Antenna advice

[pmat]

I am looking for advice on improving reception and/or eliminating the need to rotate the antenna. Today, without rotating, I am receiving pretty much all of the channels available in my area over the air with a radio shack antenna (about 9feet long) that is in my attic. It is equiped with a rotator but would like to get to the point where I can install a DVR device and not have to worry about pointing the antenna. Some days though, I lose either NBC or FOX and wind up spending a lot of time re-scanning and rotating the antenna. It's frustrating because sometimes, like today, it's perfect.

Today, without rotation, I am getting 6.1, 6.2, 8.1,8.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 13.1, 13.2 14(local ova community tv) 23.1, 35.1, 35.2 51.1, and 51.2

A couple of days ago, I sent an hour trying to get FOX 23 to come in.

Here is the data link:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d60b54b73778611

Looking to upgrade to make it more reliable (like the direct tv that I ditched)

I would consider moving the antenna to the peak of the roof which is at around 35 feet above the ground. Or wonder about just installing a second antenna in the attic to point towards the FOX/PBS location.

I have just one tv in the house which is a panasonic lcd hd tv.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Paul

[John Candle]

The antenna that you have looks like which one of these , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

[Tower Guy]

Today, without rotating, I am receiving pretty much all of the channels available in my area over the air with a radio shack antenna (about 9feet long) that is in my attic.

There is 74° difference between FOX and the other networks. The 9' long antenna is too directional. Combining a second antenna using a splitter may work and may not, it would be very trial and error. You could improve the odds greatly by adding a channel 23 bandpass filter in line with the antenna aimed at FOX.

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=ss4805&d=Blonder-Tongue-BPF-U-Single-Channel-UHF-Bandpass-Filter---470-806-MHz-%28BPF-U%29

An easier and cheaper solution (but not as elegant) would be a smaller antenna with less directivity. I'd consider the ANT751.

[pmat]

I climbed up in the attic, the antenna is not a long as I thought, it's 80 inches and is a radio shack model vu-90xr. Today I am still getting all of the channels but it appears that the antenna is not pointing in the direction that I thought it should. As soon as I locate a compass I will check it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/113668534524494825767/Antenna?authkey=Gv1sRgCI659teRg5KzugE#

I am ok with an inexpensive solution! Maybe it's just to move this antenna to the peak of the roof???

[pmat]

on picassa web:

https://picasaweb.google.com/113668534524494825767/Antenna?authkey=Gv1sRgCI659teRg5KzugE#

[John Candle]

Yes move the antenna to the roof top , start with the antenna aimed at about 250 degree magnetic compass. Here are some antenna mounts , http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , http://www.ronard.com/ychim.com

[pmat]

Today, I tried just moving it around in the attic with compass in hand. At 300 degrees magnetic, I get all of the channels but the signal on 6.1 NBC is less than ideal and get occasional pixalation. The trade off is between FOX and NBC. I can make FOX and everything else work pretty good between 300 and 310 magnetic but NBC is weak, Or I can make NBC work and then FOX is weak.

The direction that FOX comes from is more through the roof shingles as the peak of the roof is pretty much oriented East / West. Though PBS comes from the same direction, and it has a strong signal and is not a problem.

Hopefullly the gain by moving it outside will be enough to get both NBC and FOX at the same time.

It's not an easy job though as the peak is very high. I may look for a professional to install it up there.

Tower Guy mentioned an antenna, ant751 as less directional option. It's tempting to try that in the attic, as getting up to the peak is not easy. Could that work or is the attic always going to present issues?

Thanks for the input.