1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. Plopping an outdoor antenna into the attic

Plopping an outdoor antenna into the attic

Is there a problem letting an outdoor tv antenna sit on the floor joists and insulation of an unfinished attic? As long as the surface is dry, does it matter what supports the antenna?

I have a friend whose tv reception is pretty bad since the digital conversion. Even the major network stations in Baltimore go out on her sometimes (as they have for me). She's taken to watching tv on the net.

She doesn't want an antenna on the roof, and the hatch leading to her attic is too small for me to enter. Not because I'm fat, which I am, but because my chest is too big, front to back, for the hatch, even though my rib cage is not fat. Maybe a half inch total front and back more than it ever was. (It's not that I'm big-chested either. Her hatch must be strangely small.)

So I was thinking I might be able to stand below the hatch (just a square hole with a piece of plywood to stop the breeze), raise an outdoor antenna into the hatch, use a 1x2, maybe with a notch cut in the end to unfold each element after it passes the hatch, and lay the whole thing down on the attic floor.

This sounds tricky, and I want to look at my antenna again, but I'm not too worried about the tricky part. (Last year, I had a broken outside floodlight that was two high to reach with a standard 15-foot extension ladder, but I changed it without using any ladder, from inside the attic and from the ground outside.)

I just want to make sure that, other than losing 4 extra feet that it could be mounted higher (if we got some lanky guy to go up there), it will work okay on the floor, or maybe on a cardboard box on either side of the hatch.

After my success last night, with your help, improving the sound in my bedroom tv, I finally got around tonight to bringing my new, pretty big, outdoor antenna into the attic, unfolding it, and connecting it. I used to get 10 stations, and now I get 9 more plus maybe 6 more substations. Some are duplicate networks or in languages I don't plan to watch, but still, I'm quite happy. Because I haven't yet cut the

2x4 to mount my antenna higher, and out of my way, it's sitting on two cardboard boxes, but not on the floor.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Reply to
mm
Loading thread data ...

Nothing to lose by trying unless this place is really old and has knob and tube electrical wiring that could be frayed by now which you don't want to get near with something like an antenna. Other than that give it a try. You'll probably want to keep it away from any pipes or electrical conduits, cables, flex, metal flues, etc.

But really...if a smaller person can get up there you might as well have them do it. Attach a short pipe to a roof rafter and clamp the antenna to it so it hangs in the middle of the space. That would give the greatest chance of success. If that doesn't do it she should reconsider a rooftop aerial.

Your friend should really think about enlarging the opening if it's that small. If there is room up there to deploy a full size tv antenna it's probably a good place for storage and that would be hampered by the small opening.

Reply to
Steve Kraus

No, it's a modern house, but there is something to lose by trying. She's a pain in the neck. I like her and I'm glad to do her favors, if I can get in and get out. But if she buys the antenna -- I'm not paying for it -- and then there is little improvement** she'll be very unhappy, and almost blame me for being wrong about what would work.

**That's a separate possibility, even if resting on the floor isn't a problem. I have to look her address up on tvfool.com

Good point. I don't think I even looked when I had my head up there.

Like I say, she's a pain in the neck. (Fortunately for me, she doesn't read Usenet) She has another ex-boyfriend ready, willing, and able to put one on the roof. And annoyed at her for her not being willing to let him. I consider myself laid back and "understanding" because if she doesn't want it, I do understand.

He's not that small even, but I guess he's smaller than I am. But I get stuck at the middle of my breast bone and there is practicaly no flesh there, at most a quarter of an inch and there must have been at least an eighth of an inch there when I wasn't fat. I can't check out my back well, but despite the expression, fatback bacon, as best I can tell, I don't think my back is actually fat. Just my belly.

Maybe so. I'll mention it.

Reply to
mm

Even if not used for storage, what good is the opening if folks can't get *through* it??! (e.g., wait until there is a roof leak and you **need** to get up there *now*... :> )

Reply to
D Yuniskis

Good point.

Also, I have no trouble getting through the hatch into my own attic. I could be a lot fatter and still have no trouble.

(I do barely make it past the closet shelf, with the ladder resting on the shelf and the front wall of the closet behind me. That's because I'm fat. But that wasn't a problem at her house. And leaving my attic, facing away from the shelf, no problem.

I should measure my hatch and her hatch. And maybe there was some good reason they made it so small.

Hmmm. Checking

formatting link
maps, including the radar map, I see that for her address, they only have 7 stations in the green area and

2 in the yellow, a total of 9, a lot less than I had. Even if I say the antenna will be 40 feet high, far higher than she would like, that just puts 5 in the yellow area, a total of 12 stations. Plus 4 of the five are the same networks she gets locally, and the one that is independant, it says in Wiki plays reruns from the 60's and 70's. I get that on another station and she has expressed no interest in them.

Maybe she's stuck. Or I should get her an omnitdirectional antenna that can be mounted on a piece of tubing screwed to the frame of her hatch???

I think she has gotten more stations than I have most of the time I have known her, but that has changed.

Her job is in jeopardy now as well as some of her assets and she really can't afford cable now. This tv thing is just salt in the wounds.

Reply to
mm

It actually used to be fairly common to put the television aerial in the attic. I used to live on the top floor of some older apartments years ago, and they had huge antennas from the 70's in the attics of each building. No one was using them anymore. I wish I could have snagged one now, but I didn't feel like taking it apart and snaking through the 2x2 attic access. Back to the subject at hand... it must have worked, if so many people used to do it before cable and satellite. I don't know if metal roofing or something of that nature would raise hell with it or not..

J
Reply to
Sansui Samari

There should be no problem, as long as the antenna isn't "too close" to metal objects and surfaces.

The only real problem with putting an antenna in the attic is that reception might deteriorate when it rains. The antenna will them be surrounded by slightly conducting surfaces.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

What problems were you fantasizing about this time?

Reply to
Meat Plow

No problem as long as:

  1. There's no metal nearby such as the usual electrical wires in the ceiling.
  2. The building walls are fairly transparent to RF. That doesn't work with stucco, where the chicken wire blocks RF. It also doesn't work with brick, concrete, or aluminum siding. It also doesn't work if you have aluminum foil backed insulation material in the walls. More generally, it doesn't work with anything except thin wood siding.
  3. If your antenna is going through the roof, the roofing material also needs to qualify. Typical gravel impregnated roll roofing and shingles are not very RF transparent. Wood shingle and shake will work. I'm not sure about a tile or rock roof.
  4. If the other houses in the neighborhood are similar to yours, it's highly likely they will also be the same height. That means your signal will need to go through both your roof or wall, as well as your neighbors. Estimate the line of sight and see how many houses, trees, and buildings you need to penetrate.

Have her order cable TV or satellite TV. End of problem.

Every neighborhood has kids that are willing to do such things. With your apparent abilities and size, you'll go through the ceiling if you step between the ceiling joists.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I see several points that should be made.

If she is in an area with limited reception, the higher the antenna, the better the reception. It's a simple equation. She can accept having the antenna on the roof, or suffer with inadequate reception. Squeezing an antenna into the attic is a half-assed solution.

A second point is why you continue to put up with "a pain in the neck". Perhaps you should 'man up' and face the facts. At age 60, there are 9 men for every 10 women. At age 70, there are 8 men for every 10 women. At some point you should ask yourself if the benefits of this relationship are worth the aggravation.

PlainBill

Reply to
PlainBill47

Okay. I'll look closely. At least I can get my head in there.

She'll have to live with that.

Reply to
mm

I'll look into all these things. Thanks.

Her construction is pretty much like mine, and the attic antenna is working well for me.

I'm glad you said that. I'll have her send the bills to the address below.

Reply to
mm

She knows all this. She doesn't want an antenna on the roof.

Therapy? We're going to have therapy? Goodie!

Yeah, but you're talking about 10 70-year old women. This one is decades younger than I am.

Thank you, Ann Landers. When we have more time, I'll explain friendship to you.

Reply to
mm

If she has aluminum siding you can just forget it. Looking at Antennaweb.org for ZIP 21201, 5 of the channels are only 3.5 miles away. You might be TOO close to the towers and actually be _under_ the RF. Also, you have 2 high band VHF and 5 UHF channels 38 to 46. You might want to check out some of the Winegard antennas on this page.

formatting link

I have a SquareShooter in 90274 split 5 ways with no preamps. In my case the VHF is filled in by an antenna in the rafters of the garage. We are 35 miles from Mt Wilson with barely Line Of Sight so while the signal is solid, the multipath is minimal. Multipath (BAD for DTV) gets better with high Front to Back ratio. That HD7694P antenna is 5 ft long and 3 ft wide so wouldn't be too hard even in the restricted access. It has quite good gain and Front to Back.

G=B2

Reply to
stratus46

Dear dog, way too much information!

Why not hire some skinny kid? That's what I'd do.

I don't think it is bad to use that antenna there, but think you really should have someone there to aim and angle it for best reception. Realize as well that attic antennas don't (IMHO) give quite as good performance as a roof mounted one.

Reply to
PeterD

Thanks for the suggestions, and thank you Peter also. I'll try to put them to use.

Reply to
mm

try it below the attic first then move up

Reply to
Robert Macy

Good idea. Obvious but not thought of. :( Thanks.

Reply to
mm

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.