[TriLUG] [OT] HD Antenna suggestions, was: TV Tuner Card suggestion

[Brian Henning]

Hi gang,

Thought I'd hijack this thread to see if anyone might have advice on HD
antennas.  I just got the converter box (I have an old analog-only TV
right now, and dropped TWC a few months ago when they wouldn't let me go
straight from one promo deal to another) and I've been trying different
antennas and have had somewhat surprising results.  Note: low-profile is
a requirement; I don't have room for something I can't mount on the
wall.

First I tried a $20 passive antenna.  Looks cheap, but scanning found
about 12 channels (though I can't actually watch all of them; I get
weak- or no-signal messages on all the NBC channels, and most channels
suffer frequent dropouts).

Then I tried a $100 "smart" antenna.  It works WAY WORSE than the $20
contraption; I can only pull in PBS with that thing.  Granted I was
testing during the icky weather last night, but I was
half-expecting/hoping that the $100 guy would always outperform the $20
guy.  Caveat emptor.

So next I'm thinking about trying a $60 amped not-smart antenna.  Should
I bother?  It seems my reception (in a ground-floor apartment near
Southpoint) is poor all around, but even with a low SNR, more amplitude
still means more signal, right?...  until you start to overwhelm the
receiver, but one amped antenna shouldn't do that...

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks a lot!
~Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
Behalf Of OlsonE at aosa.army.mil
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 9:38 AM
To: trilug at trilug.org
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] TV Tuner Card suggestion [may be OT]

LOL! C-SPAN would be the last channel on my list I'd pay for!

-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
Behalf Of Tanner Lovelace
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 9:36 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] TV Tuner Card suggestion [may be OT]

On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Josh Vickery <josh at vickeryj.com> wrote:
>
> If you have Timer Warner Durham, I find this list to be wonderfully
helpful:
>
> http://home1.gte.net/res18h39/channels.htm
>
> as Time Warner seems to like to change their channel assignments.

I wonder why, out of all the possible channels, it lists C-SPAN  as
"(encrypted)".  I would have thought that would be one of the first
ones to leave unencrypted.  I guess they just can't have people
watching their government without paying for it!

Cheers,
Tanner

-- 
Tanner Lovelace
http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
(fieldless) In fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
increscent, all sable.
-- 
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