New Antenna

[CaptNoize]

I was able to get a friend to help me install a new antenna yesterday. It was almost 70 degrees here, sunny,and no breeze. I had bought a new antenna back in January, a Televes DiNova Boss, after doing alot of research, and shopping on the internet. My old antenna had been put up in 2016. It had worked fine, that whole time, but, the reviews on it were terrible. It had a tendency to fail, preamp wise, after being up for only a few months.I think I got lucky, this one was still working. The Televes is built way more sturdier than the previous one. After getting the old one down,it was just a matter of time till it failed. The plastic case, was covered in black mold..! I couldn't see it from the ground, ( it was 30 feet in the air, mounted on the chimney) 1 of the plastic reflectors had broke off, and was missing. I was also surprised how much the cheap coaxial cable was deteriorating..! I replaced the antenna, cable and mounted a utility box at the bottom of the chimney, with a coaxial lightning arrestor, and ground, in the box. I scanned for channels after installation, and got roughly 8 more channels, all of which, I 'm not interested in. However, with this new antenna, hopefully, it will last for years. Or, at least, outlast me. The good thing also is, having this saves me over $1500 a year, from the cable company grave robbers. My neighbors are all bitching, the cable bill was just raised again...!

[crosscourt]

That was quite a job but hopefully you will see improvement in your overall channel number and quality of signal.

[CaptNoize]

I'm impressed with the quality of my picture. It really enhances the HD . Bad weather moved thru here last night,with alot of lightning and rain. I have quick connections at the preamp, and I always unplug the electric multi socket. That way, if lightning does strike, it doesn't get to critical electronics. I have the mast on the chimney grounded, and I also grounded the coaxial cable. It's amazing how many times I seen antennae with no ground..! That's a disaster waiting to happen..!

[wove]

Our antenna is in the attic. I snagged the coax cable and jerked the end off when it connects to the pre-amp which shut the system down. That was a couple years ago and I have never bothered to fix the connection. I am not even sure what remains on broadcast TV. We did like to watch gymnastics, figure skating and tennis on Sunday afternoon sports. Are those sports still on TV?

[CaptNoize]

There's lots on broadcast Tv around here.Over 108 channels,but some are copies, so i just skip those. Plenty of sports, and other interests , on OTA broadcasting. Way more than on terrestrial radio. That Totally sucks around here. I actually watch more OTA, than streaming. Cable tv has run it's course. And with the cable companies being as greedy as they are, they killed their industry. Too Bad, So Sad...

[crosscourt]

Figure skating you can get on the national affiliates like NBC, along with gymnastics. Tennis is also on the channels like NBC along with gymnastics and skating. Most areas get around 108 to 132 channels depending on the quality of your antenna.

[CaptNoize]

This antenna that I bought, gets roughly 112 channels. I've deleted the copy channels, so, I'm down to 95. Some are those shopping channels,which I totally detest. There are many sports channels here. Plus like CC said, all the major network channels.I do watch many of them. I find myself watching H&I alot. As well as Comet.

[crosscourt]

H&I really is good and Comet was better in the beginning but it still has a lot of good content.

[CaptNoize]

I finished up doing all the wiring by installing the coaxial ground wire to the lightning arrestor,and installing the grommets in the utility box. The wind was blowing hard yesterday,and the temp was 40 degrees. But the wind dropped the air temp to a bone chilling 22 degrees.! I worked on it till my fingers froze up,and had to go in my shop to warm up.. However, I kept at it,till I finished. Alot of rain is expected this weekend,and I WASN'T going to deal with that..!
So, I ended up inspecting my old antenna that I replaced, taking it apart, cleaning all the corrosion off the contacts, cleaning all exterior shell of mold, and checking internal circuitry. I lubricated all the contacts, wire connections. I then decided to install it in the attic of my garage \ shop. I use a Vizio tv monitor for my computer, so, I just hooked it into the coaxial input, then switched on the amplifier, turned the monitor on,and selected input 1, scanned for channels, and ended up with OTA tv in my shop..! I like that I now have the option of watching the news and weather in my workshop, without having a cable cost. Isn't my life exciting...

[crosscourt]

It didn't rain as much as expected and cleared up around 11am. You did good as you have more options and utilized even the older antenna.