Advice for antenna upgrade in terrain shadow

[cumak]

My TV Fool Report (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dcc4967f5fef143)

Hello,

I cut the cord a few months ago as a "trial separation" from Comcast. I'm loving my new independence and want to make this permanent. Reception has been pretty good most of the time, but I do get periods of bad stuttering so I'm looking into upgrading my antenna to get more consistent overall performance. My issue is occasional stuttering, not total dropouts, so I think even just a few dB improvement would do the trick.

Let me first say that my tuner is an HDHomerun, and it's up in the attic right next to the antenna. I don't think a pre-amp would help since there's virtually no cable loss in the system.

As for the antenna, I currently have a VHF/UHF antenna, and while I don't know the exact model number it looks very similar to this Winegard HD-7015 (http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=HD-7015&d=Winegard-HD7015-VHFUHFFM-Prostar-1000-TV-Antenna-(HD7015)&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=615798398149). My antenna is about a foot longer and has a few more UHF elements, but it's pretty close. It's mounted in the attic and pointed towards the Boston broadcast locations (150-153 deg in the TV Fool report).

I'm thinking of upgrading to a high-gain UHF-only antenna like the 91XG. It will certainly have a bit more gain but my concern is about the terrain profile. If you click on one of the Boston channels in my TV Fool report, you'll see that I'm shadowed by a hill. WFXT (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dcc4967f5fef143%26t%3dALLTV%26n%3d13) is a good example, since it is the shortest tower. It's not a big hill, but my line of sight to the transmitters is still obstructed nonetheless.

I don't completely understand UHF propagation, but somehow I still get decent reception now even with obstructed LOS. Will a higher gain antenna help me in this case? Or, is a high-gain antenna pointed towards a hill useless?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[teleview]

As always , Attics Are Not a reception friendly environment and Never Will be a reception friendly environment.

For Improved Reliable Reception move the antenna to Above The Roof.

No antenna amplifier.

Install the antenna above the roof in such a manner that roof or house is not blocking reception to the , south west , south , south east , north west , north , north east.

Here is the Federal Antenna Law that says Yes You Can , install , use , maintain , antennas above the roof , http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html.

Aim the antenna at about 190 degree magnetic compass direction , an in between aim direction of the Tv stations to the , south west , south , south east.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

Here are some Above The Roof antenna mounts , http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html , http://www.ronard.com.

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing the word ronard in the solidsignal search box.

As always , trees and tree leaves do a real fine job of reducing or blocking Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own house.

It is best to install the antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions including your own house in the directions of reception.

The Tv/s Must Channel Scan for the Broadcast Tv Channels , sometimes named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

[cumak]

I don't mean to bump my own post, but having looked at my TV Fool report (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dcc4967f5fef143) in more detail along with the signal analysis FAQ, I think I can make my long-winded question more concise.

1) The Boston stations all show a 2Edge path and most have NM > 40 dB. With a medium gain VHF/UHF antenna in the attic and essentially no cable loss, does it make sense that I'm experiencing occasional stuttering?

2) Would a high-gain UHF antenna like the 91XG help me if the path is 2Edge as opposed to LOS?

Thank you.