Lost reception after storm.
 

Here is the link to my report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc49513320f6a7

The location is at farm that we use several times a year, so I am not always there. I mounted a large antenna (I'm pretty sure a Channel Master 3020) back in June of 2009 because of the digital transition. The antenna was about 15 feet off the ground. The order of cable: 20 feet RG6 coaxial from antenna> grounding block> 10 feet RG59?> in-line amplifier> converter box. The antenna was facing WNW towards the stations in that direction. Here are the channels we could receive (in order of strength):
WMC 5, WBBJ 43, WHBQ 13, WKNO 29, WREG 28, WLMT 31, WPTY 25, WPXX 51, WTWV 14 (at night), WJKT 39 (at night), WMAE 12 (at night).

We had a pretty fierce storm about a month ago that took the antenna down. One of the two smallest VHF elements broke off, and a couple of UHF elements were bent. I was able to unbend them. I re-mounted the antenna yesterday, raising it about 3 feet higher to around 18 or 19 feet, and I ran new RG6 coaxial to the original grounding block. I rescanned the box and now these are all I get: WMC 5, WLMT 31, WPTY 25, WBBJ 43 (spotty).

I expected I might lose WHBQ 13 because of the broken VHF element. I'm wondering if the problem could be a group of three pine trees about forty feet west of the antenna. Could my moving it a few feet up caused the antenna to be in front of part of the tree blocking the signal? I'm really stumped, and I don't want to have to go take the antenna back down again.

Thank you for your help.
**It should be noted that all stations are digital.**

Moving up or down can have surprisingly significant effects in some cases. The big trees are also known sources of reception trouble.

If there is still a broken element, the results can also be less predictable than you may expect. All of the elements interact electrically, even the reflectors and directors that are not DC coupled to the driven elements.

Before replacing the antenna, I would attempt a repair of a broken element... And I would experiment with mounting elevation and aim.

If lighting activity was also involved, suspect static damage to the amplifier. A direct hit would leave the amp vaporized but an indirect hit could leave you with a noisy, poor performing amplifier (though a hard failure would be most likely).

Thanks for the reply.

It's interesting that you mention the lightning; the place is on a hill that has a lot of lightning activity. A tree nearby was struck by lightning, and the original house on the property was struck and burned down....

Maybe I'll disconnect the amplifier and see what happens.