Indoor Antenna Recommendation

[adam]

Hello everyone. I recently bought a TV tuner for my computer. I was receiving ClearQAM with it but that's flaky with Vista Media Center. So I have been using the OTA antenna that came with it. It is pretty good, It gets WRGB 1-3, WTEN 1-2, WNHT 1-3 qubo, worship, ion, CW and This TV. Unfortunately, it does not receive WXXA and WNYT.

I have been looking online and on antennaweb for an indoor antenna to fix this. It has to be indoors because I live in a dorm. I went to Best Buy and bought the Terk TV5 antenna yesterday but it didn't help much at all and for 50 dollars, I brought it back.

From antennaweb it looks like all of the above mentioned channels come from the same direction so I'm not sure why I get some and not others.

Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive indoor antenna for me? Thanks.

[ebo]

Since you have most of the digitals on cable and your tuner receives clear QAM but Vista Media Center doesn't play well with QAM, why use Media Center? Didn't the tuner come with its own software?

You're right that most local stations come from the same location except WYPX (Ion, Qubo, Worship). If you check the channels these stations are actually broadcasting on (AntennaWeb will tell you that, and your tuner software probably will too) you'll see that the two you don't get are on high VHF (WXXA is on 7 and WNYT is on 12) and the rest are on UHF. The antenna you tried may not do well on VHF.

I work near the UAlbany campus (across from the Office Campus) and easily get all of the channels from the Helderbergs using a pair of rabbit ears for VHF and a loop for UHF combined with a U/V coupler. I've also successfully used a Zenith Silver Sensor looking through a ground-floor window. No WYPX, though.

At home a 4-bay bowtie in the attic does the job. You might or might not have room for one in a dorm. Some types of glass and wall construction block TV broadcasts, and if the transmitters are on the other side of the dorm all bets are off. You might get a bounce off another dorm, though. You don't need an antenna amplifier and you're probably better off without one.

[adam]

Thanks for the detailed response! Luckily, I live on the third floor of a three story apartment on campus and my windows face south, which is toward the stations I am trying to receive.

Am I correct in thinking that what you are saying is that I should look specifically for an antenna that works well with VHF?

The software that came with my tuner doesn't work with Vista 64, which is why I'm kind of forced to used Media Center as I can't find another program that uses ClearQAM.

Also, can you explain why I wouldn't want an amplifier?

Thanks again!

[ebo]

Maybe you can talk Microsoft into giving you a good price on upgrading from Vista 64 to XP.

There are two digital channels on VHF now and there will be four after the transition. WRGB will switch their digital to channel 6 (the only one on low VHF) and WNYA will take over channel 13 when WNYT is done with it. So yes, you will need an antenna that works for VHF. But you're not far from the transmitters so some UHF antennas may still work well enough on VHF. Check your analog reception on 6, 10 and 13. If it's a bit snowy but watchable you're probably OK for digital. BTW, as long as the analog channels are still there you can use them to adjust your antenna for best digital reception. Don't use channel 13, though; it's not in the Helderbergs with the rest of them.

Here's a link to the performance of several antennas, including a chart of UHF antennas used for VHF.
www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Strong signals can overload an amplifier and prevent it from working even if they're not on the frequency you're trying to receive. Also, an amplifier is rarely useful on a short cable run from an indoor antenna to a TV. They're mostly a marketing gimmick.

What most people don't realize is that signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is much more important than absolute signal level. Noise is everywhere. It rides in with the signal to the antenna, it can enter a poorly shielded cable, and it's generated by all the electronics the signal passes through. A good antenna delivers maximum signal with minimum noise, and a good amplifier amplifies both the signal and the noise it gets so that they are much higher than any noise that will be added on the path to the TV while adding as little of its own noise as possible. The SNR of the system is effectively set by the first amplifier the signal hits. An antenna amplifier is typically used for fringe reception with the antenna far from the TV. It preserves the marginal SNR from getting worse due to cable or splitter loss.

The only way an amp can help when the antenna is close to the TV is if the amp generates less noise than the first amplifier of the TV tuner. That's rarely the case. Channel Master and Winegard make good low-noise antenna amps and Winegard makes an amplified set-top antenna, so it might be good but I haven't tried it. Most of them aren't worth the money.

[adam]

Thanks a lot for all of your help. I ended up buying three separate antennas over the last two days and I finally found one that works. It is a Radio Shack antenna (15-2186). I was trying to find a good spot for the antenna and it seems that something in the walls here causes the signal to cut out. To fix this I put the antenna in the window facing the transmission tower and it has been working very well so far. Like you said, no ION etc, which I couldn't care less about.

Just wondering, is there a program out there that can show you what the SNR or bitrate is? Thanks again!