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TV reception in garage with small antenna, does it work?

M

MIDLIFE

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Joined
Oct 17, 2015
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14
Location
NW PA
Good Morning,
A boring story so I won't go into it, but the bottom line is I've got an extra TV at my disposal. It isn't practical to run cable to the garage. I live in rural PA and am wondering if anyone has purchased and is using the remote antennas that I see at Walmart, etc. Please give me your feedback.
 
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Stuart in MN

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Sep 8, 2005
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23,058
Location
Minneapolis
It will all depend on the reception in your area - how far away are the TV stations, is your garage in a low area where the signal is blocked by terrain, etc. There are several websites out there were you can enter your location and it will show what's available over the air, here's one: https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

As for the type of antenna, it doesn't have to be anything special. Assuming the stations in your area are broadcast in the UHF band you just need a decent UHF antenna (antennas marked as 'digital' don't really mean anything.) Some areas are still using the VHF band, so if that's the case in your area you'll need a VHF antenna as well.
 
K

kd3pc

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Aug 10, 2013
Messages
3,630
Location
Northern Neck
your garage construction will also play in to your reception..metal buildings often shield RF. Similarly your lighting (ballasts) can also obliterate RF and replace it with their own.

If you place the antenna outside the building, high if you can, then run a decent coaxial cable to the TV, you should be in business.

bests
 
L

larry_g

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Apr 28, 2007
Messages
16,874
Location
oregon
Use the map/program that Stuart linked to. When dropping cable I found that it was perty accurate as we are in a fringe area. I also found that just a few feet of movement could change signal strength a lot.

lg
no neat sig line
 
J

Jazz1

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Jan 3, 2016
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4,184
Location
Thunder Bay On.
I ordered TV antennae on Amazon and will find out next week to see if I can pull in local stations. If I can I will cancel my very limited cable package.
 
T

theoldwizard1

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Feb 22, 2011
Messages
43,123
Location
SE MI
We bought a couple for my in-laws from Walmart and were pleasantly surprised how well they worked ! One had a built in amplifier and that helped a lot. Even the cheap window stick on worked for them and they are not that close to any stations.

A metal building will really kill the signal coming in. Mount the antenna as high as you possibly can. Add wire if necessary. Something like below really works well, even mounted in your attic (assuming no mountains in the way).

51lNmuZ1OYL.jpg
 
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Viper98912

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Oct 20, 2012
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Location
GA
Depends on your area, how far you are from stations, etc. But yes, they work
 
B

Bert_

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Dec 24, 2016
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9,715
Location
NW Iowa
The effectiveness will depend on how close the stations are, how big a transmitter they have and the geography of the land around your. I get all the major networks NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and IPTV with just rabbit ears on top of my TV. Most of those channels now have 2 or 3 sub channels with the digital broadcast. The stations are all about 70 miles away.

But just a few miles to the east, my parents have a larger antenna in the attic in order to get the same thing. There is a bit of a ridge and it makes it much harder to get a good signal. They still experience dropouts once and a while and would benefit from having the antenna outside on a pole or something.
 
N

NUTTSGT

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Sep 14, 2009
Messages
50,893
Location
Northern Central Ohio
What makes it "not practical" to run cable to the garage ? Several hundred feet of run ? You won't watch much TV out there ?

Although I don't watch much TV out there, they TV has been on for a week or so with the weather radar. I keep forgetting to shut it off.

If the run isn't far, digging a trench can be manageable, and bury some PVC conduit. That can be filled with coax, Cat5e/6 and a string for future pulls for something else. It may take a day of labor to do it but once it's done, it's there pretty much forever as long as you will be there.
 
W

Williamtell

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Aug 4, 2016
Messages
555
Location
OKC Area
I use a simple flat tv antenna from walmart. They are surprising good. I get most of the channels in my local area pretty well, and a few not so well with it mounted normally inside the garage.

If there is something on one of the channels that i need to see (football game on fox for example) ive hooked a cord connector and a longer piece of cable. This allows me to move the antenna outside the garage and the reception gets much better. When im done i move it back in and place it back on the wall. I've thought about permanently mounting it outside, but since i only really use the tv on the weekend and it takes all of 10 seconds to move the antenna, i just live with it.
 
F

Falcon67

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Jun 11, 2009
Messages
18,371
Location
Merkel, TX
We are all OTA now, plus Netflix and Hulu. I had an old UHF/VHF vintage Radio Shack antenna - about 4' x 5' with the wings spread. It's on a pole in the attic, hooked into the old Direct TV splitter. Works perfectly fine. Oddly, we have 3 channels here that are detected, but don't carry any content. One is 15-1 (Fox) which should have the same signal level as the other locals, but we can't tune it for some reason. Tried a couple of antennas - no go.

We also have a small powered antenna - I think an RCA unit - that works fine inside. Depends on signal strength and your distance from the towers.

antennaweb.org is another good site to research. More detail than the FCC site.
 
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C

chazzz

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Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
84
Location
Republic of Southern California
Get a Master Channel Signal Amplifier. Works great. I have it installed in my house. I live about 60 miles east of Los Angeles and I get over 100 over-the-air broadcast channels and it supports two TVs (bedroom and family room).
 
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