San Jose CA Antenna Help/Opinions

[guitarfish]

Hello,I'm trying to help a family member cut the cord. We are trying to keep it somewhat small, since it will be mounted at the peak of a gable end facing the street. Height will be about 15-20',driving two televisions, we are only interested in the channels coming from the NW. Thanks in advance for any help or opinions!

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d46aee479db0f59

[StephanieS]

Hello Guitarfish,

We've seen quite a few TVfool plots out of the bay area. Some are really challenging, a few are really good. Yours is somewhere in the middle.

Your desire for a small antenna might not be the the best choice to receive the signals you want reliably from the Sutro and Mt. Diablo. You have 1-edge conditions which means your signals are not line of sight. 1-edge and the 2-edge conditions make signals go around the object and can make them unpredictable. They may shift and vary in signal signal strength during the day compared to a line of sight signal. Thus, you need a more robust antenna application to offset these harsher conditions.

A positive is that you have moderate trending to weak signals. The should mostly be doable from magnetic 297 and 300.

You do have a mix of signals that are high-VHF (channels 7-13; KGO, KNTV) and UHF (14 and above; most others).

I am a believer that it's best to have a robust antenna in these situations instead of one that "might" work and yields reception albeit with dropouts. Thus, for the best chance of satisfactory reception I recommend an Antennas Direct DB8 for UHF reception pointed to magnetic 299 http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=OBO-DB8&ss=9480 in addition to a Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 for high-VHF reception. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=Y5-7-13&ss=9510.

I further suggest an Antennas Direct EU385CF-1s signal combiner. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=eu385cf-1s&d=Antennas-Direct-EU385CF1s-UHF--VHF-TV-Antenna-Combiner-with-F-Connections-%28EU385CF1s%29&c=Signal%20Combiners&sku=853748001705 This solution would combine the DB8 and Y5-7-13 into one coax coming into the home. Input DB8 coax into UHF input and Y5-7-13 coax into VHF combiner input.

Run coax into home as normal.

Unless coax runs are over 100' I would not install a preamp. This reception set up is pretty strong and should provide good signal into the home.

I've been happy with my Eagle Aspen signal splitter. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=P7002AP&d=Eagle-Aspen-2way-Splitter-for-Offair-and-Satellite-signals-%28P7002AP%29&c=Signal%20Splitters&sku= This product also allows power passing should you decide to test a preamp.

This is likely not the small application you wanted, those antennas are best up to 25 miles out from the transmitters with line of sight to them. Neither criteria you meet. So, you have to install a stronger system for the reception you seek.

The end result though will be an excellent chance at stable drop out free reception of Diablo and Sutro.

Cheers.

[GroundUrMast]

I see StephanieS posted a good response as I was typing... Her two antenna solution is a very good option. As she already observed, KGO and KNTV force you to consider using a combination UHF/H-VHF antenna or two separate antennas.

The Winegard HD-7694P would be my first pick. For an alternate, the Antennacraft HBU-44 would be a viable option.

Try running with no amplifier: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=13646

The bottom line is, you can do this successfully, and you have options.

[guitarfish]

Thanks StephanieS and GroundURmast for taking the time to offer suggestions. I will take these into consideration and pass them along. I think the excellent explanation of 1-2 edge signals might influence them to go larger.
I am an electrician in North Central Florida and have done several antenna installs over the last couple years. Dealing with mostly LOS here, trees and multipath from metal roofs are the biggest problems. So the input about the Bay Area is a big help.

Thanks again!