Having a stucco exterior and being on the opposite side in my house from Shoreview I had to go outside (highly recommend checking out http://antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx for any directional antenna solutions). Some of the full power stations I could get fairly consistently (channels 9 and 23 were always strongest with the omnidirectional indoor antennas). I have not tried the bow tie options (which do look and sound promising), but settled for an amplifier and Radio Shack outdoor rectangular directional antenna for $40 and I'm happy. I live in South Minneapolis, so I was surprised I had to invest this much energy and time into tuning HD signals. Hope that helps, -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 7:41 AM, <rhubarbpieguy at gmail.com> wrote: > On 11/14/2011 01:00 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > >> I've been noticing that about 90% of what I watch comes from local >> channels that I think all have digital broadcasts. These would be the >> local PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox stations. It seems like a bad idea to pay >> $80/mo for DirecTV (HD) if I can get the HD on those stations for free over >> the airwaves and record the content to my computer (which is already >> connected by HDMI to the HDTV) >> >> So I'm wondering if any of you are doing this -- can you get good signals >> over the airwaves with no antenna outside the home? >> >> I'm also wondering about using the Ubuntu box as a DVR. Apparently there >> is this thing called MythTV, but I don't know much about it, yet. Is it >> possible to add DVR capability to an ordinary Ubuntu 10.10 installation? >> >> Mike >> ______________________________**_________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list<http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list> >> >> > Yes. An outside is best, but and indoor antenna can work well. Antenna > orientation can be quite important; you may have to rotate it to test for > best reception. A window will present the least obstruction. > > I've had very good success with a variation of the coat hanger antenna: > > http://makeprojects.com/**Project/Digital-TV-Coat-** > Hanger-Antenna/722/1<http://makeprojects.com/Project/Digital-TV-Coat-Hanger-Antenna/722/1> > > Instead of coat hangers, I bought four Radio Shack bow-tie antennas and > clipped them to an aluminum tube. I also built a modified Gray-Hoverman > antenna for a friend who was considering cable: > > http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/**superantenna/design.htm<http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm> > > She wasn't keen on a geeky-looking antenna. So I formed the antenna using > fine-gauge wire (no reflector arms) and taped it on her window with > transparent tape. It's almost invisible and her reception is quite good. > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list<http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20111114/26f2e009/attachment.html>