I have another antenna question. Our existing antenna is a large one and I think a good one. Three of the posts were bent 45 degrees by a tree in hurricane Isabell. I'm not sure how much diference that makes. We'd try to bend them back, but we'd runt he risk of breaking them off. I bought new coaxial cable. However there is a box attached to the antenna pole. A cable goes from the end of the antenna down the pole and plugs into the little black rectangular box. Another coax cable plugs into the bottom of it and that's the one that goes into the house. What is the box and is that something that should be replaced? I went to Radio Shack and they just looked confused. Best Buy and Walmart were clueless also. I assumed that it was a signal booster but my husband didn't think so. What is it and should we replace it?
Thanks, Serena --- In [email protected], "jamiecox000" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Take a look at antennaweb.org for good info about direction and > distance to your stations. I'm 40 miles from the stations in my area. > I was getting good HD reception with an old VHF/UHF antenna. It was > looking pretty beat-up after the hurricanes, so I got a new HD > two-panel bow-tie type antenna. That works fine also, but I think it > is more directional. My antenna is on the 2nd story roof, with pretty > clear terrain. > > Rotors are a pain, and they usually stop working after a while. You > might just try rabbit ears, or a piece of wire. I tried an indoor > dipole -- just the FM antenna that comes with stereo receivers, and I > got several digital channels with that! > > It is possible to put up two antennas with a combiner so that you get > signals from two directions simultaneously. (A combiner is a splitter > in reverse.) > > I put up my antenna myself. It just depends on how comfortable you > are climbing on the roof, etc. > > Using new, high-quality coax is important. Amplifiers may do more harm > than good. Don't get one until you try your system without it. Good luck. > > --- In [email protected], "morningglorydesigns" <serena_b@> wrote: > > > > 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 > > >
