Help in Lake Tahoe

[BermudaAl]

Hi,

i live at 7,130' in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. The snowpack at my house was over 14' this winter - had a slab avalanche take out our Direct TV Dish which was on a 12' pole! While it sounds funny, it could have resulted in a burial had my wife or I been out there on snowshoes brushing it off when it happened. That was the last straw for satellite for us. I'm trying to avoid an outdoor antenna because of the hassles of dealing with it in the winter - we also get frequent high winds here. I had my original Direct TV dish on my garage roof but had to give that up after my first winter - it was too dangerous to access when the snow got over 10'.

I'm planning on using a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun device as a receiver which will connect to an Apple TV through my wired LAN, so that gives me a bunch of flexibility on location in the house. I'm on a steep lot (35 to 40 Degrees) so calculating the distance above the ground is tricky. My garage is at street level on one side and you walk out over 40' down on the other side.

Here's my Report: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3de6a4a1ca478082

All I want to get OTA are ABC / NBC / CBS. Can I get the channels I want to get with an indoor antenna and if so which antenna should I look at? Thanks.

[JoeAZ]

Greetings,

Mia Culpa, I had to completely rewrite this because an attic
antenna is not going to work for you. Here is why.
You already have weak signals at your location. An attic
installation will likely reduce those weak signals but the
main reason is: with 5-10 feet of snow on your roof, the
signals will be too weak to receive. An outside mounting
is a must. I would avoid any roof mount. Instead, I would
look carefully at your situation. Can you mount off of a
deck??? Can you use a "J" mount on the side of your home?
You want to place the antenna where there is nothing
below it for at least 10 feet and where it is not blocked by
trees. You need a clear path to the Northeast. That is
where your major signals come from. If you can find
such a spot, I would suggest the Winegard 7694P antenna.
It is extremely rugged and well suited for your situation
and weather. Keep it simple, especially at first. Run
no more than 50 feet of RG6 cable to one television.
Once you've established a good signal over a few day
period, you can move forward, if you wish. Do not
forget to properly ground your system. Not only does
it protect from lightning, it can actually enhance your
reception.