help with antenna between milwaukee and chicago

[sparkyhunt]

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d1dda691c420b97

I have been searching for an antenna setup for a couple of days and from what I have been reading either the Winegard HD7000r or 7084 should hopefully work for me. I have a 50 foot oak tree directly to the north of my house and nothing towards the south. I am hoping to mount the antenna on my roof which is about 18 feet high. Would setting a tower next to my house to get the antenna higher be worth any extra gain? Will either of these antennas be able to receive a signal though the tree? Would I be better off using 2 separate antennas or using a rotor?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[ADTech]

Use TVFool's Online Mapping tool in "Hybrid" view (turn on the lines, too) to experiment with potential tower or a mast locations to see what effect the trees to the north might have and what location it would take to achieve LOS to both cities. Avoid the trees if you wish to be assured of the highest probability of success.

There are multiple ways of addressing your situation, depending on your priorities and budget. A single, large antenna on a rotor is certainly one way to do it. Another would be to focus a large antenna on Chicago and a small one on Milwaukee and to use an A-B switch to select which antenna to use..

Unless you have to have WeatherNation out of Milwaukee or WOCK out of Chicago, there's no need for a large, all-channel antenna.

I'f you'd like to avoid the rotor/A-B switch and try a single-antenna setup, a 4-bay antenna aimed at Chicago should be able to get almost everything on your chart. Most likely, only WBBM out of Chicago would require additional attention if it is a priority. Milwaukee stations, including the lone VHF station, would likely be received well enough off the back to make it work.

You'll have to do some research on the mounting location above and consider the number of sets in the household along with the capabilities of all sets as to how they would handle a rotor/switch arrangement. Some tuners force the owner to do a complete re-scan (undesirable!), others permit keeping previous data and adding new, either manually or via a scan.

[sparkyhunt]

There is 4 tv's in the house. I would like to avoid the a/b switch and rotor as long as I can get the bulk of the channels with just the 4-bay antenna.

Looking online I found the antennacraft U4000, the channelmaster 4221, and the DB4e. Which one of these would you recommend? Or is there another antenna that would better suit me.

ADTech Thank you for your time.

[GroundUrMast]

I have a strong bias toward the DB4e... I paid retail and haven't been given anything to say that by AD or anyone else. My DB4e outperforms my Winegard HD8800. I attribute the performance in large part to the fact that the DB4e is designed with the new UHF channel spectrum in mind (real CH-14 through CH-51, as opposed to the former CH-14 through CH-69 range).

WIWN carries Weather Nation. It's broadcast on real CH-5 (Low-VHF) so a UHF only antenna is going to leave you little hope of reliable reception of that particular signal. If you want that network in your line-up (I would), an all channel combo antenna would be a simple and reasonable solution. Options include the Winegard HD7015, Antennacraft C490, Channel Master CM-3018 and similar products.