I finally got a real antenna instead of a leaf. Now everything is full green!! And I get some stations that did not come into that well (for me it was Fox and ABC). I’m 45+ miles away from the broadcast antennas.
Here’s what’s scheduled TV series wise:
Amercian Idol [Fox]
Criminal Minds (almost have all of them) [ION]
Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior [ION]
The Flash [CW]
Madam Secretary [CBS]
The Mysteries of Laura [NBC]
Scorpion [CBS]
Supergirl [CBS]
Movies scheduled to record:
First Knight [ThisTV]
Force 10 from Navarone [ThisTV]
Kid Galahad [ThisTV]
Meteorman [Bounce]
Sail a Crooked Ship [GetTV]
awesome! thats the best feeling when your signal becomes super reliable. It a bit a chore to get up there and find a way to mount it, but is really the best way to go besides getting on the roof (which is even more of a chore)
I didn’t know what to get either so I just went to Antennas Direct website looked around and the just called them. I’ve got the DB4E and a booster (I think that’s what it’s called) and the vhf kit… all mounted in the attic and it works perfect.
I have the RCA ANT751R. Very affordable and compact size - highly recommend. Most modern outdoor/attic antennas should do the job under normal conditions within 50 miles of towers without the need of amplification. I would check out some review sites and try to find an antenna that can be purchased locally for easy return. If you’re lucky enough to have most major channels broadcasting from a single direction I would suggest a unidirectional yagi type such as the RCA above.
I’ve ordered the DBE4. No VHF thingy. No amplifier. If needed I can add them later.
I am going to take down my old Directv dish and mount the antenna on that mast. It already has the coax run, I just need to replace the SWM8 with a splitter to take the signal to the 2 rooms I have televisions in.
I have the DB4E myself. I discovered that, because I have stations coming in from opposite directions, the metal reflector “dishes” kind of blocked the signals coming from that side. So I drilled the rivets out and removed the reflectors and that made a huge difference for me.
I installed my DBE4 today (outside, on top of the roof on a 40" mast). When I rescanned the channels, the number of channels available increased significantly.
However, the main reason I bought it has not yet been tested. One of my channels (5.3 GRIT) would not record shows about 80% of the time. It would say “weak signal” as the failure reason. I am going to record 4 movies tonight on that channel. In the past, only 1 would record, and the other 3 would fail. We will see if there is an improvement.
OK, all 4 movies recorded just fine. I declare it a success.
When re-scanning the television channels, I noticed that there is an antenna signal strength meter. I wish I had noticed it before swapping out the antennas. It would have been interesting to see the signal strength difference between the two antennas. Especially on the weak channel.
The GH is a great antenna. I built the DBGH (Double Bay Gray Hoverman) and it has been my best antenna ever. Also used NARODs to get VHF.
Here is a comparison of gain figures (on selected channels) measured by some knowledgeable folk over at the Digitalhome forums using the venerable Channel Master 4228 as standard:
The DBGH smokes every other antenna except for the classic CM 4251. If anyone has reception problems, build one for less than $30 and stick it in the attic! It beats those $100 to $150 products with their “hi-tech” marketing BS.
Yup it’s a remarkable antenna. Because it was weak on the upper UHF channels (51 and above), it was not widely used in the early stages of OTA (when designed by Doyt-Hoverman) until the digital cutover eliminated those upper UHF channels (51 to 69). Then it caught fire with some homebrew antenna afficionadoes who redesigned it for the new frequency spectrum and zoom it took off.
Its other weakness was lack of VHF capability until someone came up with the NAROD concept to add to the GH.
No, I didn’t use a reflector on my GH antenna because I have TV towers to my north (mainly PBS) and towers to my south (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc). As a result, I wanted this antenna to be bidirectional.
These antennas are very hacker friendly and easy to tweak. I built mine using a spool of leftover heavy gauge copper grounding wire, an old corrugated plastic sign and some zip ties.
