HDTV Expert - Useful Gadgets: Indoor DTV Antennas – The Third Time’s The Charm

[720pete]

Time for one more road trip to finish off an in-depth test of indoor DTV antennas. You may be surprised at the results!

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[tra4pezu]

This is a great article. I have been seeking out indoor HDTV testing comparisons since 2009, when I dropped cable TV.

I live in an area with very poor reception, so owning the best possible antenna for the money is important to me. An attic or outdoor antenna is not an option. I do have 360 degree access to the property. My 4 current Mohu Leaf Antennas are taped to a window and feed 2 HD Homerun boxes with 2 tuners in each. I feed 2 laptops that act as DVRs and that HDMI out to HDTVs as sources. The window is the only place I can get a useable signal.

I started out with UHF Loop antennas, tried a Winegard SS-3000 SharpShooter [not a good choice for my application], tried the monoprice 4730 [good antenna, the leaf is better] and ended up with the Mohu Leaf, and several old antennas in the closet.

I constantly seek out articles like these. I will upgrade antennas again if I can significantly improve reception and reliability. Better antennas means more channels and less pixilization [very annoying].

The NorthVu NV20 has come to my attention as something that might be better. If it is at all possible to test it side-by-side with the others next time, I would be very interested in your test results.

I am also curious as to if it is possible to put a numeric signal strength and signal quality range table with each antenna.

Thanks again for doing this kind of review and comparison work.

[ragnars]

I belatedly read the post. As I understand noise, an amplifiear does not "improve" a signal-to-noise (SNR). Every device has a "noise figure" or the amount of noise that it contributes. Thus, since there are no noiseless amplifiers the ratio cannot be imroved by one. In the old analog world amplifying a signal from a noisy antenna only made the original "snow" more prominent, but with a digital signal it is a yes or no situation, if the original signal is strong enough amplifying it can only help in overcoming a "noisy" TV tuner, an unlikely situation.

[aliceander]

Great article! Not only is the specific content helpful, the description of the testing method is something I can use myself. I'm going to use your method as a guideline and re-test the closet full of antennas I've collected trying to get satisfactory reception. Maybe I'll find a gem that I've overlooked before.

Darn you Radio Shack! Please being back the bow-tie antenna. I promise I will shop at your store more often if you do.

I live in Anaheim, very close to Disneyland, and have been fighting the antenna battle for years. I always want to believe the description, um, I mean, the hype, but eventually I'm always disappointed. How can something like an antenna seem so straight-forward without a universal solution.

I'm about to use a signal combiner, Winegard CC-7870 Antenna Coupler, where I can use two antennas pointing in different directions. In my area most signals come from Mount Wilson, but there are a few that come from one other general direction. So I thought I'd use two antennas, each pointed at their own set of transmitters, and combine the signals. Have you ever used one of those to improve overall reception?

[720pete]

I was in Irvine, CA last July at the Hyatt on Jamboree Road.

My room was on the 3rd floor and had a pretty clear shot towards Mt. Wilson. I draped the Mohu Leaf Plus over a chair and positioned it by the window (there was a treetop in front of the window). I used the Hauppauge Aero-M tuner and my laptop to scan and tune in 27 major DTV channels and 134 minor channels. Reception was steady and reliable on every channel, no drop-outs.

So I'd say you have a pretty good chance of reception in Anaheim, just down the road. Those stations include the local Orange County PBS affiliate and a station licensed to Huntington Beach.

[dickweed]

I was using a pair of rabbit ear antenna and my best reception was having the two ears 180 degrees from each other, pushed in to be as short as possible and then mounted horizontally by sticking one ear between the window blind and window frame. But I'd have to rotate it on the horizontal plane about 90 degrees to get some channels.

Last night I took an old bow-tie like in this test, and tried it in about the same spot but it also had to be rotated horizontally 90 degrees. Then I noticed an screw in the corner of the window sill that was probably from a previous attempt to hang an antenna in this spot. So I turned the bow-tie 90 degrees vertically and just hung it on the screw and now I can get all the channels I got before without having to move the antenna at all.

The flat vertical plane of the antenna pretty much splits the 90 degree angle between the two directions I had to turn the antenna when it was horizontal.

I tried to put my other tv's antenna, a set of rabbit ears, vertically in the room that TV is in but it's not as good. So tonight I'm going to try the bow-tie in that room and see if it works as good there. If it does I'll be buying another bow-tie or two.

This place has the bow ties for like 3 bucks
http://www.summitsource.com/steren-ante ... OgodTU0AGw

[techsoft903]

This review page would also be helpful here {link removed}

[btreth]

Any review that has the line ". It can support broadcasts of 1080 HDTV, making it a very feasible solution for all your high definition TV watching." is useless as it shows the reviewer has no idea what he is talking about.