Confirmation of equipment choice for Attic install

[airbeat]

Hello intelligent people!

First of all, here's my report: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d2df95718b4d224

In my old house, I had the winegard square shooter antenna, when I lived closer to the signal towers. I moved in the last year, and set up the same antenna and it did a decent job on a roof install. However, it was recently hit and destroyed by lightning, and now I'm looking for a replacement.

I have ordered an Antennas Direct DB4E antenna to install in the attic this time (I'm a bit gun-shy now--that #$%* was loud). What do you all think about the choice? Anything better/more cost effective out there for my location? http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=DB4E

Also, the home is about 30 foot tall, so an attic install would probably be at about 25 feet, roof install would be about 30 foot. I'm most interested in receiving channels between 79 and 115 degrees (to my east).

Thank you, knowledgeable people! And for those with morbid curiousity (and a thank you for your help), here's a couple photos of the remains of my old install, and the damaged grey cover that was shot across the yard: http://imgur.com/a/A31Te :D

--Aaron

[GroundUrMast]

The DB4e is an excellent choice. That leaves you with the option to add a High-VHF antenna if you want to add real CH-7 or CH-11. An Antennacraft Y10713 would be an example of a H-VHF. The two antennas can be combined using an inexpensive UVSJ.

http://www.antennacraft.net/Antennas/AntennasVHF.html
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=UVSJ&d=Pico-Macom-UVSJ-UHF-VHF-Band-Separator/Combiner-for-Antenna-%28UVSJ%29

The hit looks spectacular. Did everything in the house survive?

[airbeat]

Thanks for the info on high VHF options! The strike was pretty spectacular. Sparks flying, smoke, and the putrid smell of burnt electronics. The antenna was not grounded, which means that the lightning was grounded by traveling down the coax, into my HD TiVo, and from there into my Plasma, 32" CRT, AirPort Extreme router, Apple TV, and Home Theatre surround system.

Yay for insurance!

[GroundUrMast]

WOW!

As my screen name implys, I'm a big advocate for grounding antenna systems effectively. A direct hit is nigh impossible to survive unscathed, but I still want to see folks encourage the bulk of the energy to stay outside the home.

I'm glad there were no injuries.