Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions So what is going to happen when.....

And you live in Canada - stop stealing US broadcasts.

There will always be exceptions.

I'm friends with a guy that lives in a "hollow", or as he'd say, "a holler". His home is a good 40-50' lower than the surrounding land, down in a small creek (pronounced here as, 'crick') bed. Until the invention of DBS satellite service, he had to have a very tall tower for his antenna to be able to get anything. And the landscape here in Illinois is generally quite flat, though it varies. Compared to Tacoma, WA though, it's really flat.

I just don't particularly buy the argument that there are tons of antenna-TV people out there now who can get X analog stations now that won't be able to get X stations in digital once the DTV transition occurs. Yes, they may have to buy a converter box. Yes, that may be a bit of a financial and/or connectivity hardship for some. But I'm just sayin' that I live in a very rural area and it's quite unusual to see a farmhouse that doesn't have a DBS antenna.

Of course, if there's even one person out there that sees a hiccup in their TV viewing (and there will be) the media will pick up on it and it'll be a national disaster.

Peter, thanks for the links. I may try to get my existing antenna out of one attic and put it in another (one pointed towards New Orleans vs Memphis) and see if that helps.

Scott

I have no idea if this is the right place for this or not, but...

The conversation about FREE OTA HD led me to think about existing computers, antennae, DVR, information utility bills and the like.

Came across the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Network-based Dual Digital HDTV Tuner. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm not ready to give up D*TV yet or anything, but it did make me think.

How can you pick up "a little west of Rochester" and not pick up Toronto & Hamilton?
What area are you in?

Well, I just made my first DIY prototype HD antenna based on these designs. I live 30 miles away from the main towers and have tried many store purchased antennas. I even have an outside Terk TV55 antenna. I can get about 5 more channels with this thing INSIDE my house. Time to start my final outdoor version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSak-Hiba0

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/maker_workshop_dtv_antenna_steadyca.html

http://cachefly.oreilly.com/make/television/04/DTV_Antenna_FINAL.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

I've seen that around, and I may try one at some point. I keep thinking I should start using my computer to record shows. I was thinking I'd wait until there were more similar options, but we'll see if I can hold out.

Yep. That's just a 'bowtie' style antenna. A very tried-and-true design. They work quite well. The one drawback to them is that I'm pretty sure that they're just designed to pick up the UHF band. So if the other poster is trying for VHF channels, he may need to look at 'yagi' style antennas too.

Good luck! Careful placement is essential when putting an antenna in an attic. A fraction of an inch can mean the difference between getting and not getting a channel. I spent an entire afternoon tweaking and re-tweaking my antenna's placement. It was a tedious process. If you can, find someone to help you by monitoring the signal strength on the TV while you tinker up in the attic. That will save you a lot of time.

Beats the hell out of purchasing the exact same thing for $100-200 bucks at the store. All the digital channels are UHF in our area.