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Topic:
Antenna UHF recommendation for Los Angeles residence ??
This thread has 38 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 11:01
Shane1
Long Time Member
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I in Los Angeles in Palos Verdes on top of the hill and my house faces north looking up towards downtown LA.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a outdoor antenna? Any personal experience ?? - its going to be mounted on the roof. Something that isn't too large tho...

I am going to use the HD HomeRun Connect box in conjunction with my KODI player.

Thanks !
Post 2 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 12:21
AVXpressions
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Go to antennaweb.org and find out what direction & distance the station towers are from you.

Personally, I've installed lots of different antennas over the years. I've tried everything under the sun and the best (at least for my region) is the Channel master 4228.
OP | Post 3 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 13:40
Shane1
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Thanks for the advice.

It looks like I have about 135 channels that are all 35 miles away. I have a clear line of sight from my roof to that location 35 miles away, so that's good...
Post 4 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 14:32
GotGame
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Are most transmitter sites in the same direction?
Look at the beam width of the antenna and see if they will cover it or you could add another antenna at a different angle and combine them without the use of a rotor.
I am currently using a 8 bay Winegard.
I may be schizophrenic, but at least I have each other.
Post 5 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 14:37
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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LA Area installer here; have installed antenna systems with more than 400 TVs. (One was at Artesia and Hawthorne Blvds.)

The ChannelMaster 4228 is a very good product.

Personally, I prefer yagi-style antennas. My go-to, back when I did this a lot, was the Winegard HD7210. The two furthest locations where I used these were Beach Blvd. and the 405, and El Toro Road and the 5, both with excellent results. Our focus was VHF back then, but they were great with UHF, too.

Also, if there are any hills or whatever behind you (from the point of view of looking at Wilson), this antenna attenuates reflections from there better than most other antennas.

I like that it's a flat antenna, with no elements sticking up or down from the main elements.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 6 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 16:16
AVXpressions
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That is a good antenna Ernie but he wanted something not to large. I'm pretty sure that the 7210 doesn't meet that qualification. :)
Post 7 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 18:11
arthurj
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North Palos Verdes receives strong signals. I have installed several Winegard HD7694p antennas with mostly good results. It is only 65" in length. The only problem I've encountered has been multipath and pixelation caused by adjacent hills, as Ernie mentioned.
I may be old, but I sure am slow.
OP | Post 8 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 18:13
Shane1
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Yeah - the 7210 is rather large for the roof and aesthetics required.

I have a fairly clear line of sight to Mt. Wilson, so I will go with something smaller.

Any other suggestions that might be just a bit smaller than the ChannelMaster 4228HD ??

Thanks guys...



On August 15, 2016 at 16:16, AVXpressions said...
That is a good antenna Ernie but he wanted something not to large. I'm pretty sure that the 7210 doesn't meet that qualification. :)
Post 9 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 19:43
amirm
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You may not need much of anything to receive a lot of station. Just connect a coax wire to the antenna jack on the TV and at the other end, connect a short piece of wire with an alligator clip. Then do an autoscan and see how many stations you pick up. Even with the coax itself you would get fair number of station.
Amir
Founder, Madrona Digital, http://madronadigital.com
Founder, Audio Science Review, http://audiosciencereview.com
Post 10 made on Monday August 15, 2016 at 19:50
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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You've got two choices: an arrow like the 7210, or a sail like the 4228.

(Amir named the third choice, but it's not much of a choice unless it works! It definitely has a) the proper price and b) the proper amount of research time.)


But another issue disqualifies everything else suggested. In LA, ABC 7 is actually on 7! And 9 is on 9. As you might guess, 11 and 13 are on 11 and 13. This suggests the Channel Master 2016, a smallish UHF antenna with a couple of added elements for upper band UHF.Oh, yeah, come to think of it, that's exactly the backup antenna I have on my roof at 215th Street... that gives an idea of its range.


Meanwhile, before I remembered we need to get upper band VHF, I wrote:
There's a short arrow, the ChannelMaster Stealthtenna. It says 50 miles, so maybe.

ChannelMaster's marketing geniuses are now calling the 4228 by the name Extremetenna 80 and citing a range of 80 miles. Now, the 4228 has four identical sections, and smaller versions, literally one and two of the four sections found in the 4228, are the Metrotenna 40 and the Ultratenna 60. Those numbers are supposed ranges. I think you should try the Stealthtenna! It's really small!

Beware: in LA, ABC 7 is actually on 7! And 9 is on 9. As you might guess, 11 and 13 are on 11 and 13. This suggests the Channel Master 2016.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 11 made on Wednesday August 17, 2016 at 08:39
davet2020
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We still install a ton of OTA antennnas in the Washington DC metro area. Many of the installs are for people who tried to install the antenna but were unable to get all the channels.

When we get to the job we see that the customer installed a UHF only antenna, such as the 4228. They are doing great on the UHF channels but are not getting the high band VHF channels like 7,9,11, and 13. We pull that antenna down and install a VHF/UHF antenna, like the Winegard 7694.
If you are going to do the job...why not do it the right way?
www.fairfaxavi.com
Post 12 made on Thursday August 18, 2016 at 00:24
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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Our responses here, including most of my response, shows that we just don't conceptualize HD as a VHF thing. I guess that when stations started changing over to HD, since the VHF bands were full in most markets, we somehow equated HD as necessarily UHF.

Dave, that's nice for your business, though!
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 13 made on Thursday August 18, 2016 at 01:20
amirm
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Most of our stations here after transition moved back to VHF including my favorite PBS station. So I had to get a VHF antenna to augment my UHF. With two it was a good setup as I could point them differently. We were so borderline on the PBS channel that this was the only way to get it.
Amir
Founder, Madrona Digital, http://madronadigital.com
Founder, Audio Science Review, http://audiosciencereview.com
Post 14 made on Thursday August 18, 2016 at 01:22
AVXpressions
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On August 18, 2016 at 00:24, Ernie Gilman said...
Our responses here, including most of my response, shows that we just don't conceptualize HD as a VHF thing. I guess that when stations started changing over to HD, since the VHF bands were full in most markets, we somehow equated HD as necessarily UHF.

Dave, that's nice for your business, though!

At least in the smaller markets I work in, even though they all had vhf channels during the analog days now that they are all digital they only use the uhf band.
Post 15 made on Thursday August 18, 2016 at 13:02
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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On August 18, 2016 at 01:20, amirm said...
Most of our stations here after transition moved back to VHF including my favorite PBS station. So I had to get a VHF antenna to augment my UHF. With two it was a good setup as I could point them differently. We were so borderline on the PBS channel that this was the only way to get it.

And antenna signals are funny way beyond what you expect.

A client lives in a canyon that faces south. He has an extensive antenna signal distribution system, where we equalized the levels of the VHF stations and just accepted what came in on UHF. Through experimentation I found that the best antenna aiming was due east, toward the broadcasting towers thirty miles away, even though the antenna was facing into a hill at least 300 feet high! All the relevant channels worked fine except his PBS station, channel 28.

To get that, we found we had to point the antenna due north, straight up the canyon and about 90 degrees away from being pointed directly at the station! We put up an antenna for that, somehow mixed the signals together, and all was well.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
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