Help with antenna

[jeffing]

Here is my location please help, no current equipment.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9fbe2af0559ddc

[mtownsend]

If you would like to get most of the channels on your list down to about the red zone, then a Winegard HD7698P, a Winegard AP-8700 pre-amp, and an antenna rotator would do the trick.

You seem to be close enough to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Dayton to get channels from all three markets if you use an antenna rotator.

If you don't mind limiting yourself to just stations from one market, then you can simplify your setup by pointing your antenna in just one direction and leaving out the antenna rotator.

[jeffing]

any suggestions on where to buy tower between and including indianapolis and cincinnati

[fletch99]

These guys are not in your area but you might want to give them a call or email. They do ship.

http://www.3starinc.com/

[mtownsend]

Have you already considered a rooftop install? There are several mounting options available and don't necessarily need to go with a tower.

[jeffing]

House is 20 feet tall with steel roof, I assume need antenna at least 40 feet tall, kind of did not like the combination. Think I like ground install, unless there is some great roof top model.

[mtownsend]

If you don't want to go directly into the steel roof, then you might consider chimney mounts (if you have a chimney) or an eave/wall mount that would attach to the side of the house. Each of these will hold a mast that extends upward and can hold your antenna well above your roof line (~4-5 feet is usually good enough).



Towers are nice too, but they do tend to cost significantly more and they might result in much longer cable runs (if the cable must first run down the length of the tower and then into the house). This might not be so bad if the tower is mounted right up against the house and the cable can take a short path into the house.

If the cable lengths end up being fairly long, then a good pre-amp becomes more important, and you may end up choosing one that favors higher gain (to overcome the cable losses) as opposed to lower Noise Figure.



We're just offering suggestions and options so that you can make the best selection based on your situation.

[mtownsend]

House is 20 feet tall with steel roof, I assume need antenna at least 40 feet tall

Forgot to mention... You should probably play around with the Interactive Maps tool (link is here (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90)). This lets you play around with antenna height and see how much it affects the signal strength from each station.

My initial gut feel is that you probably won't see that much difference between 20 feet and 40 feet. Height can make a big difference if your biggest obstruction is a very close-in (within a mile) tall hill or building. However, in you case, there doesn't appear to be any big terrain obstructions to cause this kind of problem.

Experiment with different heights and see how much of a difference it makes. If the difference is negligible, then a rooftop install at 20 feet is probably going to perform about the same as a tower install at 40 feet.

[jeffing]

I have come across a used antenna tower, little bit of rust but not bad. Any thoughts or concerns on used tower?

Also I am trying to educate myself, what are your thoughts on Channel Master, and or Antenna craft products. Some of the regional dealers carry them and obviously they think their product is the best. Good features? Bad features? great models? models to run away from?

Thanks so for the great input thusfar.
Jeremy

[mtownsend]

In general, Channel Master and Antennacraft products are good. Winegard and Antennas Direct are two other widely used and trusted companies. There are others too...

There are just too many products to go over all of them. You'll probably get a more meaningful response if you ask about specific products or narrow your selection down to a handful of potential candidates.

[jeffing]

One supplier recommended Antenna craft ccs1843, the other recommended Channel master 3671 with a 7777 preamp. Can you give pros and cons of these two versus the Winegard HD7698P, a Winegard AP-8700 pre-amp that you recommended

[John Candle]

The Winegard antenna has whether protected coupler of the antenna connection and coax connection

[mtownsend]

Antenna craft ccs1843

This is a full VHF and UHF combo antenna. You don't have any channels in the 2-6 range (low-VHF). Antennas that support low VHF channels must have longer antenna elements (because lower channels have longer wavelengths).

The Winegard HD7698P only supports channels 7-69 and therefore can be much smaller (it's narrower, easier to maneuver during installation, and helps reduce weight and wind/snow/ice load on the mast). The HD7698P can actually achieve slightly better performance on most channels even though it is smaller.

Antennacraft also make an HBU-xx line of antennas that are designed for channels 7-69 instead of 2-69. The HBU antennas are more comparable to the HD769xP series of antennas. Either of these types of antennas is more appropriate for you since you have nothing in the channel 2-6 range. The Winegard antennas tend to have slightly better performance, but they also tend to cost more.



Channel master 3671 with a 7777 preamp

The 3671 is also a full bandwidth antenna (channels 2-69), so it will have the same issue of being physically large even though you don't need channels 2-6. The 3671 is a good antenna, but it's just not the most ideal choice, in my opinion.

Channel Master also makes a line of channel 7-69 antennas in their 2016, 2018, and 2020 products. However, none of these antennas perform as well as either the Antennacraft or Winegard offerings. You are better off with the other brands for this category of antennas.

The 7777 pre-amp is a good amp and could be used with anybody's antenna. It is highly recommended.

[jeffing]

Ordered the antenna and preamp you recommended, should be here in a few days. Any advice on aiming the antenna, I have a pocket compass to get a general bearing. Also the antenna will have about 50' of antenna cable to the splitter, we have three tv's we would be using 1 at a time, with the longest run from the splitter being an additional 40'. Do I need any other amplification other than the preamp?

Thanks