[Cialug] digital cable tv cards

[Tad Anhalt]

Tim Wilson wrote:
> There's a website that will help you determine the type of antenna for
> your area.  Go to:
> http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
> 
> This is really for internal antennas.  On the box is a CEA color code. 
> For my house, I need an antenna with a CEA color code of yellow for most
> stations, and blue for WOI.  Of course, WOI is at a different angle (3
> degrees) than the other stations.  I have an RCA antenna, and quite
> frankly, it sucks.  I would recommend almost anything over it.  I've
> never been able to get a station to stay locked in once I leave the
> antenna.  And I live on a hill in West Des Moines.  Someone I work with
> bought a roof-mount antenna.  He lives in Winterset, and doesn't seem to
> have too many problems.

Your RCA is probably yellow (omnidirectional).  That's the same type of
antenna that we use to pull in everything that is listed on that page
(don't recognize BOX but may have programmed it out).  You should still
be able to pull in all of those stations with a directional antenna and
will probably see less issues with dropouts when people walk in and out
of the room, etc.

If the antenna has an internal amplifier, turn it off.  If you've got a
set of plain old rabbit ears laying around, try those instead.  You'll
need a paralleled bow-tie to bring in some of the UHF channels.

I actually have one of those RCA antennas with the silver "dish" on the
front and the rabbit ears off the side, built in amplifier...  You're
right, it sucks.  The amplifier must be powered to use the antenna,
doesn't seem to ever shut completely off and the UHF element has a
really flaky connection.  It cuts in and out as the antenna is
adjusted...  You could probably do better with a looped coat hanger
screwed onto a balun.