teaguecl
8-Jan-2014, 7:03 PM
I'm having some trouble determining the best antenna for my situation, any advice would be appreciated.
My TV Fool report is here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d5b946f88bbc5ce
I am really only interested in the first 7 channels on the report. It turns out am in directly in between the two towers of interest - they are 172 degrees apart from each other (one is at 121 degrees, the other at 293). I'm not that far from either tower, 13 miles and 7 miles respectively. It turns on that one tower broadcasts all UHF (channels 18,19,28,30,40) and the other one broacasts two VHF (8,10).
So it seems like I need a VHF antenna pointed at 293 degrees, and a UHF pointed at 121. My first attempt was to use a Winegard gs-1100. From looking at it's gain chart it seemed to be pretty good about picking up two signals that are 180 degrees apart (http://www.winegarddirect.com/pdf/spec_SENSAR.pdf).
It actually works OK. I see all the channels I am interested in, with a few notes.
1. The two VHF channels come in fairly weak most of the time.
2. I live near a small airport and whenever a small plane (cesna) or helicopter are within earshot, the signal drops out for 10-20 seconds.
I have tried placing the gs-1100 in two positions. First I had it about 12 feet off the ground in my attic, which worked decently but not great. Next, I moved it to sit on my garbage cans (so about 3 ft off the ground) outside. This position works much better, but I still get dropouts due to the planes.
What should I do? I've debated the following actions, but really don't know.
1. Try mounting my gs-1100 on the roof. I don't know if elevation will help at all with the multipath problem from the planes.
2. get a new omni directional antenna (RCA ANT800F ?) I think the omni might give me more problems with the planes than the directional.
3. get a different directional antenna that has a good pickup from the back side, but I don't know what model that would be.
4. Place separate VHF and UHF antennas on a mast, pointing in opposite directions. The only vhf antennas I've seen are huge (10 ft long), which seems unnecessary since the VHF signal is only 7 miles away.
I'd love to get some opinions as I'm not very knowledgeable about this stuff.
My TV Fool report is here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d5b946f88bbc5ce
I am really only interested in the first 7 channels on the report. It turns out am in directly in between the two towers of interest - they are 172 degrees apart from each other (one is at 121 degrees, the other at 293). I'm not that far from either tower, 13 miles and 7 miles respectively. It turns on that one tower broadcasts all UHF (channels 18,19,28,30,40) and the other one broacasts two VHF (8,10).
So it seems like I need a VHF antenna pointed at 293 degrees, and a UHF pointed at 121. My first attempt was to use a Winegard gs-1100. From looking at it's gain chart it seemed to be pretty good about picking up two signals that are 180 degrees apart (http://www.winegarddirect.com/pdf/spec_SENSAR.pdf).
It actually works OK. I see all the channels I am interested in, with a few notes.
1. The two VHF channels come in fairly weak most of the time.
2. I live near a small airport and whenever a small plane (cesna) or helicopter are within earshot, the signal drops out for 10-20 seconds.
I have tried placing the gs-1100 in two positions. First I had it about 12 feet off the ground in my attic, which worked decently but not great. Next, I moved it to sit on my garbage cans (so about 3 ft off the ground) outside. This position works much better, but I still get dropouts due to the planes.
What should I do? I've debated the following actions, but really don't know.
1. Try mounting my gs-1100 on the roof. I don't know if elevation will help at all with the multipath problem from the planes.
2. get a new omni directional antenna (RCA ANT800F ?) I think the omni might give me more problems with the planes than the directional.
3. get a different directional antenna that has a good pickup from the back side, but I don't know what model that would be.
4. Place separate VHF and UHF antennas on a mast, pointing in opposite directions. The only vhf antennas I've seen are huge (10 ft long), which seems unnecessary since the VHF signal is only 7 miles away.
I'd love to get some opinions as I'm not very knowledgeable about this stuff.