HDTV & The Return Of The Antenna > Suggest an antenna?

Suggest an antenna?

For now, a Zenith/Philips Silver Sensor or a 2-bay bowtie (DB-2, Eagle-Aspen DTV2BUHF, Channel Master 4220). The bowties have more gain but you'll have to come up with your own mounting. The Silver Sensor can just sit on a table.

However, note that three of the New York channels will be returning to VHF in 2009. There aren't any good VHF antennas really practical to use indoors.

I actually already have a Philips Silver Sensor, it came with the tuner I bought. It picks up nothing though, I get around 18% signal strength. I've been trying to use an older antenna from Radioshack. It has two normal looking antennas and a circle thingy in the middle. One normal antenna is completely gone and the other is broken in half. I have a big metal rod touching where the broken one is supposed to be attached. I'm getting about 50% signal strength with this one on CBS. I was getting 100% on Fox, until I moved it a little. It's not picking anything else up though except for My9.

That's certainly odd. The two "normal looking antennas" you refer to are the VHF dipole, and won't get you any of the current NY digital channels. So you're getting everything off the UHF loop. The Silver Sensor should do lots better than the loop.

reply to Bootes
Although at 18 miles, you're technically just beyond the range of this antenna, the SR8 indoor Yagi might work OK if placed in a window:

»www.antennasdirect.com/SR8_indoor_yagi.html

Adding an antenna amplifier should help even your odds.

Although this is a UHF model, the retailer claims that you can get an acceptable VHF signal out of it. Getting an amplifier that amplifies the UHF and VHF signals separately, and allows you to adjust the gain on each could be a big help. It might seem crazy to buy $100 worth of amplifier / splitter for a $18 antenna, but it's worth it if you need it.

reply to russotto
So I took out my Philips Silver Sensor again after you suggested it. It gets nothing by the window, but pointing it in the corner of my room gets my great signal on FOX, CBS, and a spanish channel. My9 is shown as a subchannel of Fox and I've given up on NBC because their antenna is very low and they are broadcasting at extremely low power. ABC is in the lower 60's but it doesn't drop down far enough to lose signal.

I'm just at the cutoff point of CW. I get between the lower 50's and 60% on CW. 58% seems to be the cutoff point with my TV tuner. Should the above antenna or some other better looking under $50 antenna improve it enough to keep CW in the 60s?

Or how about this »www.radioshack.com/product/index···e=search ?
Thanks for your help.

The Phillips amp doesn't list a noise figure, which usually means it's not very good. You might want to try the Winegard HDP-269, the Antennas Direct PA-18 or PA-16, or even the Channel Master 7775 or 7777. Some claim the Channel Masters would overload as close to the towers as you are; the HDP-269 is claimed to be particularly resistant to overload.