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DTV antenna question

S

Scotpfv

I live within line of sight of the Cedar Hill antenna farm (DFW) and am currently using an old Radio Shack rabbit ears style antenna.
Due to where I live an outdoor antenna is out of the question. Reception with KDFW and KXAS is spotty at best. KTXA and KDFI have never shown up on my reciever. I've seen a few indoor antennas at stores like Best Buy but am hesitant to spend $60 for something that might not be any better than what I have now.

Any opinions or experiences with indoor antennas? Any help would be appriciated.
 
Rabbit ears are tuned for VHF (channels 2-13.)
Most of the DTV signals are UHF (channels 14 and up.)
Ask your electronics store about their return policy and try an inexpensive UHF antenna first.
Then depending on the results work your way up until you're happy with the reception.
 
For indoor use, there are several UHF antennas worth considering. Check out http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html, especially the Double-Bow and Silver Sensor, both suited for indoor use. Either would be a big improvement over the pathetic UHF loops found in most UHF/VHF combo antennas. You could combine either one with rabbit ears for VHF using a UHF/VHF signal combiner from Radio Shack or Fry's. For best results, though, try to keep the UHF antenna and the rabbit ears reasonably well separated.

The ideal indoor antenna would probably be something like the Double-Bow, only with larger bowties, and a 3-foot wide reflector so it'd work reasonably well with VHF-Hi also. The bad news is no one seems to be selling such an antenna. The good news, though, is it's quite easy to "roll your own." There's a great thread over at the AVS Forum on just this topic: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798265
 
Thanks for the info. What I have now is a combo rabbit ears/UHF loop, bottom of the line from Radio Shack from about 10 years ago. Not too suprised that it does not provide the best reception.
 
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