# HD TIVO Antenna ??



## mwinn (Oct 15, 2001)

I have just bought the HD TIVO and have moved to Canton,MI. My current Terk 44 (Antenna attached to the dish) appears to not work as well as it did when I was in TX. I have adjusted it a couple of times, and each time I get acceptable signals on all the DT channels expect Fox Detroit, but the next day the signal drops on about 3/4 of the channels and will bounce from 10's to 70's causes a lot of drop outs.

Does anyone have a recommendation other than mounting a large roof antenna ? I have thought of trying the Channel Master stealth antenna, but am unsure on how to route the anntenna input into the line as the four output line from the LNB go to a 4X8 Multiswitch.

Anybody with experience in the Detroit Metro (Canton) area with antennas would be helpful.

Thanks


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

You really need to go to www.antennaweb.org to determine where your local towers are located. It will also tell you what frequency (UHF/VHF) they are using and suggest an antenna.

Either run a separate coax line (preferred) to the receiver or you can use two diplexers to combine the OTA to one of the sat lines and separate at the receiver.


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## mwinn (Oct 15, 2001)

I have l already looked at the antenna.org website.

For the diplexers my question is do I need to just diplex the antenna feed into one of the Sat lines and the mulitswitch will route that signal to all outputs ? At my HD TIVO I diplex it out from the one line to the SAT line and OTA line ?

I am still confused on how why when I adjusted the Terk I had good signal strength on the DT's but in the morning they were jumping around.

I have a fear that this coincides with the a software update that also happened overnight.


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## smith13 (Apr 29, 2004)

I live in Clinton Township,MI and I have a Winegard SS-2000 Square Shooter and it works perfectly. My readings are in the 90's and I do not have any fade or drop issues with it. I have had it for about 6 months now.


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## leesweet (Mar 13, 2004)

Is that near Grand Rapids? The best bet is to find a local thread at AVS for your area. (There's one for GR....) The 'snap on' Terk antennas are usually not good (read crappy) unless you are real near the transmitters, and a good inside or small outside should do better.

Here's the AVS Local HD Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=45

What do you mean by 'the multiswitch will route'? If you have a 5x8 MS after the Phase III dish, you need to (it's better to) run your antenna to that, and then that diplexes your OTA to all the sets. If you have only one HD receiver, it's better to run the OTA directly to it, if possible (less loss).

The multiswitc *in* the Phase III can't do anything with OTA, if that's what you meant...

(smith13's answer sounds good.... Squareshooter's are used by many, and are a lot more directional than the more or less omnidirectional Terk thing you have now.)

[smith, you can delete that double post... edit it, and check the 'delete' box at the left...  ]


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## smith13 (Apr 29, 2004)

Canton is south of Grand Rapids and at least 50 miles apart.


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## tgibbs (Sep 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by mwinn _
> *I am still confused on how why when I adjusted the Terk I had good signal strength on the DT's but in the morning they were jumping around.
> 
> I have a fear that this coincides with the a software update that also happened overnight. *


I suspect that jumping values may be due to multipath interference. I had similar problems on a couple of OTA stations, but only when the wind was blowing, probably because there are some big trees between me and the nearby transmitter. Getting a more directional antenna and aiming it a bit off to the side of the correct direction (and the trees) seems to have helped.


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## tbb1226 (Sep 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by smith13 _
> *Canton is south of Grand Rapids and at least 50 miles apart. *


 Actually, Canton's about 20 miles west of Detroit, and nowhere near Grand Rapids.

Mark - You may not need a *large* roof antenna, but your chances of getting consistent reception will be greatly increased if you replace that Terk POS with a good directional antenna, pointed toward the northeast. If you can avoid it, don't use diplexers - just route directly to the TiVo.

I'm in Royal Oak, fairly close to all the transmitters, yet I've had trouble getting consistent reception here. I mostly blame multipath, but I have noticed that weather can change reception, too. Rain and wind seem to multiply my multipath problems.

I've tried several antennas on different height masts, and I can tell you that changing antennas does make a difference. I've finally settled on the ChannelMaster 4221, which is slightly less directional than the yagi antenna I was using. For your location, I would expect either the 4221 or a UHF yagi to be satisfactory also. It's not very "large" 

See the "Official AVS Antenna Topic" at the top of the forum leesweet referred you to for more extensive advice


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## RonPrx (Aug 10, 2002)

Square Shooter is hands down the best! Great for all HDTV channels .. not so good on the low bacn CH 2, 4 and 5 although not designed for this use.


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## mwinn (Oct 15, 2001)

Thanks for the help from everyone. I think I will need to go with an attic antenna as 
1. I don't want a large mast on the roof. 

2. Although probably not legal the HMA says you can only have a dish at the rear of the house and no other antenna.

I like the way the square shooter looks, but again it would then have to be mounted to house with another cable running down the side of the house.

BTW, I tried the Zenith Silver Sensor this weekend. It actually worked pretty well except for the fact it requires re-aligning each time you want to look in a new channel. This of course will not work with HDTIVO.

Any recommendation on the best attic antenna, and a good installer in the Canton area?


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## tgibbs (Sep 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by mwinn _
> *Thanks for the help from everyone. I think I will need to go with an attic antenna as
> 1. I don't want a large mast on the roof.
> 
> ...


The Square Shooter works pretty well, and it looks like a satellite dish, so I don't think anybody will give you any trouble over putting it on your roof. There are even ways for it to share a mount with your existing satellite dish. There is also a way to multiplex the signal onto the existing wires.


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## smith13 (Apr 29, 2004)

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by smith13 
Canton is south of Grand Rapids and at least 50 miles apart. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(posted by tbb1226)
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Actually, Canton's about 20 miles west of Detroit, and nowhere near Grand Rapids.
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Actually if you want to get anal about it, Canton is 142 miles south east of Grand Rapids.


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## thundermustard (Jul 22, 2004)

antennaweb.org is an unreliable source for me. It does not even list Boston channels as possibilities and yet they come in in the low 90's with an antenna in the attic.
Mike


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## Glorfindel (Jan 15, 2006)

mwinn said:


> Thanks for the help from everyone. I think I will need to go with an attic antenna as
> 1. I don't want a large mast on the roof.
> 
> 2. Although probably not legal the HMA says you can only have a dish at the rear of the house and no other antenna.
> ...


Wow - my guess is that this will be too late to help - but the square shooter absolutely solved all of my problems.

You can mount it directly to you HDTV dish with an extension bar - and you can diplex the wires together so that you will not need to run any additional coax. It is very easy and simple to do. Hope this helps you.


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## Jim Abbett (Nov 6, 2005)

"You can mount it directly to you HDTV dish with an extension bar - and you can diplex the wires together so that you will not need to run any additional coax. It is very easy and simple to do. Hope this helps you. "

Glorfindel, I'm new to all of this. Can you explain how the diplexer- thingy-majigger works? Is it just a "splitter"? I am thinking about adding an outdoor OTA to my HD-DVR and was putting off due to having to run another cable. I have an indoor antenna and it doesn't work as well as I'd like. Does it matter which cable I put it on? Is the diplexer something I can pick up at Radio Shack?

Will the OTA signals still be automatically integrated into the program guide like it does when running it into the OTA input?

Thanks, Jim


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