Antenna Issues

#21

sure...well most apartment complexes do not allow you to install such outdoor fixtures, ie screw or attach anything to the outside walls etc.

Some will allow install of a sat dish (by a professional installer only) with prior written permission from landlord/management company and a fee and show proof of Renters Insurance. (for my building the fee is $500 non refundable for sat dish install)

And, well, outdoor roof antenna, yea, they just laugh at you.
They already have each unit wired for cable tv and internet...so...they expect you to use that and you do know that going into the lease.
And how you gonna install a antenna on to the roof if you live say on floor 4 of 10 or something.
If you face the right direction, perhaps you could get away with just setting a small outdoor antenna on your patio/deck, but thats unsightly and not safe or practical.

edit: Says right in that link:

"OTARD rules do not apply to common areas that are owned by a landlord, a community association or jointly by condominium owners. These common areas may include the roof or exterior walls of a multiple dwelling unit. "

I live on 3rd floor of my complex, witch is the top floor, and is flat roof design, so a medium sized latter on my deck and i can get to the roof of the complex....but it still would be a violation for me to install anything up there, or the outside walls, which are stucco. No to mention, drill a hole through the outside walls to run a cable inside...yea...not something I am going to do. not when sticking the large flat antenna i have inside, right over the east facing window in my 2nd bedroom works very well. infact, that position is further in the best direction and angel away from more obstructions than my patio is. And, even if i was allowed to install it out side the window, its a 3rd floor window, with nothing below it. so would need a very tall ladder or special "cheery picker" machine to raise up to that height.

I for sure would not want to live in a complex that allowed tenants to install or do what they want as far antennas go. The risk for severe damage is too high from improper install. Fire risk from lightening strike if not properly grounded, or water damage from screws etc. DIY is not the way to go when you have other dwellings around you to consider. Been plenty of apartment fires and even entire complexes have burned to the ground do to negligent/careless tenants not following the rules. A few happened to buildings in my area many years ago.

#22

As someone who has worked in property management for multifamily units, the only place a resident is free to install is within their own personal/exclusive space. (At least this is the case in CA; other regions may have different additional regulations, either more restrictive or more lenient. YMMV) For an outdoor antenna/satellite dish, this is effectively limited to your balcony (if you have one), or your yard (for first floor units), as long as the installation does not extend beyond the imaginary box that encompasses your space.

So while you technically have the ability to install an antenna, the practical reality is quite different. And as far as an antenna or dish goes, if your unit does not have a clear view of the direction your signal comes from, even if you can install it, its reception may be impacted.

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#23

This.

Even if the landlord allowed me to mount an antenna on my patio, which they said no, and it would be a lease violation as "only outdoor patio furniture is allowed to be on tenants patios..no permanent fixtures or anything that attaches to walls or railings"....my patio faces south and the transmitter towers are northish west and east. There is a 12 story office complex directly in that line of sight to over come for me, and even if i could get antenna over the roof line of my complex, it would not get any better signal, if not worse, than where i have it now. Especially, setting it in the invisible box that is my patio, means its surround by metal siding and stucco walls(which have metal mesh in them) worst place for an antenna.

The point....not everyone who lives in a multi dwelling building has the option to use outdoor antenna, an most often, would not get good results even if they could.

#24

I don't miss the mohu at all. Years of fighting with that thing, I finally went with the Walmart rca attic antenna, and 15 ft + wall coupler + 6ft of quad shield cable. And the silicon dust lte filter. Finally got the signal issues sorted.

I found with the mohu that the coax had more to do with a quality signal than the actual antenna (in my case anyways).

#25

Nearly ALL of those flat style "leaf" or whatever they want to label them as....are just a piece of very thin aluminum foil pressed/molded into plastic or some sort of pliable material that is soldered to a wire that connects to the coax input.
You can literally make one your self and get the same results.

Flat type antennas do work very well in the proper situations.

But, a dipole style antenna, is almost always gonna do better job, especially those with many elements. Afterall, they are the type used in nearly all radio related things, CB, police, cell etc.

But it is not practical at all to have a large shiny pokey thing sitting on ones living room for those who can not go the out door or attic antenna route.
I have a couple old Radio Shack "discone" antennas that was used with radio scanners. Its pretty much a shinny metal Christmas tree thing when all setup.
for kicks and giggels, i set one of those up, even set it out on my patio for a hour, to see how it did as a HDTV antenna...and...made no real difference for me, save for the couple stations that are hard to get did come in much better, but all the others were just the same, 100% or close, ( i am close to those towers so I expected no difference).

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#26

For some, like me, a Preamp is the ONLY way to get signal from a long coax run from the antenna. But in that same vein. A Preamp cannot make signal that isn't there to begin with to the OP. Or as others have said. You can have TOO MUCH gain. Best to see how your setup does without the preamp first.

#27

Yeah those flat style antenna's are a no go. I had cut the streaming services last year because Hulu Live was getting way to expense and I was only watching local channel content anyway (Chicago Fire, Blue Bloods, etc.) So I had purchased one of those flat style antennas and a HDHomerun Connect Quarto to test out Channels DVR. The signal strength on most channels were not that great at all. I had trouble with them being very pixelated and just not wanting to tune especially on my most important local channels. I tried a few different antennas from Walmart and landed on the ClearStreamÂŽ MAX-V UHF/VHF Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna. Had to buy a coax cable because it doesn't include it with the antenna. Then I had to figure out how I was going to get my coax inside because I live in an apartment. I searched on Amazon and found a flat antenna jumper cable that I could put through my apartment window instead of drilling a hole or doing something stupid. But then had to purchase a 3ft. coax on the inside of the apartment and then a 15ft. so I would have enough outside the apartment. But by doing this it gets a stronger signal outside because you aren't interfering with anything through walls and you are direct to the sky lol. I am not facing the transmitter exactly but getting real strong signals and been super happy with this setup and saving me a good amount of money by doing this. So I would totally recommend getting this antenna or an outdoor antenna. P.S. the HDHomeRun Flex 4K doesn't actually do 4K supposedly later on we might be getting that but as of right now it's not but the ATSC 3.0 channels are supposed to be better. Also, if you need a mast they are sold separately but the Clearstream comes with a mount to, mount it on the wall which I just drilled 2 wood screws into the wall on the balcony of my apartment. But all in all I have invested almost $300 dollars and super happy about the setup and haven't had barely any problems with the setup.

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#28

Just got my Clearstream 4Max set up. I didn't even realize how many OTA channels there are. I'm pulling in 134. A lot are doubles but still go. No stuttering or issues thus far. I paid a DirectTV contractor to install it. The only thing he did that I'm not happy about is when he ran the coax. He ran it in the hole where the previous homeowner had drilled for DirectTV on the side of the house. But, instead of connecting to the coax plate he pulled the cable all the way through and connected directly to the HDHR. That is definitely not what I wanted. My question is if I back his cable out and connect it to the coax plate then connect another coax cable to that and run it to the HDHR will I see a significant signal loss?

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#29

No, it shouldn’t be significant.

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#30

Did u connect the coax to a ground adapter and ground that to something that is properly grounded?

You don't want to see what happens if lightening strikes the antenna and it feeds that to your indoor equipment.

Grounding also can help with certain type of interference, so I have been told.

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#31

Interesting, I believe that the antenna has one but I will have to check on that one.

#32

The antenna may have a ground point yes, you can attach a wire to that and run that to a ground point, but from you picture of install location, on a wood beam, I do not see a good metal ground point near the antenna it self.

Also, those flat coax things, not well liked as, I am told, they can add significant risk of interference issues due to lack of shielding. They also can break easy due to their nature. They are last resort thing to use. But, if you can't drill hole through wall, then yup, they the only other option.

#33

I noticed some things with my antenna set up and I thought I'd ask for the opinion of experienced cord cutters. I noticed that the guy I had install it ran the coax across my roof instead of running it under the eve of the house and making it look more inconspicuous. I live in Scottsdale, AZ and our roof uses tile shingles which get extremely hot during the summer. Will the coax be fine or will it melt? Can that heat disturb the signal? I'm wondering if I should have someone else come out and run it the way I first assumed even though that will cause the coax to be a little longer run?

#34

A very interesting question. Look at the side of some of the coax and will likely fine a manufacturer and part number. From there, you should be able to google the coax and find the actual specifications. The heat will not affect the signal unless the coax were to be damaged by the heat.

For example, I use LMR400 for some antenna runs and its official operating temperature range is -40F to 185F. Am guessing that most coax will have a temperature range that exceeds even the hot Arizona sun.

Shorter runs are typically better than longer, but 10-20% is typically immaterial. The quality of the cable has much impact on signal quality. The latter is rated in attenuation-dB typically per 100ft and varies by frequency. Reputable manufactures will have a graph showing this (along with mechanical properties like temperature range) on their website.

#35

So what is the best coax I could get signal-wise? Is it RG6 Quad or maybe RG8 Low Loss (If I can find it). I'm a newb to coax and whats best. If it matters my antenna is a Clearstream 4Max.

#36

The AZ sun is brutal. I'd get that coax under the eves for sure. Even if it's rated for hellish temperatures, it will decay faster over the years if you leave it exposed like that. As for what kind, well if you already have RG6 then RG11 would be a major upgrade for reducing signal loss. Those are both 75 ohm which is probably what you need there.

#37

Rg11 is pointless if you have less than a 100-150ft run. Good quality rg6 is fine... Plus I would hate to have rg11 tacked around my house :blush:

#38

Per the prior posts, good quality RG6-quad will be fine. Suspect the installer ran RG6, though the quality can only be determined by looking at a datasheet. RG11 has better signal characteristics, but is larger in diameter, harder to work with and is more visible (overkill for short/medium runs).

If the aesthetic of your current install bothers you, then replacing makes sense. If not, then I would not bother unless the coax degrades to a point it becomes a problem. Suspect the coax will outlast its mission life even in Arizona (assuming you can verify specs).

If you decide to replace the coax, then you might consider locating the HDHR closer to the exit point to avoid what sounds like a scenic coax run. Once the signal has gone from analog (antenna to HDHR) to digital (HDHR ethernet to router/switch), it is way easier to extend the Ethernet digital run with zero signal impact.

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#39

Does anyone have problems with OTA football games? I use a HDHomeRun Connect Duo with an Apple TV and Firestick. I don't have any problems watching or recording shows on CBS or Fox, but often when I turn on a football game the screen will go crazy. My issues range from minor pixelations to huge image breakups that look like waves where the game is completely unwatchable. Sometime the image will freeze and fall behind the audio then rush to catch back up.

The Signal Quality and Symbol Strength on both channels is always at or close to 100% with Signal Strengths ranging between 80-95%. I added a LTE filter to no effect. I also recently switched the Transcoder from Hardware to Software, but it's too soon to know if that will make any difference.

#40

No. This only happens on football games? That seems impossible. Have you tried with the HDHomeRun app to see if there are also issues there?

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