[mythtv-users] Automatic antenna aiming?

[Colin Mackay]

I picked up a similar antenna from The Source (Formerly Radio Shack in
Canada) and I pick up all 6 stations in my area without issue.

Prior to this, I actually made my own antennas.  If you're handy, you can
make your own antennas with some copper pipe and PVC for a few dollars.
Since I only get 6 channels in my area, I did this initially.  It worked
well!  I built one for VHF-Lo specifically as there was one station (CIII
Global TV) that had gone digital, but remained on Channel 6, which was
annoying.  Most of the 'digital' TV antennas you get out there are not
sensitive to the VHF-Lo band, save for some of the pricier outdoor models.
I built three antennas in total (VHF-Lo, Hi and UHF), all aimed in various
directions, bought an antenna coupler from a local electronics store and I
had all 6 stations with over 90% signal.  Total cost, including the 1"
thick 10' steel post I used for mounting was $30.

I did this prior to putting out $100 CAD on the round antenna.  The
homebrews worked really well, but were ugly sitting up on my roof and the
wife wasn't happy. :D



On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 10:07 AM, BobW <bob_pub_mailbox-mytv at yahoo.com>wrote:

> On 12/1/2013 10:30 PM, Don Brett wrote:
> >
> > I'm not sure how many to target.  My existing antenna rotor doesn't work
> > at all, so it's hard to experiment.  The farthest station is 50 miles
> > away, so I'm guessing a good quality antenna will work for it.  The
> > stations are located like this; it looks like I might need three or
> > more, but it's  hard to tell.
> >
> > http://users.zoominternet.net/~dlbrett/ScreenCapture_346.jpg
> > http://users.zoominternet.net/~dlbrett/ScreenCapture_347.jpg
> >
> > RF Channel 33 - 18 miles @ 109 °
> > RF Channel 25 - 49 miles @ 140 °
> > RF Channel 09 - 48 miles @ 180 °
> >
> > RF Channel 45 - 18 miles @ 240 °
> > RF Channel 23 - 50 miles @ 273 °
> > RF Channel 47 - 38 miles @ 278 °
> >
> > RF Channel 41 - 02 miles @ 311 °
> > RF Channel 19 - 02 miles @ 312 °
> > RF Channel 36 - 02 miles @ 329 °
> > RF Channel 44 - 03 miles @ 336°
> > RF Channel 20 - 03 miles @ 336 °
> >
> > By the  way, the existing antenna cable is connected to the HDHR box.
> > Channels 36 and 41 work well most of the time, channel 20 is 50/50
> > (pixalates a lot, hard to tune while raining).  I'm not sure of the
> > condition of the connections at the antenna (they may be rusty or
> > broken-off).
> >
> > I inherited the HDHR box, and it's the single antenna model.  For the
> > moment, I only have a single antenna feed to consider, but if this works
> > out, adding another HDHR box is possible.  Sounds like the multi-antenna
> > approach might be simpler; it seems that the popular way of interfacing
> > rotor aiming with mythtv is a
> > custom-script/lirc/system-event/tuner-timeout exercise; kind of a
> > bolt-on, but people are reporting good success with it.
> >
> > Not sure of which approach to pursue; any suggestions on how many
> > antenna to use?
>
> You might try an outdoor amplified omnidirectional antenna first. Here
> is my experience using a HDHR attached to an roof-top antenna.
>
> I am receiving a station 42 miles away (broadcasting with 200kW) using
> this omnidirectional amplified antenna:
>
> Winegard MS 2000 - 2002   "The Round Television Antenna"
> http://dennysantennaservice.com/1073325.html
>
> Antennaweb.com shows my antenna receiving "violet" stations.
>
> I also have a station 8 miles away which has a lot of
> breakups/pixelization (broadcasting at 500kW), probably due to multipath
> issues.  (Antennaweb rates this station as yellow for my location.)
>
> My best stations are in the RF channel range 12-15. Although I do get RF
> channels 22 & 30 at 20-38 miles. (Antennaweb rates these stations as
> blue & violet.)
>
> There is a RF channel 14, 35 mi away from me (broadcasting at 185 kW)
> which I cannot reliably receive. (violet)
>
> You can find broadcast power and antenna height from Wikipedia by
> searching the stations call letters.
>
> Disclaimer: I am not associated with dennysantennaservice, but I did buy
> mine from that site.
>
> Bob
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>
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