Since losing access to all NBC channels via TVE, I’ve considered adding an antenna for OTA locals. That said, I don’t want to get into the complication of adding an outdoor antenna. I did a scan for my area (Berea, KY) which indicates strong signals for all of the channels that I’m interested in. Any chance an indoor antenna would work for my purposes, or is this a pipe dream?
Next to the strength number is a statement of "Good", "Fair", "Poor", or "Bad", which is always based on the field strength rather than one of the signal power numbers. "Good" means that an indoor antenna should have good luck with the signal.
You should have luck with this antenna:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zenith-25-Miles-Indoor-Passive-VHF-UHF-Antenna-VN1ANTP2/310551785
if not, there is always this big boy:
I have tried several and even placed on in the attic but not as good as having one outside in the weather.
I tested a bunch and this one ended up being the winner, working fine for me. And doesn't look too bad in my home office, either. I have it lying horizontally on top of a bookshelf.
As always with antennas though, YMMV...
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No one can answer this question with authority. Every case is different. You might get a perfect signal while your neighbor may get nothing usable. There are a hundred variables, only a few can be calculated by an on-line program.
Indoor antenna's work for some people. Attic antennas usually work better than indoor antennas. Rooftop antennas work better than attic antennas.
Antenna reception often comes down to trial and error. I started with an attic antenna, then I got a bigger attic antenna, then I got a separate VHF antenna, then I put both antennas above the roof.
If you can borrow an indoor antenna, then you should give it a try. If not, and you are within 20 miles of the transmitter, buy one at a place where it can be returned. If it almost works, try a better one. If you are in a strong signal area, something should work.
The other thing you can run into is the amount of power a TV station can send in your direction. My house is NE of our ABC tower. They are limited in the amount of power that can be sent in my direction due to other neighboring stations in another city. I didn't realize this and went through a bunch of TV antennas to find out during the repack they put out a statement that if we lived NE from the tower you may not receive a signal from them. They ended up working with NBC affiliate and they rebroadcast the same channel on another frequency. So I totally agree that each location is different and I hope you don't run into what I did. I thought I would mention I am only 15 miles from the tower with clear line of sight to that station. Open field next to me as its considered a flood plain.
Yes. I have been using an indoor antenna for years. A Mohu Ranger. It is an flat rubber indoor/outdoor antenna. I live in a 3rd floor apartment complex and have a back bedroom with a window that faces East, which is where the main OTA transmitter tower is. So, it worked out perfect to mount the thing above the window, between the gap of the window frame and the ceiling, inside. I do live less than 10 miles from the tower though, and thus get very strong signal on all the channels, no amp needed. Only a couple channels, ION and 2 others, are weak, but they transmit from a tower over 40 miles away NorthWest.
Ones success with an indoor antenna, is extremely dependent on their environment and how far they are form their tower and what obstacles lie in-between. There also is a billion kinds of random indoor antennas out there, powered and passive. Some have inline band filtering, some do not. (like for cell and radio signals etc).
I have one indoor Antenna going into a 4 way splitter ....
This is the one ....
I have an indoor antenna in the window on the 3rd floor of my townhouse. I am also fortunate that the window I use faces the towers which are about 10 miles and the signal comes to me over water. Very little between my home and the towers.
I did notice that I have to put it directly in the window. They used some kind of metal in the walls of my home and that kills my signal if I don't put it directly in a window.
I am using a fairly cheap winegard antenna. All of my signals come in great.
While all the comments here are well-intended, your situation is different than all of the them. As suggested earlier, run a report on rabbitears.info. Set “Shift shown location for privacy” to Yes to obscure your exact address from users here. Then run the report and post it here. You’d get better suggestions for certain.
I had one in the attic, and it was fair. then I got smart and put it in the window of an upstairs bedroom and plugged it into the coax cable that runs to the garage where all the cables come together.
Works great even with a small mountain in the way. $50 flat in both cases.
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Just make sure that you changed the line coming from your antenna to the input to the splitter. Also if you have more coax connected than you have devices you could up your signal level by using a splitter with less loss. In other words if you have 8 lines connected but only have 4 devices. Use a 4 way splitter and you will boost the incoming signal by the reduction in loss which would be 7dbmv.
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I have this Walmart $10 ONN rabbit ears in the attic on a PVC pole as high as I could go.
Feeding into an HDHR so I can get throughout the house.
I get ALL my locals and the associated sub-channels.
Most locals are withing 22 miles or so but I do get one from 42 miles away that's in just the right direction.
I've been using an Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse TV Antenna in a window facing the transmitter towers. Use Antennaweb to know what direction the towers are. If I had it on the other side of the house I'd get nothing.
I'd say go for it, if you're within 25 miles of the transmitter. I made a simple coat hanger antenna (method 2: Simple Ways to Make a TV Antenna with a Coat Hanger) that I've used for years. It works great. I can pull in 91 channels, and all the major networks are rock solid. It takes a severe weather event to break them up.
I've had pretty good luck with Antenna's Direct Clearstream 2V. I have this indoors in my bedroom on the ground floor (ranch house). I tried it in the attic and it actually was no better and maybe even worse. I even tried a Televes antenna that is way bigger and costs way more (in the attic) and it did no better than this for me so I returned it. I have one problematic ATSC 1.0 channel that pixelates and is still an issue with every antenna I've tried, including this one, but I seem to get the best performance and overall picture with this one. With ATSC 3 channels, it's perfect so if the encryption issue is ever resolved, I'll be golden.
Our primary OTA antenna is on a 12-foot mast mounted to our chimney, but for family and friends in apartments where an outdoor antenna wasn't a viable option, I've tried numerous indoor antennas. On the whole, the ClearStream 2V performed the best and is the one I'm using in our sunroom which has no other sources in it.
You have to remember that when you place an antenna in the attic, you need a signal amplifier at the antenna to make up for the signal losses in the extra coax cable needed to reach the TV.
Actually that wasn't necessary in this case because the length of coax was still less than 50ft (small house). The Televes that I tried had a built in amplifier and it made no difference.
It's weird in that the channel is stable for long periods of time, but pixelates mostly when there's fast motion on the screen with graphics especially. I even tried an LTE filter and it made no difference.
The tower is in a completely different direction than all the others and I suspect there's some sort of ground reflection going on here because in the bedroom where it seems to do best there are windows. I've even gotten the signal/symbol at 100% by pointing it a certain way and it still occurs.