> When I mentioned that I don't recommend Radio Shack gear, I was not referring to everything from RS just antenna equipment, I do not feel after having used Channel Maaster, Winegard, Blonder-Tongue, Jerrold, and Radio Shack over the years, that there is any good reason to use RS because it is inferior in comparison to the industry leaders. While I have an opinion regarding other RS items my comment is specific to setting up an antenna system for high quality digital reception in a "fringe" location. Their antennas are inferior and their mast amplifiers are terrible and failure prone. Their mounting gear is OK and is sourced typicallly from one of the other manufacturers I mentioned above. For years their rotors were made by channel Master although they were sold for at least as much as CM list price unless there was a sale. RS has its place but if I were installing an antenna system for optimal performance that I wanted to last for years I'd go with cM or Winegard. Proven performers.
Thank you Bruce . Your advice is absolutely correct . Here is one place I > buy equipment . I also enjoy fantastic digital TV and it is free ! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: thegrod<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 11:58 AM > Subject: Re: [TVRO] Antenna Question > > > Gary's advice about an 8 bay bow-tie UHF Channel master antenna would be > your best choice, and you should get a mast amplifier for the UHF > antenna because of your distance from the broadcast towers. One thing I > would suggest is googling to find all your Digital TV stations in both > Washington and Richmond just to make certain that none of the channels > you want are in the VHF Ch 2-13 range because then a UHF only antenna > might be a mistake You will need a rotor if you want both cities as I > suspect that they are in opposite directions but you could go with the > antenna pointed at Washington and forego Richmond stations. You would > be looking at around $150 for the antenna and amplifier if you do it > yourself. you may need some new mounting hardware. Don't buy Radio > Shack stuff if you want the highest quality and if you are unsure about > how to do this hire a professional and have them do it right.....A > digital tuner for OTA channels is very good advice and you won't believe > the quality of OTA digital and HD if you have an HD tv. Very shortly, > inexpensive digital tuners will become available as part of the digital > transition. Perhaps by next February. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: morningglorydesigns > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 8:23 PM > Subject: [TVRO] Antenna Question > > > Because our antenna (and amps?)was damaged in a hurricane Isabel and > we no longer get local stations well, we considered going to small > dish or cable. However, we decided that we want to keep the 4DTV and > replace the antenna. I realize that these antenna questions are not > directly related to C-Band, but for most of us with C-band, our > systems involve having an antenna for local channels. > > Is it better to have an antenna professionally installed or are the > results of installing it yourself usually good? My husband was not > able to loosen and turn our present antenna because it has been on > top of our house for 13 years. We had it installed with our C-band > system. We have a 2 story house and the antenna is at the edge of a > gable. > > There are supposed to be 3 amps or boosters, but my husband has not > been able to find them. Is it best just to replace the whole system? > I don't want to spennd unnecessary money, but I want to be happy > with the results. > > We are 40 miles from Washington DC and 65 miles from Richmond. We > have an omni-directional antenna and focused on the DC channels. Is > it expensive or complicated to add a rotor? > > Comment on pizza dish and cable: They advertise lots of channels, > but to get the simple programming we want (like DIY, SCI, HGTV), > we'd have to get an expensive package. Truthfully, looking at the > Dish Network 100+ package made me angry. Most of the 100 channels > were useless. With either pizza dish or cable, we'd have to pay ~$60 > a month. Although they have a couple of sports channels we'd like, > it's not worth switching - and I feel like they arrange their > packages so that you pretty much have to get an expensive plan to > get anything good. > > Serena > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > >
