Attic antenna advice

[fletch99]

I know outside is the place for an antenna. That said this is an attic setup for now. I would like to improve my reception.

Currently I have an HBU33 aimed at 140 degrees + Home made mounted horizontally pointed at 310 degrees => reversed 2-way splitter => 269 pre-amp => 3-way splitter.

When I turned the HBU to 140 I pretty much lost WWBT 12 which is VHF 26KW. Adding the home made antenna got it back but later I realized it was VHF so I'm not sure why the home made, which I think is UHF only, helped.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9c6b8a3c0f19dd

Having some difficulty with WCVE & WCVW & WUPV

I can get WVBT ION but only late and early and never very strong signal. This seems to be the weakest signal this setup can pick up.

I've wondered if I removed the home made and got a 91XG and aimed it at 140 and aimed the HBU33 at 310 and still combine the signals then the pre-amp if I could make a big improvement. I honestly don't know but am looking for an economical way to improve this setup.

[No static at all]

Fletch,

Did you ever try bypassing the 3 way splitter & running just 1 TV off the HBU33 antenna & 269 pre-amp? (No 2nd antenna either)

[fletch99]

Yes. I took a small digital TV up there and hooked each antenna to it directly with no splitter and no preamp to get the most channels out of each antenna. With everything hooked up except the pre-amp I loose 49.1,49.2,49.3.

[Dave Loudin]

I'm not surprised that you're having issues with selected channels with the two-antenna setup. The sensitivity of the HBU is not zero off the back, so you are getting Richmond signals in both antennas. If the signals don't arrive at the same time at the combiner, then destructive interference happens and you end up with less signal than you would have with just one antenna. Ideally, if you had an antenna that was equally sensitive in two directions ("front"/"back"), then that would be the best solution.

You mentioned a home made antenna. What type? Yagi? dipole? bow-tie? Since you are not adverse to building from scratch, I'd recommend a 4-bay bow-tie array with no reflector. See here (http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/index.html) for plans. If you built the "Youtube" bowtie array with 5 1/4" spacing, then that is a far less effective antenna.

[fletch99]

Yes, I built the bowtie one off youtube. I was actually amazed that it works as well as it does. Blind Luck I guess. I follow what you're saying about using the two antenna's together. Do you think I could get the Richmond & Tidewater stations off one of those type home made antenna's ?

[Dave Loudin]

Theoretically, the answer is yes. Dimensions of the bowties and their spacing are important for best results. The youtube design has too-small bowties spaced too closely together, so the overall array is far less sensitive, especially at the lower end of UHF. Read up on the design information at the site I linked to - you'll probably end up building either the middle or smallest sized one.

My view of DC stations is similar to your view of Hampton Roads. Richmond is almost exactly 180 degrees the other way, so I plan on building one of these soon for my attic install. The biggest risk, besides the loss through the roof, is multipath from signals bouncing off metal things. Be prepared to try multiple locations if you find your initial setup does not perform correctly.

[fletch99]

Thanks. One last question regarding this 4 Bay home made kit. If my understanding is correct - these home made antenna's are all UHF specific. I do have one VHF station Richmond and one in Tidewater I would still like to receive. What would I do about those two stations ?

[Dave Loudin]

Read the information at the site I linked to. That design has gain for high-VHF, which is what 12 from Richmond and 13 from the Tidewater are.

[fletch99]

Thanks for the good info !