Hello from Ocala, Florida!

[rierhog14]

We finally cut the cable on DirecTV, and a couple days ago, my aunt gave me her old TV antenna tower along with an old antenna she had on top of it which is in great shape. I spent yesterday brushing down some surface rust with a wire wheel on my angle grinder, and I spray-coated the tower with cold galvanazing solution. Turned out looking great!

For now, I am going to get this thing up in the air with the small antenna (1' x 2', pictured) that my aunt gave me. However, I would like to purchase an antenna for myself to get the most amount of channels possible. Here is my TV Fool:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dd24354144ca7b7

My actual tower length is going to be about 37 foot (I think I am going to saw down the mast I put on last night by about 5' or so, just so it is more sturdy). Keep in mind that a lot of fill dirt was brought in (I believe) when my home was constructed, I am thinking about 5' or so... Not sure if I can count this towards antenna height. So lets just say 40' antenna tower.

My main questions are:
1. What type of antenna should I purchase?
-Should I get a directional antenna, and aim it toward Orlando @ 115 degrees to pick up those stations (about 76 miles away)? What About the stations which are spread out towards my north?

2. I believe the antenna I already have (pictured) is a omni-directional antenna. Can this be confirmed?

3. If I get a new long-range directional antenna and point it towards Orlando (115 degrees), will it still pick up the couple local stations that are being transmitted near me to my north, even if my new antenna would be facing towards the south-east? Those would be WESH (NBC) (out of Orlando, but they have an Ocala tower as well) @ 13 miles NNE, WOGX (Fox) @ 22 miles NNW, and WCJB (Abc) @ 35 miles NNW. If my directional antenna would still pick up those 3 stations, although facing a different direction, then I will leave it be. However, if it will not, then this leads me to my next question:

4. Should I use 2 antennas: One directional facing Orlando, and a 2nd, the one I already have, facing north.

Let me know what yall think.

[rierhog14]

Here are the pics

[ADTech]

Your existing antenna is our ClearStream 2 which is NOT omnidirectional. Its reception pattern is on page 3 of the data sheet located here: http://www.antennasdirect.com/cmss_files/attachmentlibrary/Technical%20Data%20PDF%27s/C2%2BVHF-TDS.pdf

Your antenna is also assembled incorrectly. The base and loop element are 180° out from each other. That hole in the base is there to pass the cable through to the connector so as to not force the cable into a tight-radius bend.

Off-axis reception using a directional antenna is going to be pot luck. While the signal power might be adequate, there's often a problem with multi-path caused by the antenna picking up reflected signals that cancel or distort the off-axis primary signals. It's pretty much impossible to predict what might happen.

Are you open to a rotor or, if not, to multiple tuners to avoid antenna combining conflicts or problems? Simply combining antennas faced in different directions is another pot luck situation.

[rierhog14]

I would rather not use a rotor, nor utilize 2 different tuners... This would get complicated when simply trying to surf channells. Please explain why utilizing 2 antennas would not work well. I have the space on the mast to keep them separate.

If only using one antenna, what would you do in my situation?

[timgr]

You can use two antennas if you put them on an A/B switch. This would give you a similar result to using two tuners, but at lower cost. The antennas still have to be far enough apart on the mast so they don't couple electrically. The problem comes from trying to combine the two feeds.

Combining antennas that are not pointing in the same direction is unpredictable. The signal that each antenna receives will be different in phase and amplitude, because each "sees" signal coming from different directions. Channels may sum (in phase), they may cancel (out of phase), or they may be noisy ... it's nigh on impossible to predict.

There are specific configurations of multiple antennas that will work reliably, but they must be identical antennae arranged in a precisely spaced array.

If you want to try two antennas pointing in different directions, you can, but you may not get the results you want. Google "stacked antennas" for more reading.

There are a couple of other multidirectional options. The Antennas Direct DB8e has two panels, and they can be aimed in different directions. Here, the antenna is designed with two identical arrays at a pre-calculated and fixed distance from each other, and it works. Won't be as sensitive as both panels aimed the same direction though.

Another possibility is a bowtie antenna like the DB4e with the reflector removed, will receive from front and back. Again, won't be as sensitive to the front, but it won't block signals from the rear.

[ADTech]

Please explain why utilizing 2 antennas would not work well.

Because it simply isn't predictable. It might work but experience has shown that it fails more than it works.

[rierhog14]

Ok gotcha. I'm leaning towards just aiming towards the north and forgetting about the south-east, at least for now. First I gotta get this dang thing up in the air...

[rierhog14]

Ok gotcha. I'm leaning towards just aiming towards the north and forgetting about the south-east, at least for now. First I gotta get this dang thing up in the air...

[ADTech]

Stay safe, especially watch out for power lines.

[rierhog14]

Not too thrilled.... Only receiving 12 channells... Hell I received 8 with the thibg sittin on my back porch! I really thought sticking it 40' up in the sky would make a huge difference.... My tower is just stuck in the hole as of right now, and is leaning down, which faces the antenna towards the earth a tad. I can see this causing some issues, so will update once I get it all level and squared away. I've pretty much got it pointing due north.

[ADTech]

At best, you're only going to reliably get 6 stations from the north with a total of 15 channels. That's all there is, you cannot get something that isn't there.

Make sure the antenna is correctly oriented vertically (there is substantial cross-polarization rejection by design) and that it is facing the horizon, not the earth.

[Stereocraig]

I'm curious as to what type of base you're planning on.