I have Dish Network & they are in a pissing contest with Meridith Corp over local retransmission charges. Since this is happening elsewhere with local stations I thought I would supplement Dish Network with an antennae for local stations. My townhome is 3 stories, with the first floor a daylight basement about 5 ft underground in the direction of most stations. I thought of putting an antenna in the attic & sending a signal to a Co-axial receiver at each TV. My online searches have produced confusing results.

Were you using websites like this to determine your station reception? You can zoom in the map and move the blue location teardrop to really see which stations you have a good chance to receive.

Years ago I got tired of the cable company compressing the local channels so I had an antenna installed in the attic. Very glad I did it, and even though I'm with DTV now, I use the antenna when the T-storms block the satellite signal (a rare occurrence) or when DTV gets in a pissing contest with the national networks.

My Dish Network TV inputs are HDMI leaving the antenna Co-Axial input open. The in-wall coax wiring is used by Dish (I have 3 stories). How are you getting the signal from the antenna to the TV's?

If you don't have available coax in the wall, it will be more trouble than it's worth.

How far from the source are you? (antennaweb.org is a good place to start).

If you're close enough, 10-15$ antennas at the TV might work. Grab a cheapie from walmart & see what you get. You can add amplified/bigger/etc if needed.
Otherwise you are multiplexing over the coax w/satTV or doing something wireless, which will cost more & probably be a pain in the ass.

In the attic:
Install the OTA (over the air) antenna in the attic.
Connect the coax from the OTA antenna and your dish to the correct ports on a diplexer.
Connect the remaining port on the diplexer to the coax that feeds your dish receiver.

At the dish receiver:
Use a splitter and feed both the OTA and dish inputs.

You may need filters on each as well so each input only gets the signals they were designed for.

The diplexer combines the signals from the two antennas, which are different frequencies, into one coax.

These antennas work good in an attic and have a pre-amp and 100 feet of cable that connects to the control box with two outputs.

https://www.microcenter.com/pr...c-digital-television

I have used this antenna at several places where the indoor antennas were useless.

You could run the cable out the soffit and down the side of the building and enter through the side of the building if the location is close by.

You just leave a service loop before entering the siding so the water will drip off.

You use the antenna inside the attic? I'd imagine having a metal roof would make it necessarily to install the antenna outdoors.

Go to Best Buy and ask what they recommend. They have a very good idea of what works and what doesnt in your particular location... at least they do where I live.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
You use the antenna inside the attic? I'd imagine having a metal roof would make it necessarily to install the antenna outdoors.

Yes, mine's in the attic. But I don't have a metal roof, nor do I have the insulated attic panels with what looks like aluminum foil on one side. I do know that the 6" foam insulation I had sprayed afterwards does not affect the reception. I didn't even have to scrape off the overspray that got on the antenna.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
You use the antenna inside the attic? I'd imagine having a metal roof would make it necessarily to install the antenna outdoors.

The previous owner had the antenna pointed towards the end wall which had the foam board with aluminum backing. That was in 1988 and he got several snowy channels.

I moved the antenna to shot through the roof and pointed it towards TV hill outside of Washington. It also happens that the Baltimore towers are in the same line of sight. I also added a preamp.

I can't remember how many channels I got then before digital came online but it couldn't have been more than a dozen channels. I now get 62 channels.