Indoor Antennas Suck!

[Randy99CL]

I lived 25+ miles from broadcast TV stations so bought 2 amplified indoor antennas; one with the amp built in and the other an inline amp. Hooked them both to a splitter and used the inline amp between the splitter and TV. Antennas 12 feet apart and oriented in different directions.
Reception varied greatly, sometimes good but often bad depending on the weather and wind. I'd move the antennas all around and positions that worked great at one time might not work at all a few hours later. Royal PITA.

Recently moved to a big city and am now surrounded by multiple stations within a few miles of me but the reception isn't much better than what I got before!? WTF?
TV shows signal strength that's often in the 90s (max 100) but will sometimes drop into the 20s-0. Extremely inconsistent.

I live in an apartment and an outdoor antenna isn't possible.

Any broadcast engineers out there with ideas I can try?

TIA

 

[Binky]

Are you pointing in the right direction (antennaweb.org)? Every channel's tower might not be in exactly the same direction. When you say the signal changes, are you talking about the same channel?

There is no real substitute for larger and higher antennas - just varying levels of band-aid fixes.

 

[HeXen]

I figured out indoor antenna's suck when I was about 4 yrs old and became dad's remote control and antenna tweaker. That's just how life was back in the day.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

What antennas? Did you try one at a time? Using two can cause multipath interference. Two amplifiers is bad too. Also, lots of sweet spots and dead zones with indoor antennas, even a few inches or slight rotation can make a huge difference.

 

[nickbits]

Use an outdoor antenna indoors. That's what I did... wasn't pretty but it worked.

 

[boomhower]

I disagree. They certainly aren't as good as outdoor but with a good one they aren't bad. I used one of these and it worked well for stations up to 30 miles or so. My local Fox station is about 40 miles and it wasn't working well. Mounted this on the roof and works like a charm.

 

[Randy99CL]

Are you pointing in the right direction (antennaweb.org)? Every channel's tower might not be in exactly the same direction. When you say the signal changes, are you talking about the same channel?
There is no real substitute for larger and higher antennas - just varying levels of band-aid fixes.

Thanks for the antennaweb link!
I live in Albuquerque and it shows that there are 14 broadcast antennas about 12 miles NE of me, all clustered on one mountain.
I've been orienting my antennas more E-W and will switch them to the north wall.

Someone mentioned multipath problems and two amps not working well. I know that I was disappointed when I added the second antenna because it didn't seem to improve the signal much at all.
So I'll try them one at a time and aimed north and see which works best.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Binky]

So I'll try them one at a time and aimed north and see which works best.

If you have nothing else, you can download a compass app for your phone and it will show degrees. You can get a better sense of exactly where to point with an accurate compass, even if its just your phone.

 

[DesiPower]

My solution to the ugliness of using outdoor antenna indoor is to use it in another room and use amplifier.

 

[mmntech]

Yeah, they do suck. Since UHF has a shorter wavelength, it works best line-of-sight. The signal doesn't pass well through dense materials like brick or metal siding.

If you live in a house, you might be able to get away with an attic mounted antenna. Will be better than rabbit ears while still being inconspicuous. Of course a roof or mast mounted antenna will give you the most reliable signal. Height is everything.

 

[DesiPower]

Radiant barriers kill the attic antenna, but still better than indoor. Roof mounted is best, unless your HOA has some policies against it.

 

[Randy99CL]

Update: The biggest problem that I had was that reception was extremely inconsistent. For example; the PBS station signal strength would constantly fluctuate from 70+ down to less than 20 (where it would break up). I couldn't watch a one-hour show without having to get up and move the antennas two or three times.
I wondered if I wasn't getting some kind of electrical interference.

Did you try one at a time? Using two can cause multipath interference. Two amplifiers is bad too.

Bingo! I think this was the problem.
I disconnected one of the antennas and amps (and eliminated the splitter) yesterday and reception is 1000% better. The PBS station was consistent at 75+ all last night with zero fluctuation.
I checked the signal strength on every channel again today and they're all high and steady.
I'm sure that I was getting multipath interference. Thanks, Gonad.

On another note; since I'm single and my apartment is pretty much a man cave I'm thinking of getting a small outdoor antenna and hanging it from the ceiling in the living room. I'll airbrush and modify it to try to create a piece of mechanical art.

 

[mmntech]

Radiant barriers kill the attic antenna, but still better than indoor. Roof mounted is best, unless your HOA has some policies against it.

IIRC, HOA's cannot legally bar residents from putting up an antenna.

 

[mvbighead]

I just bought this for 59.95 at my local Sams:

http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Ultimate...&qid=1430165867&sr=8-2&keywords=mohu+ultimate

Previously I was using:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT751-Du...TF8&qid=1430165917&sr=8-8&keywords=hd+antenna

I have to say that right now, the Mohu Leaf is performing much better. Odd thing is, I have it up in a window facing perpendicular to the source on a lower level, and it gets everything clearly with about 70% or higher quality according to my HDHomeRun device. The other antenna was at 50% on some of the channels.

I've got three other antennas, and right now, nothing has performed anywhere near as well as this Mohu. I had initially purchased it thinking if it did not work it would be a quick and easy return process through Sams. But at this point, I think I am keeping it.

 

[paperwastage]

it depends UHF vs VHF

I had a antenna (bundled to my usb tv stick), works better on VHF than the 30-mile Mohu Leaf because of the design
http://www.computer-tempel.de/prods/200_600003819487/high_gain_tv_antenna.jpg

(tv channels were ~8 miles away, Mohu Leaf kept losing connection/stuttering while the other one was fine. UHF channels are fine on both)

 

[mmntech]

VHF's longer wavelength means it can pass through objects without too much absorption or reflection.

The primary advantage of UHF was it allowed for more channels with smaller antennas. Back in the analogue days, you could get a clear picture with VHF rabbit ears, but UHF was always a little fuzzy. With digital, you either get a picture or you don't. Which is one of the bigger drawbacks of OTA-DTV. A lot of the bigger networks migrated back to VHF after the switchover.

 

[inachu]

If you live in a hi rise apartment then you can to speak with management.

Sometimes they have an antenna you can hookup to that is shared.