i just purchased a mits WS48511. I live in Southern York County (Shrewsbury, PA). Currently Adelphia does not offer HD to their subscribers in this area. I'm interested in getting OTA HD and have been looking at different antenna's. My HOA does not allow antenna's on the roof of my home so I wanted to know if others have had good reception when installing an antenna in their attic. i currently live about 15 miles south of York, PA and about 35 miles North of TV hill in baltimore.

tia

I'm sure Richard will point you to the right thread, but your HOA cannot prevent you from putting up an outside antenna up to 12' above the roofline. It's a FCC mandate that not all HOAs are aware of. So if you want it outside you can do it, although you may start some heated protests from the HOA and neighbors. An attic antenna can and often does work fine but it won't work as well as an outside antenna. You could try putting it in the attic first and see what you get. You can always move it outside later. You may need a pre-amp also. Channel master seems to be the preferred vendor right now. Again - lots of threads on this. Do a search.

Everything Allan said is correct. My guess is the odds of an attic antenna performing well at 35 miles is under 50%, but you can’t know until you try it. If it works at first, reception might get worse if the moisture content of the building materials increases, and will certainly get worse when tree leaves reappear in the spring. Information on the FCC preemption of HOA rules is at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html . Before starting an antenna project, you might want to read http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html .

Hey Jeff,

I tried my Channel Master Antenna in my attic and it didn't work well, but I have several mountains to contend with. Small world, I just moved from Stewartstown, PA...off the same exit as you. I would think you would have a better chance at receiving the signal in the attic than I do where i live now. I figure the Baltimore stations broadcast at high power. I'm running into the situation where my locals are broadcasting at such low power, it's only good for about a 5 mile radius. Hopefully this will change. Good luck!!

P.S. I don't miss the drive from Shrewsburry to Baltimore everyday, but I miss the location.

thanks tony.

i just moved to shrewsbury earlier this year. i'm kinda use to the drive now (42.5 miles from shrewsbury to locust point). i do miss the .5 miles from federal hill to locust point, but i get a little more bang for my buck here.

i'm going to try and see if it works for the bmore stations, hopefully it will. i should be able to pick up the nbc affiliate in york with no problem. not sure about abc and cbs in harrisburg.

As stated earlier a home owner's association cannot stop you from putting an antenna on your roof. The FCC has mandated this, in fact the antenna can be 12 feet above the highest roofline of your residence and the antenna may be up to 1 meter in diameter.

I started out with a Terk antenna mounted behind my Mitsu HDTV. It was marginal at best. I next went with an antenna in the attic, which was a little better, but still not adequate. I next added an amplifier, with no appreciable difference. Finally I mounted the antenna on the roof and now receive great OTA results. I live about 30 miles from the transmitters in Phoenix, AZ. Some of them are still not up to full power, but pixelation and no signal at all are now not a problem.

>>Finally I mounted the antenna on the roof and now receive great OTA results.

This is a common problem across the country; Trying to beat antenna reception 101.

Put it where it belongs, 12 feet above the roof line and more than likely everything will work out great. Anything less can cause reception problems.

Richard F. Fisher
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
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