New to the scene

[bayn8v]

I just cancelled cable and picked up the Clearstream2. I also purchased the PA-18 preamp. I live in an appartment and have the antenna mounted at arround 13' overall. I have it connected to Tivo and am pulling signal strength in the mid 70's on most of the 21 channels I am recieving. I want to recieve more channels(who doesn't) because there are plenty of towers arround me. Any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated. Also I'll probably be picking up the C2-VHF Reflector assembly to help pick up VHF channels arround me. Here is my map:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dec124cb0f45847

[bayn8v]

I have the Clearstream2 and PA-18 preamp with the antenna mounted at arround 13'. I will be purchasing the C2-VHF Reflector to help with VHF reception. Is this a good setup for my area? If not what would you reccomend? I am in an appartment so I cant do a huge antenna. Here is my map:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dec124cb0f45847

[MisterMe]

Why do your product research after the purchase? I assume that you will discretely mount your antenna outside. With the VHF elements installed, you should have no trouble receiving the top 14 stations all the way down to KGO-DT (RF 7). That said, you do not need the preamp. Since you already have the preamp, you may test it to see if it improves your reception.

[bayn8v]

I am mainly looking for tips, tricks, ideas personal experiences, etc. These forums are for people to help one another and not to critique. The preamp helps keep the channels from breaking up, I was hoping it would help me pull in additional channels but I may have to go to a rotator...

[phone man]

That's the first thing I thought, are you sure you need a preamp.... in an apartment? You have plenty of signal strength and LOS, assuming you aim the antenna east 75 degrees.
Oh, I'm pretty sure you asked for critique in your original post. ;^) Sounded like friendly critique to me!

[GroundUrMast]

If reception of real channels 2 through 6 are not of interest to you, the C2 high VHF accessory element is a reasonable choice.

If you were starting from scratch, I'd suggest an Antennacraft C290, Channel Master CM-3016 or Winegard HD7010. I'm presuming that at least one of the sub-channels on KCSO, real channel 3 would be of interest, they carry Telemundo and MeTV network per rabbitears.info. The high VHF add-on element for the CS2 would not be an ideal choice for receiving real channel 3. A Winegard HD5030 will be rather bulky if you want to simply add VHF (high and low band) but keep the CS2.

I would not have suggested that you opt for a fringe area preamp that can be overloaded by strong local signals. If you are splitting to many sets or have very long cable runs I would suggest a high input preamp or quality DA.

"Pulling in" more stations is done with a larger, higher gain antenna placed so it has access to the weaker signals. A preamp is for overcoming loss in your cable and splitters that are connected on the output side of the preamp.

If the CPA-18 seems to help keep the tuner locked, that suggests quite strongly that the mounting location and/or aim of the antenna could be improved a great deal... or that there's a problem with one or more connections.