[Q] Advice on indoor television antenna?

[David Finton]

I have a friend who has poor uhf reception at home, and he's
hoping that he can buy an indoor antenna that will help. From
his comments, I think one of the stations is just really weak,
and is buried in snow, if it comes in at all. He lives in an
apartment building and can't place an antenna on the roof. He
does have a third-story window, although there are a bunch of
buildings in that area (reflections?) and the window's probably
not pointing at the transmitters.

My friend is interested in various indoor antennas he's seen
for sale. He mentioned something called a "wave antenna"--
is this a commercial product (and not just a generic description
of a half-wave antenna, for example)?

Some people say indoor antennas work; some say that rabbit ears
are about as good as you can do; others say that a powered
antenna helps. So I'm hoping for some insight to cut through
the noise.

Are there any comprehensive reviews around for commercial products
(e.g., Consumer Reports)? Or good ideas for simple DIY projects?

I know this is probably a FAQ topic, but the only faq list I found
was too generic to help my friend.

Thanks in advance!

--David

 

[Jerry G.]

Antennas are very experimental when it comes to reception. You would have to
try it. I found the simplest ones usually work the best. If the signal is
very weak at the location, you may not be able to improve it much. You will
only know after trying a few things.

The best approach for the frequencies used in TV broadcasting is to have an
antenna in the line of site.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"David Finton" <finton@alumni.cs.wisc.edu> wrote in message
news:409fd667$0$1457$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu...
I have a friend who has poor uhf reception at home, and he's
hoping that he can buy an indoor antenna that will help. From
his comments, I think one of the stations is just really weak,
and is buried in snow, if it comes in at all. He lives in an
apartment building and can't place an antenna on the roof. He
does have a third-story window, although there are a bunch of
buildings in that area (reflections?) and the window's probably
not pointing at the transmitters.

My friend is interested in various indoor antennas he's seen
for sale. He mentioned something called a "wave antenna"--
is this a commercial product (and not just a generic description
of a half-wave antenna, for example)?

Some people say indoor antennas work; some say that rabbit ears
are about as good as you can do; others say that a powered
antenna helps. So I'm hoping for some insight to cut through
the noise.

Are there any comprehensive reviews around for commercial products
(e.g., Consumer Reports)? Or good ideas for simple DIY projects?

I know this is probably a FAQ topic, but the only faq list I found
was too generic to help my friend.

Thanks in advance!

--David

 

[Patch]

"David Finton" <finton@alumni.cs.wisc.edu> wrote in message
news:409fd667$0$1457$80265adb@spool.cs.wisc.edu...

I have a friend who has poor uhf reception at home, and he's
hoping that he can buy an indoor antenna that will help. From
his comments, I think one of the stations is just really weak,
and is buried in snow, if it comes in at all. He lives in an
apartment building and can't place an antenna on the roof. He
does have a third-story window, although there are a bunch of
buildings in that area (reflections?) and the window's probably
not pointing at the transmitters.

My friend is interested in various indoor antennas he's seen
for sale. He mentioned something called a "wave antenna"--
is this a commercial product (and not just a generic description
of a half-wave antenna, for example)?

Some people say indoor antennas work; some say that rabbit ears
are about as good as you can do; others say that a powered
antenna helps. So I'm hoping for some insight to cut through
the noise.

Are there any comprehensive reviews around for commercial products
(e.g., Consumer Reports)? Or good ideas for simple DIY projects?

I know this is probably a FAQ topic, but the only faq list I found
was too generic to help my friend.

Thanks in advance!

--David


Is he using any kind of UHF antenna now? If so, and if it won't clear snow,

I doubt if any indoor antenna will. It's been my experience that it's a
waste of money buying indoor antennas with all the bells & whistles. Usually
just a simple VHF\UHF Rabbit ear model works the best.