Some basic things to know to do your research are antenna terminology. "Bays" refers to the number of "bow ties" on the antenna to receive the signal. The antenna will have either 4 or 8 of these bow ties, arranged in two vertical blocks of four bow ties. So, a "4 bay" antenna is really half an "8 bay". "Bi-directional" refers to the 4 bays of the antenna having a hinge that allows you to point those 4 bays in another direction to focus on another point of signal origin. Depending on your geographic location, this can come in very handy to max out your OTA reception.
You will easily find stories of people building their own antennas, as it is just a piece of wire wound around itself to receive signals. Feel free to experiment if you are handy! You will also see reviews of different antennas, but that goes beyond the introductory nature of this site.
Mounting the antenna, or placing the antenna in an attic or on a balcony, is entirely dependent on your home. Some people have a third story, giving their attic great height to compensate for signal loss by having the antenna indoors. Some people are in condominiums, and if they are on the side of the building that faces the signal they are trying to pull in, simply placing the antenna on the balcony is a viable option.
I'm in a home that faces south, so I decided to go for a mount on the front of my house that is accessible for tweaking the direction. I am actually losing one channel by not having a roof mount and catching that signal coming from behind my home. I decided this was acceptable as I was not comfortable with a Chimney or roof mount. After doing this a few times I've come to realize every antenna set up is different, with its own opportunities and limits. Experiment to find out what is the best for you! Also, I have access to where the old cable feed came into the house. So, I can feed my antenna right into the existing cable in the house to reach the television.
In the first picture, there is a bulge right between the two "wings" of bow ties. That is the preamp, and is explained in the "Preamp" tab above. The black free cable you see in the second picture is the old feed from Rogers Cable, used by the previous owners of the house for Internet and TV. Of course, access to your cables will be different, depending on the age of the house, location, and whether or not you live in a home with a finished basement.
To get started, go to this website, put in your location, and see which free signals are waiting for you, click on "Check Your Address for Free TV" to get started:
This site provides a graphic with compass directions to make sure you point the antenna in the best direction. There are also antennas with rotors that allow you to move the antenna without going outside. As an Introduction to antennas, this is all you need to know for now. Believe me, once you get started on a project like this you can learn quite a lot in quite a small amount of time!
TIP! DO NOT POINT YOUR ANTENNA TO THE SKY! This is NOT a satellite dish install. This is like old school radio, you want the antenna to be VERTICAL. I've seen some pictures of people mounting antennas to old satellite dishes. Lazy and ineffectual, but quite humorous!
TIP! The compass directions on TVfool.com already take into account magnetic declination. User the bearings under "(MagN") after you input your address as the proper bearing for the antenna.
TIP! Due to your location, some signals will come in sporadically. Do not try for 100% signal strength on every channel! Aim your antenna so it can pick up strong signal and max out your reliable channels. For my location NBC, CBS, and ION channels come in and out, depending on the weather at the signal origin point. I experimented with getting 100% signal on NBC and lost a few other channels completely. Use the chart from TVfool.com as a guide, and adjust by 5 to 7 degrees to maximize your reliable channels!
TIP! - The less cable you use the better. But, when this is not possible, try to use a continuous line. Using 4 lengths of cable 25 feet long combined together is not the same as using one 100 foot piece of cable. Try to keep the connection breaks to a minimum to preserve the signal as it travels from the antenna bays to the back of your TV.
Continue reading next page - Preamp
