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

[Jon Fraley]

I bought an amplified rabbit eared antenna from Wal-mart a while back,
it worked somewhat better than just plane old rabbit ears.  I have since
mounted a rooftop antenna and are very pleased with the results.  I get
over 40 channels OTA.  Granted alot of them are redundant (3 CBS, 2 Fox,
3 NBC, 3 different sets of PBS and more weather than I will ever need)
and I have to reposition the antenna to get some.

Jon


On Wed, 2009-01-07 at 09:53 -0500, Brian Henning wrote:
> 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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