I live in a fairly rural area about 35 miles from Seattle and tried using a wired antenna for live HD broadcasts but got virturally no channels as my server and gear are facing west and the majority of broadcast sources are east of my home.
I’m wondering if there is a wireless antenna that I could connect in my attic or other side of the house to send the HD broadcast channels to a DVR in my home media server rack.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
You could possibly connect an antenna (amplified if possible) to an HDHomeRun Connect, which can then connect wirelessly into your network, which Plex can see.
The Short Answer is:
No.
No such beast exists and if some company is selling one - it’s a POS.
There is no long answer.
Buy a real antenna (NOT a Mohu) and either install it via a coaxial lead wire yourself, or have it professionally installed.
BEFORE you do anything go here:
http://www.tvfool.com/
Run your address - or town, if you would like to post the report, so I can make a recommendation - into the machine to get a report about what is available via airwaves in your location.
Post the report and let’s have a look at the possibilities.
Thanks Tony, attached is the report. I look forward to your recommendations.
Bob
Well…
What I see is a lot of 2Edge signals for your big networks - ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS.
What does 2Edge Mean?
1Edge means there’s something in the way.
2Edge means there’s something bigger in the way.
They’re close - under 30 miles mostly, but there’s that something big in the way. In the old days of VHF Low and VHF High signals were more ‘bendy and bouncy’. You could get some 2Edge as it careened off of something else and ricocheted onto your antenna. That’s not the case any more. UHF isn’t going to ricochet off of anything. LOS means Line of Sight and that’s what you’re looking for.
Unfortunately, for you, the three LOS transmitters are right at 60 miles - 2 Independents (could be good) and a PBS. You’ll need a big antenna. Fortunately, if you want to ‘try’ for these 2Edge transmitters you’re going to need that big antenna (I get 2Edge frequently - cross your fingers 'cause there are no sure things when it comes to 2Edge). Unfortunately those LOS stations are NW/NNW and the 2Edge are SE/SSE. That do make it difficult.
You’ve also got 3 VHF High Band channels that are more bendy and bouncy - if you want to try for CW, PBS and that FOX station. That will take another type of Antenna - more expensive. Personally I’d bag that idea and stick with a powerful UHF for this 2Edge experiment. I’ll give you the option - you make the call.
Here’s a DB8 - a powerful UHF ONLY I have had great success with for about 70 bucks:
Here is it’s brother, a Channel Master 4248 that looks just like it:
Looks can be deceiving. The Channel Master is better with VHF High because if you’ll note the reflector is one continuous piece, more apt to reflect those longer waves onto the reception elements.
If you want to remove the guesswork and throw the biggest gun at this experiment that will absolutely cover VHF High and UHF:
This is the biggest gun in the fleet. It’s a Yagi Type. Two Antennae built on the same boom. A UHF Corner Reflector out in front of a VHF High Band Yagi and this thing has some real gain and is your best hope (Obi-Wan).
Will this antenna work at 100+ miles - no, it won’t. That’s below the Horizon. Scratch those off the list.
VHF High doesn’t propagate by bouncing off the troposphere as well as VHF Low did, but even then you had to count on a solar storm to log those ‘contacts’ and it was more fun than it was reliable viewing. I once watched 20 minutes of Sesame Street coming out of Austin, Texas - I was in Virginia. I was young then and lived on what my Neighbors and Friends called ‘Clarke Tower Antennae Farms’. It was nothing for me to build an antenna and haul it up 60 feet of ‘one of the towers’ in my yard. I did a LOT of ‘Transmitting’ as well in those days and my Neighbors noted that I was on Channel 5 more than ‘I Love Lucy’.
Those days of skittering up a tower are long gone. Anyway.
You’ll need a professional installer, or you’ll need:
RG-6 Coax Cable, F Terminations, Termination Tools (for proper connections), Possible Line Amplifiers, Splitters, Drywall saws, Drills, ladders, Pipes, Clamps, and various other materials. I could dig through the closet for that stuff. You - will probably want to look in the Yellow Pages for that professional installer. lol
You could do something like this though if you had a J-Mount, some Coax , terminals and tools - throw the Coax in through the window and put some blue tape over the gap - easy - effective:
That’s my DB8 aimed at the PBS tower 3 miles from here from the bottom of this ravine in which myself and a lot of farm animals, bears, deer, squirrels, etc., live in WV. There’s one channel to get - and I get it! Dammit!
I used those Amazon Links above because their return policy is bulletproof - in case this ‘experiment’ goes South and you can’t get anything. I think the chances are pretty good, however, you will get something, but I’m not there installing this stuff for you with several ‘options’ in the truck along with all the other goodies - that once was in the truck when I was professionally installing these things for people.
The good part about all this is if it works you’re going to feel really good and have free stuff to watch and record. If it doesn’t work you’re not out that much, but you will have learned a few things about antennae and Television Broadcasts.
Have fun. To me there’s great fun playing around with antennae and Radio/TV. After all these years it’s still magic the way it happens, but it happens.
Wow, lots to research, thanks so much!
@JuiceWSA a shared thank you… I too will benefit from your info share. Tip top 
I’m interested to find out what happens.
More tips:
If your http://www.tvfool.com/ report indicates there are LOS signals in the 40 mile range over relatively flat ground - and you’re working in a frame house NOT under a metal roof - an attic installation is perfectly acceptable. Attics are nice in that lightning bolts tend not to strike antennae in them and apart from the heat they aren’t subjected to the elements.
TV Signals from nearby transmitters are altering your DNA right now as they pass through your house and are being received on your dental work. Might as well capture some of them and send them to your TV.
@“bobmalecki.wa@gmail.com” probably wants to start outside, see what happens, then adjust if possible. You never know how 2Edge signals are going to behave until you try to receive them. I had a 2Edge signal at 57 miles once that came in like blockbusters in a second story apartment through cementitious siding (Hardy Plank). Investigations revealed that particular transmitter was coming out of there at 50 thousand watts, but there was a little knoll in the way. 4 Miles from that transmitter was a Sam’s Club Warehouse angled just perfectly so that signal careened off of that and continued on to my antenna in fine style. The antenna was that very same DB8 shown above - leaned up against the back of the entertainment cabinet.
You just don’t know what’s going to happen until you try it.
