I need help with Live TV.

[LqHnyBear 23]

Can't do it outside as it's a rental and there is an HOA that won't allow it. Building is made of Concrete with wooden roof/shingles.

[Carlo 4330]

Can't do it outside as it's a rental and there is an HOA that won't allow it. Building is made of Concrete with wooden roof/shingles.

Says who?

The federal government via the FCC has said otherwise via the OTARD (Over-the-Air Reception Devices) rules by act of Congress.

https://www.fcc.gov/media/over-air-reception-devices-rule

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/installing-consumer-owned-antennas-and-satellite-dishes

 

Essentially, unless the building owner provides a common antenna suitable for the task then you have the legal right to use any size video antenna for OTA broadcasts in your own private area such as a balcony or patio area.  You can also use a "window frame" style antenna if needed as well even in an apartment.

 

If it's a standalone rental house or duplex then you have full use of the roof as well.  No HOA or rental agreement can supersede these rights granted by Congress and the FCC.  Same goes for the satellite dishes up to one meter in size.

 

However keep in mind an antenna needed for your situation isn't going to look like those old 15' antennas sitting on a tower as you don't need VHF-LO but only UHF and VHF-Hi which are quite small in comparison.  Should actually be easy to "hide" or "blend" an antenna in your case being brick and not metal.

 

A single Gray Hoverman or 4 bay bowtie antenna (both without reflector) over the roof line could pick up both directions from the front and back of the antenna.  If you can't get above the roof line then you could do one antenna on each side the house plugged into two separate HDHomeRun Quatro devices (since you were thinking of two anyway).  Done this way you could likely use the Hoverman and maybe a 2 Bay antenna for each.  These could easily be hung from a 2nd story window on the outside under the window painted to match the building (paint won't bother them) so they would be camouflaged.  You might even be able to get away with these high gain antennas (with reflector) on the inside sitting in a window or behind a picture on the proper SW or NE walls (or in an attic).

 

But the common antennas you would purchase at Walmart or Bestbuy in those cute little square boxes aren't going to work for you.  For $20 to $30 bucks you can purchase what's needed including a balun to build your own high gain antenna that will be better than a $100 antenna.  You would then just need the proper length of cable.  I'd suggest building/buying an antenna and connecting it directly to a TV and testing your reception before buying the HDHomeRuns just to make sure you are satisfied with reception before committing to the HDHomeRuns.  Avoid long cable runs as much as possible.  So in testing you could always move a smaller bedroom TV to the "testing area" where you plan to mount the antenna if inside.  Do your channel scans and check the signal of the important channels you require.

[LqHnyBear 23]

Thank you for all your help.