DIY, Latest antenna selector is pretty slick, knows nothing about DVRs
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Oct 22nd 2009 9:19AM
posted Oct 22nd 2009 9:19AM
We really love us some free over-the-air HD, in fact even when we do subscribe to cable or satellite, we still prefer to use an antenna for the locals because the picture quality tends to be better. At the same time we understand that antennas aren't for everyone, but we still continue to help everyone else find the best antenna for their location. This latest site is really little more than a cool Google Maps mashup like others we have seen before, but from an online antenna retailer. We really liked how it automatically determined our location -- somehow -- and it makes it easy to see where the towers are in your area. What we didn't like was that it suggested a rotator, which is just silly in the days of DVRs -- seriously, like a DVR would be able to turn the antenna to record your favorite show? Just for starters we don't even use a rotator and get every station without issue, but even if we did need one, we'd recommend you go with two antennas and a Jointenna instead. Yeah, it costs a little more, but works perfectly with DVRs, even when they have the ability to record from more than one channel at a time.
Really? Doesn't even show half of my available stations.
That's because by default it shows only the stations it has
an affiliation data for. Click "Show All" in the "Show by Network"
section and you will see everything.
Like all other similar tools, it is using the FCC database, so all TV stations are there.
If your antenna locals look better than your cable locals, then your cable co is doing something illegal. Cable companies are not allowed to rate shape or recompress locals in any way. They can do whatever they want with cable channels, but not locals. I regularly check mine with mpeg2repair to make sure my cable co (Mediacom) aren't doing this, and they've been good so far!
But really, if your provider is bit crushing your locals, holler at the FCC, I am sure they'd like to hear about it.
Glad to see someone is fighting the good fight, but you are dreaming if you think you can win that one. Good luck. (Just for the record I use FiOS which doesn't compress and still prefer OTA because the Media Center tuners are cheaper).
I'm surprised that there is no standardized electronic control for antenna rotators. The old-style satellite dishes were pretty standardized so you can use anyone's actuator for pointing the dish.
That's a good point, but even if there was that wouldn't help you if you wanted to record two shows at once.
Actually, there is, but nobody uses it. The RCA DTV converter boxes even had a port to control such a thing ("Smart Antenna" port), but since nobody built an antenna rotator to the spec...nobody's bothering to build a controller.
This is how I watch Tampa local OTA: http://www.aprsfl.net/8vsb
That's a staggeringly beautiful way to spend a Grand on Blonder Tongue antennas and Tin Lee electronics! I'm gobsmacked, really; I wish I had your hardware budget.
Channel Master doesn't make JoinTennas anymore. Winegard still makes antenna joiners, but they're not as application-specific as the CM units wer.
The Join-Tenna doesn't work when stations in different directions are on adjacent channels. This is what we really need:
New Products Wanted, part 3: Consumer-grade DTV channel demodulator and remodulator - http://michigantelephone.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/new-products-wanted-part-3-consumer-grade-dtv-channel-demodulator-and-remodulator/
Re- rotator vs. stacking multiple antennas
The DVR comment is valid, but using multiple antennas has its downsides too. When you stack multiple directional antennas, what you effectively get is a structure equivalent to a single BI-directional antenna with all the troubles that come with bi-directional antennas: multipath and interference.
In deep fringe and multipath-prone areas I would still recommend a single antenna with a rotator, performance-wise it is a better solution.
This site is really cool, and as a user of over-the-air HD, it could be really helpful...but their information seems to be incorrect. I've worked at some of the local TV stations around here, and I know where their broadcast centers are...and they're not where this site says they are. So...I don't know where that error lies.