Need HD OTA installation in Austin

L

LonghornGirlie

500+ Posts
Robert and I recently bought the proverbial big *** TV. We use DirecTV primarily because we setup TVs at the tailgate parties and it seemed silly to pay for both cable and satellite.

We've got all the satellite channels coming in and everything looks great. The cheap antenna that we bought at Best Buy didn't seem to get anything off the air when we tried to do it ourselves.

We live on the west bank of Shoal Creek just south of Pease Park near 15th and Lamar.which puts a pretty significant hill immediately to our west. Of course, the HD towers that we want signal from are west and somewhat north of us, so I'm concerned about being able to get a signal.

I've heard bad things about the Terk antennas, and I don't really want to waste time on something that doesn't work. I'm happy to pay a professional to come in and get the job done. I've looked in to the Wingard antennas and they seem to be a good choice.

Anyone out there who might be able to handle this job for me?
 
Avoid Terk like the plague.

I had a Winegard put in my attic and I'm reeling in all the OTA's in the DFW area from about 45 miles from the transmitter. I haven't had a single problem with it.
 
Right now, I have the Terk (something 44) hooked up. It is the one that clips on the dish and has the built in diplexer. I haven't had too many problems with it, but it does fail to pick up all the stations all the time. I figured it was just because it faces out from inside the court yard at my complex and can't get a good line of site to anywhere. I've always used there bigger powered indoor/outdoor antenna. It worked pretty well, but it was a pain to plug it in and be able to run a cable to it outside. Luckily we have all the network channels on DirecTV and they are all broadcast in HD now so it limits the amount of HD programming I need to pick up locally.

I'd love to help you install the thing, but depending on where you want it, how the wiring is in your home, etc.; I wouldn't be able to make any promises that I could do everything you needed or be able to do it quickly so I won't waste your time.
 
Silver Sensor is the way to go. If you want to get Fox, you will need a Radio Shack/Wineguard/Channel Master antenna on your roof or in your attic.
 
$30 Silver Sensor initially did the trick for me-- though there was one channel I couldn't pull in. I eventually 'upgraded' to a larger uhf antenna from radio shack for $20.

BTW- you can use 'diplexors' to combine the sat signal w/ the OTA signal on the same coax cable- thus saving an extra wire run.
 
The Link

Forgot to attach this link-- it will tell you what channels in your area are vhf or uhf (Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna), and where the broadcast towers are located.
 
Just because you have Road Runner doesn't mean you will be able to pick up the in the clear HD channels on your Sony. When my RR got set up, they put 3 filters on my line. You may need to yank those off.

In any event, using the QAM tuner in your TV is the best way to go. PM me if you need to get rid of those filters.
 
i am about 20 miles from the towers and i have a channel master 4228 antenna mounted in the attic. I get all the local channels at 95%+ regularly. I had a guy install it and if you still need somebody when i get back to austin on wednesday i can send you his #.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top