What type of antenna?

[jwd]

I would like a suggestion on the best budget antenna ($50 +/-) for Bellingham WA.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3df1f073e5a5d1b3

I live on high bank waterfront that faces directly to Victoria BC but there are some islands in between. Distance “as the crow flies” is 45-50 miles. I can mount on the eaves or the roof of the carport. 3 local channels come in very well. The channels I’m most interested in are the Canadian ones from Victoria: 2-1, 8-1, 10-1, 17-1 and 32-1. Anything else is a bonus. I’m fairly new to OTA and am curious to know whether the long horizontal style or the multi-bay, flat vertical type is better. Most of the channels I want to receive are in the SW quadrant of the database report but the closer local ones are in the SW quadrant. Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

[GroundUrMast]

A premium solution such as the Antennas Direct DB8E gives you the most opportunity to receive all of the Vancouver, Victoria and Orcas Island signals. Unfortunately, it retails at about three times your budget.

The Antennacraft U4000 is likely going away due to the Radio Shack / Antennacraft bankruptcy but I still see it for sale through Amazon for about $40 US. This is still a decent option, though finding a single aim point that provides satisfactory results for all available signals will be more challenging than with the more capable DB8E.

If you go with the U4000,start with the antenna facing west... Then fine tune the aim to give the best overall result.

Test reception at the proposed installation location before drilling any holes.

[jwd]

Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated!