B001DFTGRY/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1456759965&sr=1-11&keywords=65+mile+uhf+vhf+antenna
    Amplifier: Maybe?

Part of me leans towards the 65 range antenna & the amplifier because:
a. I notice my own attic install (40 mile range antenna and 25 miles from signal) I needed an amplifier to get some weaker channels and I was losing signal being in the attic.
b. I’m assuming she does not have RG6 installed in the house
c. I’m assuming at least 2 TV’s to use the signal, could easily jump to 3-4.
d. The conversation about Tablo vs. Channel Master vs. Tivo is later down the line but I want a strong signal set up now for the future.

It really all depends. I’m about 45-50 miles from the towers. Our elevation is good and I live in Texas (known for having few obstructions). So I got by with a Winegard 7694p in the attic. But I did enlist some professional help in getting things aligned and tested.

If you’ve got good non-obstructed reach to your towers, you may find similar results. I’ve been told that if you have obstructions, then sometimes there is just no easy way around it.

There are a lot of advantages to an attic install apart from falling prevention :slightly_smiling:

Where my antenna is in the attic there isn’t any metallic shielding barries getting in the way. In fact, I intentionally had my house built this way just for future antenna use.

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Thank you! I know there is a forest preserve to the north of them. it’s Chicagoland so it’s fairly flat, just trees and houses in that neighborhood tend to be tall.

I’m most likely going to do the install myself so trying to do as much research as possible. My personal install was easier. I’m almost leaning to get something even more powerful like these two below, especially the channel master. I’d rather just do this once and get it done right, I don’t want to deal with returns because the antenna isn’t strong enough.

Just be careful that you’re not getting too much amplification (if that’s in play for your config). Too much “signal” can be almost as bad as no signal.

Good to know, I’m so worried about signal loss (attic, no RG6, long runs, multiple splits) that I might be over doing things.

I’m in the Chicago area and ended up doing a Mohu Sky 60. I’m about 32 miles straight east of the city and need an amplifier with an outside install. My signal strength is at 90% on almost every channel.

Another option on the amplifier.


This has 8 outputs, each amplified by 4dB, and it costs less than the one you’d linked. This lets you connect the antenna in and send outputs to Tablo plus up to seven TVs. Each one will get 4dB of amplification separately, so no loss from downstream splitters (assuming you’re able to run cables to your TVs separately). If you can do that, you’d be able to use the TV tuners for live watching, unless you want to stream via Tablo for pausing live TV, etc
I’ve been using this amp for about a year with great results.

Note that this amp gets power from a separate coax input. You connect the AC wall adapter to a coax and run that to the amp. I have an outlet in my attic, so that’s no problem for my application. If you don’t, though, you’d need to run one additional RG6 to get power from the adapter at an outlet somewhere to the amplifier that you install in the attic.

Very interesting, thank you.

I’m partial to yagi antennas and I like your Winegard choices. I’m also partial to roof mounted installations if at àll feasable. Remember that yagi antennas are unidirectional which is preferable if most of your channels are coming from the same direction. No experience with amplified distribution systems but I would want to go with the same brand as the antenna if I needed one, in your case Winegard. Tablo vs TiVo depends on your priorities and your purse. Good luck.