Florida Shooters Network

Looking at the reviews on Amazon has just made me more confused...... What models are you guys using that you would recommend?

I live in Sarasota, so picking up Tampa stations means a distance of about 45 miles at 21deg, while Ft. Myers stations are 55 miles at 126deg. Pretty sure I can do without the Ft. Myers stations, so a single-direction antenna would work fine.

What I see as far as complaints frequently has to do with the motorized tuning/rotation models - I can do without that as well.

I think I want an amplified model, but I don't know if that's necessary. Not sure yet if I want to mount it in the attic or on the DishNetwork mount that is already on the house. If it doesn't come with a splitter, I will need one to feed the signal to two TVs.

Your experience and recommendations would be appreciated!

The biggest one you can get. And at least 20ft up.

Traditional Yagi style, UHF/VHF.

Decent amp/pre-amp setup.




Some of those "digital" or "hdtv" marketed antenna's are pure junk. I tried a few eBay chinese antenna's saying 60+ range and they were pretty bad. One was decent, Ill try to remember the model, but it wasn't motorized and we weren't far from Tampa at the time.

Now, in Spring Hill, its a little harder to pull them, but my setup works pretty well. I tapped into the line from the old Dish on the roof, and utilized the existing splitter/wiring in the house. Even split to 4 rooms it does pretty well. The one room, furthest away, is a hair less reliable because of line loss/distance.

But we get about 60 channels OTA here, aimed at Tampa. Not sure the distance exactly though.

I live in Auburndale and literally depending on which way the wind is blowing will depend on if I pickup Tampa or Orlando stations. A lot of days I can pick up both. Not all come in great though. I did the attic mount for a while and had horrible coverage. I have a radiant barrier insulation in my attic as well, so I'm not sure if that had much to do with it. I later moved it to my back porch and now pickup like 60 different channels.

I found a few good resources:
https://antennaweb.org/Info/AntennaInfo

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=75

The antenna I bought from Amazon is no longer available, so not much point in linking it, but it was the Amazon basics 60 mile version. I have a 10db RCA amplifier inline with the antenna (pre-junctions) that really really helps. If that amp gets unplugged(which happens on occasion because it is all on the porch) I lose pretty much all my channels.

Do not buy into the DIGITAL / HDTV hype. Just buy a good TV antenna, like the Kid said. Amplifier is probably a good idea.

The higher, the better. $100 should cover your needs, I think.

the one like the pic..winegard..I have one gets probly 70 channels..pointed it towards st pete tampa...easy...I don't have an amp or a rotator or anything except the antenna plugged into my tv. I get ft myers too and its not even ponted that direction

You guys are some cheap bastards...

I'm around 47 miles away from my local towers, and all that I'm using is an inexpensive attic-mounted GE antenna: https://www.amazon.com/GE-33692-Attic-M ... B00DNJZ58M

I also put a cheap amplifier on it, just in case. Everything works just fine.

Outgunu wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:31 pm You guys are some cheap bastards...

Well duh, you know how expensive guns are?

Outgunu wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:31 pm You guys are some cheap bastards...

Cheap as in the equipment is basic, or cheap as in not wanting to pay a cable bill?

A good antenna setup is never a bad idea, even if you have cable/satelite.

Me personally, I won't pay for cable TV. We have (good) internet, Netflix/Hulu and the OTA setup.

I have a hard time paying $60-$100 a month for 1000+ channels of television that;

A.) I dont want to watch

B.) 500+ are in a language I dont speak, nor do I care to learn to do so

I get news, sports (which im not really big into), a few other decent channels, and a fair amount of junk too...but its free.

IMO 99.5% of whats offered by cable/satelite TV is trash. Expensive trash. Shouldn't be watching all that TV anyways...its nice outside.

NorincoKid wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:59 pm

Outgunu wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:31 pm You guys are some cheap bastards...

Cheap as in the equipment is basic, or cheap as in not wanting to pay a cable bill?

A good antenna setup is never a bad idea, even if you have cable/satelite.

Me personally, I won't pay for cable TV. We have (good) internet, Netflix/Hulu and the OTA setup.

I have a hard time paying $60-$100 a month for 1000+ channels of television that;

A.) I dont want to watch

B.) 500+ are in a language I dont speak, nor do I care to learn to do so

I get news, sports (which im not really big into), a few other decent channels, and a fair amount of junk too...but its free.

IMO 99.5% of whats offered by cable/satelite TV is trash. Expensive trash. Shouldn't be watching all that TV anyways...its nice outside.

This is the reason why cut the cord too. I don't have time for too much TV and we normally cancel our Hulu subscription during the summer because none of the shows we want to watch are showing anything new. We have an Amazon Fire Stick that provides a bunch of content for the cost of Amazon Prime (which we have anyways) so it doesn't make sense for my family. My jaw drops sometimes when I find out my friends/family's cable bill or phone bill. I suppose it's fine to have 1000 channels and all the premium movie packages, but who wants to pay $400/mo for all that? I can't afford that and definitely don't have the time to actually channel surf all that content.