Need advice for Raleigh/Durham area.

[Tom5410]

Hello, Thanks for any advice on antenna selection. We have cut the cable and at the moment are dependent on a little indoor/outdoor "digital " antenna. As the leaves are forming and the wind blows the signal is breaking up. Link is :

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d5b941eb37ec4cc

Hope I got that right. The house is surrounded by trees, but I will say that under favorable weather conditions the little antenna, mounted outdoors, actually picks up some VHF and UHf channels. So I feel there is hope. I intend to mount the suggested antenna outdoors on the chimney roughly 15-20 ft AGL. We are shooting for channels 2-50. Again , thanks for any help...

[teleview]

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The Signal strengths at your reception location are Strong Signal Strength.

Above the Peak of the Roof in such a manner that the roof and building are not , obstructing , impeding , blocking , reception to the , South East and East , the Main Group of Tv Stations.

Avoiding trees in the , South East and East direction of reception is important.

And also to the South West , West , North West.

For reception of the Digital Broadcast Tv Stations/Channels in the Green and Yellow reception zones.

Install a , http://www.antennacraft.net.

HBU11K antenna above the roof.

Aim the HBU11K antenna at about 100 degree magnetic compass direction.

A aim direction that will receive as many Tv stations/channels as possible.

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A antenna system amplifier will not be required.

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For 1 Tv connected use No splitter

For 2 Tv's connected use a 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a 3 way splitter.

[Tom5410]

Thanks for your response, Teleview. I went to the Antennacraft website, and it says that the HBU11k is for high band VHF and up (7-69). PBS here is on channel 4 and it is a must for her. If I were to receive low band VHF , would you recommend something like the 5884 or the Colorstar C290?
Thanks again.

[dmfdmf]

Thanks for your response, Teleview. I went to the Antennacraft website, and it says that the HBU11k is for high band VHF and up (7-69). PBS here is on channel 4 and it is a must for her. If I were to receive low band VHF , would you recommend something like the 5884 or the Colorstar C290? Thanks again.

Teleview's recommendation is good. You have to read the Real Channel column (ignore virtual channels, its what the TV displays) so you only have VHF-Hi and UHF so the HBU11 is a good choice. PBS Channel "4" is a virtual channel. In its infinite wisdom the FCC created virtual channel numbers so us poor, dumb, ignorant viewers wouldn't get confused if our favorite station move to a different channel/frequency . Their fear was that we'd be so lost that we'd either stare at static or stop watching TV altogether. Virtual numbers have created confusion instead.

[GroundUrMast]

WBRA is the only low VHF signal shown on your report. Because it's so weak, and no consumer grade antenna will have the gain needed at the real frequency of CH-3, reliable reception is not a reasonable expectation.

So as dmfdmf has already explained, the UHF capability of the HBU-XX type antennas will do a good job receiving real CH-25 used by the WUNC transmitter. As teleview has said, expect the HBU-XX type antenna to provide plenty of reliable reception.

[teleview]

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Many Tv stations have changed the channel that the Tv station is transmitting on , and have kept the Old channel number to display on the Tv screen.

The tvfool channel list shows the , Real Channels that are Transmitted and Received.

The tvfool channel list shows the (virt) virtual numbers. Virtual numbers are Not real channels even if the virtual number is the same as the Real Channel.

The Real channel and virtual number has little to do with the FCC Federal Communications Commission.

The Main Reason for Real Channels and Virtual Numbers is the Tv Station Owners and what is known as Channel Branding.

As an example , WXYZ Tv NBC transmitted on Analog channel 4 for 30 years and the number 4 is a ->Channel Brand<- of WXYZ TV NBC.

And the people that live in the reception area of WXYZ Tv NBC have always known the Tv station as channel 4.

So the Tv station keeps and displays the number 4.

However when the Tv station changed from Analog to Digital transmission the Tv station is now transmitting on Real Channel 19.

The 2 ways to resolve/correct the situation is to.

1. Change the Channel Brand to 19.

2. Along with the number 4 display , also display , Real Channel 19.

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WBRA-DT REAL Channel 3 , virtual number (15.1) PBS , is Very Weak Signal

Strength at 9.5 NM(dB) , Has , 2 Edge Path , obstructions= hills/mountains , and is 125.5 miles distant.

WBRA , Will Not Be Received and even if it is received it Will Not Be Received Reliably.

So no Current requirement for a antenna that receives VHF low band channels 2 thru 6.

[Tom5410]

I thank everyone for their considerate response, and their willingness to educate those who are out of their expertise. HBU11k it is then.