Antenna Confusion near NYC

[brianosaur]

Want to put an antenna on a church roof so to get NFL games for the guys.

Only want CBS, NBC & FOX preferably out of NYC which are 46 miles away.
(and ABC if the ever pick up Giants/Jets games again)

TVFOOL says I should also be able to get CT stations across the LI sound, but AntennaWeb doesn't show that I can.
AntennaWeb shows the three stations are purple
TVfool shows them as yellow

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3da36214a7f377b2

AntennaWeb
* yellow uhf WLNY-DT 57.1 IND RIVERHEAD, NY 103° 10.3 47
* yellow uhf WFTY-DT 67.1 TFA SMITHTOWN, NY 107° 8.3 23
* red uhf WLIW-DT 21.1 PBS GARDEN CITY, NY 261° 19.3 21
* violet uhf WNYW-DT 5.1 FOX NEW YORK, NY 271° 46.8 44
* violet uhf WCBS-DT 2.1 CBS NEW YORK, NY 269° 48.8 33
* violet uhf WNJU-DT 47.1 TEL LINDEN, NJ 271° 46.8 36
* violet uhf WNBC-DT 4.1 NBC NEW YORK, NY 269° 48.8 28

WHAT ANTENNA DO I NEED?

[mtownsend]

Antennaweb tends to be over-conservative in most cases. I think the channels you seek are well within reach.

To keep things simple, I would recommend concentrating on just the NYC stations. I would recommend an antenna like the Winegard HD7696P or Antennacraft HBU-55 on the roof pointing at NYC with no amp and no rotator. My reasoning behind this is as follows:

1) The local stations are strong enough that you might be at risk of overloading a pre-amp. I think you would be better off avoiding amps altogether and making up for the difference by picking a larger size antenna. If you go with the HD7697P or HD7698P (larger versions of the same antenna), you might even be able to pick up some of the New Jersey channels.

2) Just point the antenna at NYC. The local stations are so strong, that you will probably pick them up even when they are coming in through the "back" side of the antenna.

3) The HD769xP and HBU-xx families of antennas are designed to pick up channels 7-69 only. They do not work for channels 2-6, but it doesn't look like you will be sacrificing much by giving up on these channels. The advantage of using these antennas is that they are significantly smaller (narrower) than their equivalent full-bandwidth (ch 2-69) antennas. The reduced size means there will be less stress on the antenna/mast/mount due to wind, snow, ice, etc.