I was sharing with a neighbor information about an antenna a purchased recently and installed in my attic to get over-the-air digital television reception.  I was getting so-so reception with a pair of rabbit ears upstairs on the Vizio VX37L 37″ LCD television, but it would get glitchy periodically.  It was good enough for how we watched it, though.

At the same time I was testing Beyond TV from SnapStream Media using an HDHomeRun dual-ATSC/QAM digital tuner from Silicon Dust to get television reception.  The reception was okay on the machine I was testing on but not as solid as on the television upstairs, so I had to do something about.  After doing a bunch of research, I determined that Denny’s TV Antenna Sales in Ithaca, Michigan had the best information, probably the best prices, and the best service.  I settled on the Winegard MS 2000 omnidirectional antenna along with the DS-25 System Distribution Amplifier hoping they would do the job.  I had to install the antenna in my attic because our homeowners association has rules about antennas on the roof and I didn’t feel like battling with them.  After installing the antenna, I found that the reception wasn’t enough better to warrant keeping it.

Based on the feedback on their site, it seemed like Denny and Rhonda would be able to help me determine what antenna solution would help me get the reception I needed.  Denny directed me to http://www.AntennaWeb.org, where I could figure out where the towers for the stations in my area are located.  Here is the procedure to use to get the best results:

  1. Click on the Choose and antenna button.
  2. Type in your address.
  3. Click on options at the bottom and enter 500 or 1000 feet for the height.

This procedure produces a list of all the towers that I might be even remotely interested in receiving a signal from along with the compass orientation.  Once I had that, I could map out the towers for the stations I was interested in and determine a compass spread.  For me that turned out to be a spread of 37 degrees.  Denny said (with the usual disclaimers) that I should have no trouble getting good reception out to about 40 degrees so I should be fine.  Based on my conversation with him, I settled on the Winegard HD 7080P antenna.

Once I got the 7080P installed, reception came in nice and clear and I’m now recording HD programming very nicely.  I would highly recommend Denny and Rhonda for anything related to antennas.

Moved from my blog on Windows Live Spaces where it was originally posted on 8/29/2007.