Ask This Old House - O.T.A. Outdoor Antenna Install

Here's a segment from a recent episode of the PBS do-it-yourself series "Ask This Old House". It's a look at a fairly standard install of an over-the-air outdoor antenna in a fringe area for reception of Boston area digital terrestrial TV signals - a great option for those who want free HDTV without any monthly fees.

Capped from WGBH-HD Boston - All Copyrights Acknowledged.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• OTA
• Over
• Air
• Free
• HDTV
• Digital
• Outdoor
• Antenna
• Install
• Installation
• TV
• Television

[ActingLocal]

Good program, but I don't understand why they did not need a rotor. This looks like a very directional Yagi. What if there are a bunch of transmitters scattered around?

[Rycar60]

@TELEVISIONARCHIVES I'm picking up NBC over by UCF, but Orlando covers a large area.  I believe the transmitter is in Christmas.

[TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

Major Disappointed in the signal strength of OTA signals in Orlando. I can't get my NBC station at all

[fooey88]

@rickcain2320 True but I think there was a law passed that overruled HOA policies when the digital TV conversion happened.

[urbex2007]

@bricknboxer I would agree with that, a low power distribution amp would have been a better choice. A 2 way splitter has a loss of 3dB minimum which is HALF the signal gone. 4 outlets degrades it much more, so he could have used a much smaller aerial and distribution amp to get a decent signal. That will fall off the roof in a few years! That grounding wire is a higher resistance than the coax so it would still blow his TV and sockets etc, the wire would melt if hit, so pointless to have.

[rickcain2320]

Monstrous antenna, looks like an HD7698P. I'm sure there's no HOA in his neighborhood, they would be having fits if somebody put that on their roof.

[SuperD104]

sure wish I could hire this guy to put up my ham radio antenna I cant find anyone here to instaill it on my roof..I called a few roofers they dont wanna isntall it.not many people around that install antennas anymore.its just a straight stick 20 feet tall and want to mount it with a chimney strap before the winter sets in here in Connecticut.you make it look easy.great job.you want antoerh job outting my antenna up?

[rickcain2320]

@hitachi088

Yeah, insulated 8-gauge copper wire is preferred as a grounding wire. Aluminum is cheaper though, as the price of copper these days is insane. The better way is to run the wire as straight as possible on some standoffs away from the house, unless you want your house to catch fire when that wire is draining a few million volts. Other that that it looks like they did a good installation. Most people do some rather ghetto installs, or put up a silly chinese ebay antenna.

[rickcain2320]

@bricknboxer

You can alleviate the signal loss problem of a 4-way splitter somewhat by putting terminator caps on the unused outputs of the splitter.

[strokex1]

that attachment requires no drilling, nice to see.