[mythtv-users] Switching from cable to OTA?

Kris B. krisbee at krisbee.com
Sat Sep 10 12:12:56 UTC 2011


--
Kris B.
[1]krisbee at krisbee.com

On Friday, September 09, 2011 7:50 PM, "E. Westbrook"
<mythtv-users at westbrook.com> wrote:

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 19:03, Kris B. <[2]krisbee at krisbee.com>
wrote:

If you are in an area where you don't have any VHF stations (I
don't, and I am between two markets), then the big behmouth isn't
necessary, just get a UHF antenna and focus on that.

Unfortunately, about half my important stations are UHF and the
other half VHF (see my tvfool graph if you like:
[3]http://westbrook.com/tvfool.png).  There's only one station in
the area I care about that's broadcasting from a different
location and distance (PBS 31), but it's higher power too, and I
receive it fine even with my indoor antenna pointed at the
mountain.
You tempt me to go homebrew!  That would be satisfying on
multiple levels.
What would you suggest I read up on, if I wanted to go homebrew
too, that would satisfy my need for both VHF and UHF?
Thanks again!
Eric

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users at mythtv.org
http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users


Yup, you wouldn't get ABC, and that one independent without a VHF
antenna... but you are so close, you could almost just attach a
dipole (rabbit ears) and receive it.  If I was going to homebrew
out of cheapness, curiousity, pride, whatever, I would google the
gray hoverman, and do the single bay, no reflectors.

I think it was Dan who said it was kind of a tough antenna, but
if you watch on youtube, there are children making it :)  The
single wire reflectors are cumbersome, but you don't have to do
that design; I ended up using a mesh screen for my reflector.  I
made my antenna out of PVC pipe, #6 copper ground wire, and mesh
screen (and screws).  It is six foot tall, and mounted on a ham
tower I already had up.

You could get away with the 3ft single bay, no reflectors most
likely, and do pretty well.  Then if you don't get the ABC
channel, I would buy a splitter and attach a pair of rabbit ears
and see what happens (nothing, then return them!).  Then, if the
other stations aren't doing so good, I would get a proper vhf/uhf
combiner.  Also, if you didn't get all of the UHF stations (most
of them in your setup), I would put a sheet of aluminum foil
behind the antenna and see what happens.  If it improves, then do
something more permanent.

I'm a fan of PVC as antenna material, but if you wanted to do
wood, that is fine.

And, if this seems like too much effort, then the original
antenna you had will do fine... it is just big for my tastes :)

Reading material: avsforum has great posts about OTA, as does
digtalhome.ca where they discuss the gray hoverman.  You already
know about tvfool.

Good luck, and keep us (or at least me) informed!

References

1. mailto:krisbee at krisbee.com
2. mailto:krisbee at krisbee.com
3. http://westbrook.com/tvfool.png
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20110910/1c278b6a/attachment.html 


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list