I have an idea

Badger

Badger

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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This seems like the best place to ask.
We have a 20 ft antenna mast for local TV stations but it and the antenna are getting old and needing replacement. The problem is I am not steady or strong enough to climb on the roof to take it down and put up another antenna and Radio Shack where I bought it are no longer around anyway.
So I was wondering if using a 20 ft aluminum telescoping flagpole might be a good alternative. I could easily install it in a concrete base and the be able to raise and lower it to install and/or replace antennas. I already have one in the front yard for our flags.
Would this work or are there potential problems with this idea?

Cheers!
 
Much depends on the situation of your home and the terrain surrounding it. However, I think that 20 feet up would be fine. I have a few digital antennas in our attic and we do fine. The attic space where they are mounted is probably 12 feet off the ground.
 
Sounds reasonable to me...
 
If you also anchor it to your fascia board, it should be stable.
 
njhowie said:
Much depends on the situation of your home and the terrain surrounding it. However, I think that 20 feet up would be fine. I have a few digital antennas in our attic and we do fine. The attic space where they are mounted is probably 12 feet off the ground.
Click to expand...

What's a "digital antenna?"
 
Badger said:
This seems like the best place to ask.
We have a 20 ft antenna mast for local TV stations but it and the antenna are getting old and needing replacement. The problem is I am not steady or strong enough to climb on the roof to take it down and put up another antenna and Radio Shack where I bought it are no longer around anyway.
So I was wondering if using a 20 ft aluminum telescoping flagpole might be a good alternative. I could easily install it in a concrete base and the be able to raise and lower it to install and/or replace antennas. I already have one in the front yard for our flags.
Would this work or are there potential problems with this idea?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

As pointed out, windy days will mean some swaying which would affect antenna performance. If you could anchor a 20 ft mast to your house, that would likely work out better.

Pour a small concrete footer and add a hinged mount at ground level. Install a stand-off mount on the eve. Walk-up the mast and pre-installed antenna. All the required parts are readily available on the Internet. No climbing or roof-tops involved!
 
Antenna info.

There is no difference between analog and digital antennas. Most stations are now broadcast on UHF, even if they are known as their old original VHF designation. Go to antenna web.org for info on stations in your areA, and what stations they are actually brocast on and what antenna to get.
 
^ That's what I thought too. UHF is UHF at least from an electromagnetic wave point of view.
 
skyking1 said:
The DTV stations use a different antenna design than the old VHS antennas.
https://installmyantenna.com.au/blog/best-antenna-service/
Click to expand...

Just as a fyi to our members not involved with antenna design and construction (in my case as a hobby), there is no difference between designing an antenna or its installation regarding the modulation of the signal. Analog or digital modulation types make no difference.

The above site simply mis-uses the term "digital antenna." There are some requirements to consider when planning to receive today's UHF, low ERP television signals, but the fact that their signals are modulated in a digital format isn't one of them.

I suppose to the typical consumer, referring to an antenna as a digital antenna simplifies things. But it is a misnomer.
 
Badger said:
This seems like the best place to ask.
We have a 20 ft antenna mast for local TV stations but it and the antenna are getting old and needing replacement. The problem is I am not steady or strong enough to climb on the roof to take it down and put up another antenna and Radio Shack where I bought it are no longer around anyway.
So I was wondering if using a 20 ft aluminum telescoping flagpole might be a good alternative. I could easily install it in a concrete base and the be able to raise and lower it to install and/or replace antennas. I already have one in the front yard for our flags.
Would this work or are there potential problems with this idea?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
A couple of thoughts:

First, do you need 20 feet? TV transmission is line of sight. As long as the two antennas can "see" each other, then further height is unnecessary. Antennas cannot see through buildings, particularly those with a lot of metal. They cannot see through hills, etc. If you contact the stations you want to view, they should be able to tell you where their antenna towers are and the height of the antenna. Searching something like "line of sight signal calculator" will get you web sites that will help you guess at a minimum height for your antenna. Putting it in your attic may be entirely adequate, though if you are in snow country, a load of snow may interfere.

Second, ham radio stores have lots of options for towers, telescoping supports, etc. Try hamradio.com, https://www.dxengineering.com/, or https://www.gigaparts.com/. Just call and explain what you are trying to do. Along those lines, I have had very good luck with surplus military tripods and masts. Two or three of the 5' sections in a roof tripod should work for a small UHF TV antenna. Like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125621153279 and something like this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rca-Vh13...606431?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1772 The tripods are intended to be used on roofs, but for your application some screw-in earth anchors would probably hold one nicely.
 
I thought this was a different topic.

When I say out loud "I have an idea" my wife usually responds with something along the lines of "God help us".
 
gauss said:
^ That's what I thought too. UHF is UHF at least from an electromagnetic wave point of view.
Click to expand...
Yes. The only thing the antenna cares about is whether it is optimized for the frequency range its user wishes to receive.

In "olden times" TV antennas were designed to receive both VHF and UHF frequencies. This is why many of them look like two antennas on the same mast. The antenna with the long elements receives the longer-wave VHF signals and the antenna with the short elements, small dish design, or small corner reflector receives the shorter-wave UHF signals. These days there is less need for VHF TV reception since most TV has been moved to UHF. This is best determined by checking with the actual TV stations in the neighborhood to determine what antenna is needed.
 
Walt34 said:
I thought this was a different topic.

When I say out loud "I have an idea" my wife usually responds with something along the lines of "God help us".
Click to expand...

Funny!
When I say it, she says "Treat it right; it's far from home."
 
OldShooter said:
Yes. The only thing the antenna cares about is whether it is optimized for the frequency range its user wishes to receive.

.
Click to expand...

Well, there is the issue of what "optimized" means........... F to B, F to S, gain, bandwidth, polarization, pattern, match, etc., etc. :)

"Optimized for the frequency range" would be a huge over simplification, no? But, indeed, designing for modulation of the signal (analog or digital) is NOT one of the things optimized for. So "digital antenna" means nothing. It's just short for "an antenna optimized for receiving todays OTA commercial TV signals."

I bet we're boring all the fine folks who don't monkey around with antennas for fun, so enough of this! :LOL:
 
Last edited:
Digital antennas are sold alongside hot water heaters.
 
Depending on where you live, you may be able to get away with a digital indoor antenna plugged into your TV and taped to a window, mine are the square black flat ones. I have them on all my TV's and they work fine for me, the signal comes from a translator tower about 20 miles away on a mountain and I can see it from the back of the house. Try ordering one from Amazon that you can return if it doesn't work. I think mine cost me around $12 each a couple of years ago and have been well worth it. Don't believe the 300 mile promise, I doubt that's true, 50 miles is probably more realistic. I purchased an outdoor antenna right before Covid and am still waiting for the local guy that runs our digital TV translator to find time to install it for me and I haven't pushed him since my indoor ones work so well. I don't know much about how it works but the Los Angeles networks send the signal to his equipment and then he rebroadcasts it to a local translator on the mountain. We're about 100 miles away from Los Angeles.
 
Seriously though, we use OTA and have a yagi antenna in our attic connected to a Fire TV Recast OTA DVR, also in the attic. The Recast "transmits" audio and video to any of our 4 TVs throughout the house and garage via our home wifi and a Firestick on each TV. Works slick and I don't need any wiring from the attic to other parts of the house.
 
If I knew that I "needed" a digital antenna maybe I would have kept Radio Shack from going under! I am receiving around 70 OTA channels on an old (maybe 35 years old?) analog antenna mounted inside my garage. Since I have one local channel broadcasting in the high VHF range, I don't want to get by using a dedicated "Digital" (aka UHF) antenna. I did cut off the low VHF elements to make more room in my loft. I have to laugh at how the snake oil advertisers sell "digital" antennas.
 
Yeah, they are all analog antennas.
 
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