Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions ATSC (HD) and Antennas

Here is the street picture from antennaweb.org. Shows the directions of the towers I receive digital broadcasts from, I also made a note on there of which station is which, and the distance from me. Currently I have my antenna pointed to the CBS/NBC/ABC towers (N,NW) and I still get the FOX signal, though it has some drops on occation.

All my towers are about 20+ exactly due north of my house. We live out in the country on top of a hill, should be fine...

Sirquack, did you ever get your card and antenna hooked up? I checked and the same stations for me are 17 miles away. Our neighborhood only allows for 1 18" or smaller satellite dish, no antennas, so I would need to go with an indoor as well and run some cable from my attic to my basement to get HDTV down there.

I am also going to check with a guy from my company who got a "great deal" on a HDTV tuner/antenna combo somewhere. I'll post what I find there.

Wow, I've heard of associations having rules, but how can a city enforce that you can't have an external antenna, oh well.

Nick, no I think my tuner PCI card should be arriving tomorrow. I'll try my Terk external that is hooked up now, but may order this Zenith model soon, based on the good reviews on Amazon...

Yes, associations seem to think that they can have any rules that they wish.

However, if you live in the US, I think that there is a Federal premption such that you can have an outside antenna for satellite or OTA reception. I'm not sure of the link, but if you go to the FCC website, I think that you will be able to find it.

I know that such a law exists for rental properties, but I think you're right, homeowner's associations can do whatever they want.

Well I installed my VBox Cat's Eye DTA150 ATSC card in my computer a little bit ago. Right now my HTPC front end, MediaPortal is scanning for signals. Found 6 so far, hmmm, I'm getting excited to watch a little HD on the big screen.

I still have the Terk TV55 on the outside of the house, we'll see how this tuner card does with it...who knows maybe all this time the problems I've been having upstairs could be my Samsung OTA receiver....

Keep us posted.

Well I'm sure some of my problems are related to the Terk antenna. I am getting some slowness, jerkyness with Mediaportal. I'm playing with the different settings. I did watch a few shows last night that had a strong signal and the picture was jaw dropping, wow....My friend could not believe how nice the picture looked when we watched Saturday Night Live.

Nick, this might be useful information for your homeowners association rules. It appears they can't tell you you can't have an antenna.

My Homeowners association prohibits antennas on the roof, what can I do?
A: Show them the Federal law concerning antennas, homeowners and their rights. In 1996, The FCC affirmed the rights of homeowners to place antennas on property they own or control.* Check out the FCC ruling here: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html. The law basically states that homeowner association covenants cannot prevent you from installing antennas or dishes. The rule "prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming."
*Masts higher than 12 feet above the roofline may be subject to local permitting requirements.