Who cut the cord?? Looking for a good outdoor antenna to catch stations out of BR

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  • 340six

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    They had another very good channel is now Bounce that I had Fox on 8.1 and a great 8.2 before Bounce. It had great old TV on it. They swapped it for bounce Lets say younger, ghetto TV.
    Here in New Orleans
    4.1 is WWL, 4.2 is Justice, 4.3 is Decades 6.1 WDSU 6.2 is Me TV
     

    225todd

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    If you’re handy and have some extra materials laying around you could make this one. https://goo.gl/images/fEsw7X A coworker made one and swore by it. Finally I had to break down and make one myself. It works great. I have mine screwed up on a truss in the attic and split it to my bedroom and the living room tv’s. Now that 340six gave me the idea I may install a jack in the bathroom somewhere. It’s one of those things that I don’t really need, but now I have to have!
     

    BlueShamu

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    D'town
    I've got this mounted in my attic. We live in Prairieville and get 23 channels with it. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS and a few other networks and such broadcast out of BR.
    fc4d06f657d3f335aefca49a3205e9f8.jpg

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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    wcweir3

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    Gonzales, LA
    If you’re handy and have some extra materials laying around you could make this one. https://goo.gl/images/fEsw7X A coworker made one and swore by it. Finally I had to break down and make one myself. It works great. I have mine screwed up on a truss in the attic and split it to my bedroom and the living room tv’s. Now that 340six gave me the idea I may install a jack in the bathroom somewhere. It’s one of those things that I don’t really need, but now I have to have!

    What you are building is a home made yagi antenna no reason it would not work.
    Wingate
    PS you could always add more elements for better reception but then it would be more directional
     
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    Mudbug00

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    Schriever, LA
    Built my own.

    Looking at outdoor antennas to catch VHF Hi/Uhf television broadcasts out of Baton Rouge..Lots of antennas out there with some optimistic claims and want some real input from actual users of these things. Already doing streaming and only interested in hearing from folks who are using outdoor antennas. Thanks a bunch as always!!

    I live in Schriever, LA. About 60 miles almost due south of Baton Rouge. and equal distance from New Orleans to the east, mostly.

    I built my own antennas, just for fun. I didn't even know that so many Free-To-Air stations existed until I started watching them. I have them up on a single pole about 18ft. Just go to YouTube and search for HDTV antennas

    There are lots of YouTube videos telling how to build a good antenna for external use. The first one was the one that used coat hangers. It happened that my Clothes Cleaners provided stainless steel hangers that really look good. The instructions are reasonably easy, if you have access to any tools at all. Later, I built other antennas using heaver gauge wires, but they don't work any better. If you do this, go to Harbor Freight and purchase some aluminum welding rods for about $15.

    But being in Prairieville, you really won't need too much of an antenna to get them all. What's that? 10 miles? The problem is direction. From there, the several stations in Baton Rouge might prove to be a bit of a spread for you. The spread angle is VERY important. Even from my house, I still need to move my antennas a little to get one or another of the stations, depending on the distance that the are from each other. Certainly not more than 10 degrees though, for me. Your signal strength will be so much better than it is for me, you might not need to move them at all.

    I accomplished the New Orleans/Baton Rouge problem by building two different antennas on the same pole. You cold do this as well, and just spead them in whatever arch you need. I accomplished this by putting them together with a common splitter or combiner (they are the same thing, so don't go looking for a special combiner.) But from my distance, I had to buy a signal booster to get the very best results. I still have problems getting a couple of the channels, though. For some reason, Channel 8 in New Orleans (FOX) is come and go. But Channel 44 in Baton Rouge is also Fox, so I won't worry about it.

    I get about 40 channels from the combined areas with duplicates on the majors. (ABC, NBC,CBS,FOX,PBS)

    Having said all this, I live in a very rural area, and no one cares about appearance, since it's not a subdivision. If you have to live by neighborhood or subdivision homeowner agreement, you probably could not get by with two antennas outside on the same pole.
     
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    Mudbug00

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    What you are building is a home made yagi antenna no reason it would not work.
    Wingate
    PS you could always add more elements for better reception but then it would be more directional

    No, that's not a Yagi at all. The YAGI is the old fashion TV antenna that is oriented horizontal to the ground and points like an arrow toward it's desired station. The one he pictured is an actual HDTV antenna. This one actually points broadside to the station. So it orients up and down, or perpendicular to the ground. It does a much better job of catching the digital HD signals that the old Yagi's do.

    The advantage to the new HDTV design is the size. To get a decent signal on the old analog system, your antenna needed to be about 15' long at least. The antenna he shows is only about 3-4' tall.

    From my house near Houma, a YAGI would not work at all.
     

    JB-Glock21

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    Looking at outdoor antennas to catch VHF Hi/Uhf television broadcasts out of Baton Rouge..Lots of antennas out there with some optimistic claims and want some real input from actual users of these things. Already doing streaming and only interested in hearing from folks who are using outdoor antennas. Thanks a bunch as always!!

    Antennas used & tested: Channel Master 4221HD 180 Degree Range, CM 3220 Stealth Directional (LOS Req'd), MOHU Leaf Extreme (Don't Bother), Antennas Direct 200 MAX (Boasting 60+ Mile Range) was only Fair at best, Currently under test - Antop 404B Smart Pass Directional.

    Here in Denham Springs, all Transmitters are with in a Westerly 37 Degree Arrangement, and all within less than 30 miles, with a cloud cover receiving included Hammond, New Orleans.

    All testing is with the antenna mounted outdoors at 11 ft. above grade.

    Go to TVFool plug in your data and see what is required to achieve the best results....things like Line of Site (LOS) vs Edge Refraction and at what height you need to be.

    Then you also will have to deal with pixilation and 4G LTE Cell Interference....blah, blah, blah.

    Good Luck, let us know how you make out.
     

    BOSS351

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    Pretty much decided on the ChannelMaster Stealthtenna 50 with a supposed 90 degree arc path, which would work as I determined the transmitter antennas are within a 60 degree one almost due west from my house. Now I have to figure on a tower/pole of some sort. Had some Rohn I let go years ago and could sure use it now!! Will keep ya'll posted when we get it set up. Thanks for all the responses guys/gals!
     

    RaleighReloader

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    Baton Rouge, LA
    I know this is a bit of a tangent ... but we cut the cable cord some years back, and we also got rid of the television last year. So no more TV. We got rid of our land line almost a decade ago, so the only things we "pipe" into the house now are cable internet, electricity, water/sewer and natural gas.

    This is one of the best things we've ever done. We no longer have the drone of the TV in the background, mindlessly piping in whatever junk the latest round of advertisers are trying to sell. No more laugh tracks, stupid sit-coms, "reality" TV, painfully scripted dialogue, and bad humor. No more second-by-second news accounts about whatever stupid **** some politician just said/did/tweeted. No more big black plastic box taking up a bunch of space.

    And here's the crazy thing: we now do more of the stuff that actually makes life worth living. We get out and walk more. I get out to the range and shoot more. I have more time to fix up the house, organize the shop, read books and magazines, talk to my family and friends, play with amateur radio, browse the endless array stuff from Midway and Brownells, etc.

    I will never, ever own another television set. I had no idea how much life it sucked out of me until I got it back.

    Mike
     

    JB-Glock21

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    Denham Springs
    Pretty much decided on the ChannelMaster Stealthtenna 50 with a supposed 90 degree arc path, which would work as I determined the transmitter antennas are within a 60 degree one almost due west from my house. Now I have to figure on a tower/pole of some sort. Had some Rohn I let go years ago and could sure use it now!! Will keep ya'll posted when we get it set up. Thanks for all the responses guys/gals!

    See my post above, I have used the predecessor (CM 3210) amplified version to CM's Stealthtenna 50, and now find myself searching for one that works better....given your location there is a lot going on between you and the xmtr towers.

    My experience has demonstrated: It is the antenna's "Capture Ratio" not it's "Distance" specs that determine success....I'm at 11 ft. and TVFool calculates for best results (solid, interference free picture) I need to be at a minimum of 17 ft.:mad:

    Still, please do let us know how it works for you.
     

    DamnYankee

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    Oct 6, 2014
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    BR, LA
    Had good luck with the Clearstream 2 from Antennas Direct. Set it up on the roof facing SW toward BR. at the time I was living in Shenandoah subdivision, off Jones Creek/Tiger Bend area of SE BR. got 24 channels in total. Local stations with major affiliates (ABC,NBC, CBS, etc.) came in digital clear, almost better than cable. recommend adding a small inline booster, $15 at Walmart. tied into my old Direct TV coax lines, so was able to feed entire house just like before dumping the satellite dish.

    Go to TV.com for daily channel listings, can be customized for your zip code.
     

    El Rubio

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    Jan 28, 2009
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    Ponchatoula
    No, that's not a Yagi at all. The YAGI is the old fashion TV antenna that is oriented horizontal to the ground and points like an arrow toward it's desired station. The one he pictured is an actual HDTV antenna. This one actually points broadside to the station. So it orients up and down, or perpendicular to the ground. It does a much better job of catching the digital HD signals that the old Yagi's do.

    The advantage to the new HDTV design is the size. To get a decent signal on the old analog system, your antenna needed to be about 15' long at least. The antenna he shows is only about 3-4' tall.

    From my house near Houma, a YAGI would not work at all.

    There's nothing old fashioned about Yagi antennas, and they work just fine with any type of RF signal. The antenna referenced is called a Bow Tie antenna. The difference is the Bow Tie is not as directional as the yagi, but usually performs well across a wide range of frequencies. The signal pattern is mostly two directions, front and back, not as much to the sides. Most of the time, you see the commercial versions of the Bow Tie with a reflector to focus performance in primarily one direction. It could be nice, without the reflector if you live somewhere between two major markets like B.R. & NOLA. you could pick up some ch's from one side and the other city from the back side of the antenna.
    The yagi focuses more of the signal in one direction. The most often stated advantage is higher gain, but the rejection of signals from the back side of the antenna can reduce noise and interference. All antennas work best if they are resonant. This is why the metal roof suggested in one post wouldn't make a good antenna. It makes a good shield from rf signals though. All antennas are physically cut to be resonant or perform best at the frequencies of TV signals. This is a fact of nature. The techniques used to make the antennas smaller reduce the performance. It's usually a trade off in size vs performance. Someone mentioned a screw would work just fine if it had a 110v booster on it - not true at all. Those booster amps are possibly the cheapest crappy amplifiers ever produced and often times create more noise and interference than the signals they are supposed to be boosting. 4G LTE transmissions don't cause interference to TV channels, maybe if near one of those crappy booster amps.
    If you can build the Bow Tie in the link suggested in an early thread, and it works for you, that's awesome. If you're not into that sort of thing, just buy something off the shelf and take the "range" figures with a grain of salt. All the gain and amplifiers in the world won't make the signal go over the horizon.
    As mentioned already, digital and HDTV antennas are just labels. If you have an old yagi TV antenna, chances are it is fine, if it's not broken. It's hard to imagine some of those old antennas being made more cheaply.
     

    BOSS351

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    OK guys we are up and running and very pleased at this point. The antenna we got was a RCA 7511 from Walmart and is directional. I mounted it under my eaves on my 10 ft. exterior wall and pointed in the direction from TV Fool and other sites. The cable run to the splitter is 23 feet and the splitter is enclosed outside and all cables go from there to 4 televisions. No amplification used and am getting 22 channels-all of the major networks Channels 2, 9, 33, and 44 plus the subchannels associated with them. This paired with Roku and everybody is happy and cutting my Eatel bill by half. Up front costs were not that high so it will pay for itself in no time.
     

    BOSS351

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    340six I had the pleasure, or mis pleasure, of watching Dolomite last night!!! Man, that is some funny s&*t!! I remember these blaxploitation movies during the 70s and vaguely remember this one. It came out in 75 so I was like 14 when it came out...too young to go to a R rated movie then but must have caught it sometime later. I remember the scene with the yellow Pantera--one of my favorite cars. I haven't seen that many pimp hats in a LONG time!! Thanks for the heads up!
     

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