Cable & satellite

[WildBill]

Generally the guy at Radio Shack is wrong, but only generally. First of all lightning does what it wants to, I have seen a perfectly good lightning arrestor system totally ignored by a lightning bolt which traveled down a roof valley, jumped to a gutter, jumped to a kitchen faucet as the ultimate ground and left it leaking.

An antenna in an attic does not "attract" lightning like a magnet or anything else. A house with an antenna in the attic is not any more likely to get struck by lightning that one without an antenna.

[jimlongley]

Generally the guy at Radio Shack is wrong, but only generally. First of all lightning does what it wants to, I have seen a perfectly good lightning arrestor system totally ignored by a lightning bolt which traveled down a roof valley, jumped to a gutter, jumped to a kitchen faucet as the ultimate ground and left it leaking.

An antenna in an attic does not "attract" lightning like a magnet or anything else. A house with an antenna in the attic is not any more likely to get struck by lightning that one without an antenna.

And that applies equally to a house with an antenna on the roof. The higher you move ground potential, the more likely it is to be struck, and roofs are no protection.

Someone mentioned, earlier in the thread, buying coax and hooking it to the antenna. This is where a lot of signal degredation comes from, an antenna is a balanced system, coax is an unbalanced transmission line. Unless a transformer known as a "balun" is used to connect one to the other, the signal recieved by the antenna will be degraded by the transmission line.

[KBCraig]

Their real slogan: "Radio Shack. You've got questions, we've got blank stares."

[WildBill]

Someone mentioned, earlier in the thread, buying coax and hooking it to the antenna. This is where a lot of signal degredation comes from, an antenna is a balanced system, coax is an unbalanced transmission line. Unless a transformer known as a "balun" is used to connect one to the other, the signal recieved by the antenna will be degraded by the transmission line.

The antenna that I recommended to Venus comes with a balun. It is electrically connected to the antenna by the two wires that come out of one end. The coax connects to the output of the balin which goes into the back of the TV. Believe me it works!

[casingpoint]

Thanks for your reply, jim longley.

Allow me add to the mix here that Radio Shack is touting an exterior mounted dish antenna for around 70 bucks with supposedly excellent local broadcast reception. Sounds good, and easy to ground. The last dish I bought from them was designed for installation inside the attic, but it never picked up squat. Total waste of fifty bucks. But it sure sounded good over the counter, and I never did ground it.

[pbwalker]

Someone mentioned, earlier in the thread, buying coax and hooking it to the antenna. This is where a lot of signal degredation comes from, an antenna is a balanced system, coax is an unbalanced transmission line. Unless a transformer known as a "balun" is used to connect one to the other, the signal recieved by the antenna will be degraded by the transmission line.

The antenna that I recommended to Venus comes with a balun. It is electrically connected to the antenna by the two wires that come out of one end. The coax connects to the output of the balin which goes into the back of the TV. Believe me it works!

Can this antenna be used by all TV's in the house or does each TV require an antenna? e.g., Can I hook up the antenna to a splitter and run it to multiple TV's in the house? (Sorry if this is mentioned somewhere in any link posted here...I'm on my way out and just wanted to throw this question out there).

[WildBill]

Can this antenna be used by all TV's in the house or does each TV require an antenna? e.g., Can I hook up the antenna to a splitter and run it to multiple TV's in the house? (Sorry if this is mentioned somewhere in any link posted here...I'm on my way out and just wanted to throw this question out there).

I think it would work, but I haven't tried it since I only have one digital TV. You are going to get signal loss. It's going to depend on the type of antenna, where it's mounted, distance from the transmitters, length of the cable, sensistivity of the TV tuner, etc. If it works well with your main TV, I think it would work with others attached. The only way to really find out how well it works is to try it.

[lrb111]

Can this antenna be used by all TV's in the house or does each TV require an antenna? e.g., Can I hook up the antenna to a splitter and run it to multiple TV's in the house? (Sorry if this is mentioned somewhere in any link posted here...I'm on my way out and just wanted to throw this question out there).

In a word, Yes. There are some small considerations, like signal loss. But this should not become a huge factor with 4 tv's or less. RF signal is measured in decibels. (db). An average 2 way loses about 3.5 per output leg. a 4 way loses about 7.5 per output leg.
A powered antenna should output around 25 db, on average. So, even with a 4 way splitter each set should get ample signal. Generally speaking, any signal level on the positive side is good. (+1). However, with analog adequate signal can be even in the minus range.
One can also have too much signal. I've seen one Sony high end digitaltv that needed signal blockers to present a clean picture & sound.

A side note, for using a splitter on a powered antenna. If it receives it's power over the cable, then it maybe necessary to pay attention to the splitter. Some of them will only pass power back to the antenna on one select port. That port maybe designated by "tap", or a line drawn to the single port for the antenna "in" port.

[Oldgringo]

I have dish network and the picture is fantastic. Every single channel comes in crystal clear and with satellite you won't need one of those converter boxes since the signal is already digital. Best signal and picture I have ever had. My cable company was horrible, come channels were better than others. With satellite every channel is the same picture perfect quality including my local channels. The DVR is the best thing since sliced bread. Pausing live TV, rewinding live TV is great. Programming your recorded programs is a snap.

IMHO the best all around deal for the money. You have a host of packages to choose from and they have deals right now for free installation up to 4 rooms.

We only lose signal in really heavy rainstorms, no big deal.

Call Direct and then call Dish OR vice versa. You can play one against the other until you get the best deal for YOU. I would suggest that you go with the HD package/s. Even if you don't have a HD TV now, your next one will be...and HD is pretty cool.

BTW, when we changed over to Dish from Direct, part of the deal was an extra receiver and dish for our RV.

My 2¢ worth. Good luck.

[tarkus]

I'm giving up TV in 2009 except for three shows I watch online.

[jimlongley]

Someone mentioned, earlier in the thread, buying coax and hooking it to the antenna. This is where a lot of signal degredation comes from, an antenna is a balanced system, coax is an unbalanced transmission line. Unless a transformer known as a "balun" is used to connect one to the other, the signal recieved by the antenna will be degraded by the transmission line.

The antenna that I recommended to Venus comes with a balun. It is electrically connected to the antenna by the two wires that come out of one end. The coax connects to the output of the balin which goes into the back of the TV. Believe me it works!

Thanks, WildBill, I was not aware it included a balun. It could work.

I would still put it outside, the loss of signal through the roof is not worth the minor chance of weather damage to a properly installed antenna. Of course as a Ham for 50+ years, and a phone man for 28+ years, whose job eventually led to national level recognition as an expert on grounding, I have absolute confidence in my ability to install and protect my antennas.

That said, two other issues need to be broached. Proper grounding. A lightning strike nearby can cause damage even if not as much as a direct strike. One of the reasons for this is improper bonding of grounded systems. All of the grounded systems in a house should be bonded together with as large gauge wire as practical. This prevents a nearby lightning strike from traveling in on one ground and jumping to another (this is oversimplifying it) and ruining equipment that might not even be attached to an outside antenna. I have a great training presentation on this.

Splitters in an antenna system can be costly in signal level, every 3dB loss is half the signal, and if you start with a low signal to begin with, you end up with an even poorer one. In analog systems an amplifier may help, but it should be placed as close as possible to the antenna, as amplifying a poor signal doesn't help it any. Analog amplifiers amplify the noise right along with the signal.

Digital signals can be handled a little different than analog ones. A regenerator can detect the signal crossings and reconstruct an almost perfect replica of the original signal (I have a neat training presentation on this too) and could defeat the degredation presented by a multiple splitter and transmission line system.

There is way more than I could go into here.

[stash]

I had Time Warner for years and finally got tired of them nickel and diming me to death so I got Dish Satellite. I had a 20 year old Zenith TV and when I went from the cable to the satellite the picture on that old TV improved like 100%. I have never looked back and I got lots of trees around my little casa. Kn Now, sometimes during a bad thunderstorm we may lose the signal for a couple of minutes but we love the satellite.

[agbullet2k1]

I've been hanging on to Comcast only so that I can finish watching Battlestar Galactica in HD, and once that is over, I'm kicking them out and going to antenna with an ATSC capable DVD recorder. I've had way too much headache from Comcast over the last year to justify keeping them for the 2-3 cable shows I watch regularly, which can be bought and/or downloaded from the network's website.

I had a huge issue with comcast last fall when they started charging a "fee" to make sure that the equipment I rented from them worked properly. If their equipment did not work and I had to call out a tech, I would be charged $25 if I didn't pay this $3/month "fee." It seems to me that if I'm renting the equipment, I shouldn't have to pay them extra to make sure it works. Well I started having signal dropouts during shows that made them pretty much unwatchable. I recorded these shows on the DVR to show the tech when he came over, just in case it "magically" fixed itself. Well the first tech showed up before the $25 charge went into effect, and he just added a signal booster, which seemed to fix the problem.

About a month later, after the $25 fee went into effect, we had to call out another tech to fix the same problem. He came out, looked at everything, watched the unwatchable shows on the DVR, checked the booster, and said he didn't know what else to do. We then of course had the $25 charge on our next bill, along with the new terms of service which had the explanation of the $25 in it.

So we weren't notified of the charge beforehand. Not to mention the call was to fix something that hadn't been fixed properly the first time, when there was no $25 charge. I spent over an hour, and talked with 2 supervisors trying to get the charge removed, but they insisted that they had a "no exceptions" rule they had to follow. So I asked them if I could be reimbursed for the time I could not watch cable because of the poor signal, and they said yes. So I told them I had not been able to watch for the previous month, and that I was still unable to watch. I guess they never took math, because they ended up crediting me the month ($60), plus the next 2 months ($120 + free HBO). All that so they wouldn't have to give me my $25 back.

Turns out after the 2 months, I get a knock on my door from a Comcast tech asking if he could check my signal. I ask if there will be any fees associated with this, and he said no because they were doing routine underground line maintanance for the neighborhood, and had noticed that I had service issues, and wondered if that fixed it, which incidentally it did. So that ended my free cable ride.

[TxD]

Venus -

I had an experience with Time Warner, similar to LedJedi so I refuse to use cable.

Don't give up on an antenna. I have a Channel Master CM 4228-8 Bay in my attic. [It is a great antenna, if you can still find one.] If you already have one in your attic you can just replace it with one like the Channel Master. If not you can get a mast from Radio Shack. [Do not buy the antenna from Radio Shack.]

I get the major networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CW, as well as a dozen other religious and Spanish channels. The picture quality and sound is as good as cable. All for the price of two months of cable or satellite.

I would reccomend a flat anntenna such as the CM 4228-8 Bay or
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=AD-DB8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know exactly where you live, but antenna.org is a great resource. Put in your zip code and it will list all of the TV stations and tells you how far they are from your house and where to point your antenna. Since most of the Houston stations are transmitted from Missouri City, mine stays pointed at 270 degrees.

If Mars or you can't get into the attic you could find a handyman would would do it pretty cheap. I was a bit leary of the claims of picture quality from CM 4228-8 Bay, because I wanted to install my attenna in the attic [for aesthetics and hurrican purposes] and was told it would not work very well if it was mounted inside the house. I have a single story house that is surrounded by two story houses and trees, but the signal is still excellent. Don't be talked into getting an amplified antenna. It's a waste of money and you don't need it.

WildBill.
With your CM4228-8 do you need a separate antenna for the VHF channels ( 2-13)?
I am TV antenna challenged.
Also I can't seem to find a CM4228 anywhere.
I did the address look up thing and discovered that I am in the "Red" zone in Friendswood.
Thanks.
TxD.

[WildBill]

WildBill.
With your CM4228-8 do you need a separate antenna for the VHF channels ( 2-13)?
I am TV antenna challenged.
Also I can't seem to find a CM4228 anywhere.
I did the address look up thing and discovered that I am in the "Red" zone in Friendswood.
Thanks. TxD.

The CM4228 has been discontinued. The CM4221-HD should do the job for you. The good part of going digital is that you don't need a VHF antenna they only use UHF for digital broadcasts. You are 18 miles away from the broadcast tower so you should be fine.

This is the company where I ordered my antenna:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display ... od=4221-HD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BTW, I am not an electronics or antenna expert. Many moons ago, I was a ham, and had several friends who were [and still are] hams. That's mostly where I learned about antennas.