Unique house presents unique challenge
 

Hello everyone,

First, here's my report:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46aef5d38b174a

The major problem for me is our Fox affiliate 24 miles away.

Our house is actually steel-framed. One of a handful built by U.S. Steel in the late-'50s when they had a functioning plant nearby. The outside frame and the trusses in the attic are steel, while the interior is standard wood studs and drywall.

Reception is terrific from all of the channels we want except for Fox. We are presently using an indoor $80 antenna that is the ONLY indoor model (like most of you, I've tried dozens) that has been able to pick up the Fox station at all. The terrain between us and the transmitter is relatively flat, no major obstructions and we are on top of a hill, yet the signal is still on the medium side.

I really don't want to attach an antenna to the side of the house or the roof, which leads me to 2 questions:

1) Do the steel trusses in the attic automatically take an attic antenna off the table as an option?

2) Would a homemade db4 antenna improve or worsen the reception? I'm considering this as a project with the kids this weekend.

Any help is appreciated.

Edit - Just wanted to clarify that the signal strength for the Fox affiliate is medium strength on the TV Fool map, but is very weak at our house. The antenna we're currently using barely picks it up, hence my second question.

I would take the antenna you have outside (with a long cable to the TV), to see if the WPMT signal is better outside. You could do the same with putting it in your attic to see if there is signal up there.

Do you know which WGAL you get? Is it the main signal on VHF 8 or is it the signal on UHF 49? If you are getting WGAL on Real 49, then your VHF situation is easier than it looks from the radar plot.

Do you get/need the programming from WGCB?

Thanks for the reply.

To answer your first question, I'm picking up the UHF 49 signal from WGAL. The indoor antenna we have is pretty much a UHF, although Channel 27's signal is so strong that it picks that up as well.

As to the second one, no, we do not need the programming from WGCB. The few times it was picked up in the channel scan, it refused to come in at all.

At some point, I'll try taking the antenna to the attic or outside. I figure the cost of the coax cable will be justified by the experiment. Where the TV is in the living room, fishing a line into the attic from there would not be a problem if it succeeds but I would hate to put a hole in the wall for nothing.

I get most of my cables from monoprice.com. I can get a 100’ RG6 cable with F connectors on the ends from monoprice cheaper than I can get 100’ of bulk coax locally.

Do you have a small TV you could move near the access to your attic? Then you could put the antenna in the attic, run a long cable to the TV in the house, and see if WPMT comes in. No sense in drilling holes until you find if there is even signal up there.

Do you need ABC from VHF 10 or the programming from W07DP-D from VHF 7?

If you really only need CBS, CW, PBS, NBC, and Fox, I can see why you don’t want to put up an outside antenna, you are almost there with an indoor antenna.

I suggest you go to http://www.rabbitears.info/search.php, put in your zip, address, check signal strength, and see what rabbitears estimates your signal strength for WPMT is. If there is a big difference between estimates, the signal strength from WPMT may be less at your house than TVfool is predicting.

What is the spacing of the trusses in the attic?
What is your roof made of?
Is your roof simple (2 slanted sides, with 2 eaves), or do you have multiple segments of roof that come together in valleys?
If your roof is simple, what direction do the slanted sides face? What are the eaves covered with, what direction do they face? (I hope not Al siding).
Does the attic have windows? If so, what directions do they face?

Install a ANT751 above the roof in such a manner that the reception is not impeded and blocked by the roof and building in the directions of , South West , West , North West , North , North East , East , South East.

Aim the ANT751 at about 136 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

Use a real and actual magnetic compass to aim the antenna.

Metal structures can alter the reading of a magnetic compass , may have to move the compass away from the building.

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Install a Winegard , LNA-100 'Boost" amplifier.

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Here are some pladces to buy antennas and etc. .

http://www.solidsignal.com.

http://www.amazon.com.

http://www.winegarddirect.com.

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