sixty mile help
 

I would like some opinions on better antenna. I have an Clearstream 4 mounted on my deck wall and I am getting channel 5 and up from Chicago. Some of the channels do drop sometimes. I actually could mount something about another 15 or 20 feet higher if needed. I have trees directly north of my house about 100 feet away. In the spring there will definitely be leaf coverage blocking the view of Chicago. I have about 50 foot RG6 to 25 Db amplifier and then splitter for four TV’s now. Will any more directional type antennas help with this? http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1ddaca08e738b4

The OTA= Over The Air , Digital Broadcast Tv transmissions are medium strong at your reception location.

Antenna height is important.

And - Antenna Location - is -->More Important<-- at your reception location.

As always , Trees and Tree Leaves do a good job of , Reflecting , Reducing , Blocking , digital broadcast Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own roof and house.

Install the CS4 antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the direction of reception including your own roof and house.

The Chic ago Digital Tv stations are at about 41 degree magnetic compass direction.

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

Have you ever tried connecting directly to 1 tv with no splitter? I would try connecting to 1 tv, both with & without the amplifier if not & see if there is any improvement as a first step.

Yes, I have. I am trying to see what the best is! In the end I would like CBS. Would antenna rated for further distance really matter?

CBS in on VHF so a different antenna will be needed as the C4 is designed primarily for UHF. CBS is on the weak side at your location, so I would recommend either augmenting your present antenna with either this or this. You could also start over from scratch with a combo UHF/VHF antenna, but it would have to be rather large to match the UHF performance of what you are already using.

I got an old channelmaster antenna from my neighbor and threw it on a pole about 20 feet lower than I could actually install a new antenna. It is pointed straight at an old oak tree and I am getting cbs enough to actually watch, drifts in and out. This antenna is about twenty years old and has a couple of broken elements! Of course, I would still want and hope for better.

If that's the case, the the small Antennacraft Y5-7-13 may work reasonably well. That CBS station is only transmitting a measly 8000 watts, so it will likely not be reliable 24/7, but an even larger antenna should help reduce dropouts more if you have the room. The FCC really screwed up digital VHF & the power levels are still too low in many areas, just like Chicago.

Our VHF stations in DC started off ridiculously low, but are now transmitting 52,000 watts. I still find the UHF stations more reliable once 50+ miles away even with the more generous power levels alloted to VHF here.

I have plenty of room! I don't really want to mess with experiments much. I want to do the most practical answer to living 60 miles from Chicago and having trees close to the house. I expect the reception will be worse when the leaves start to grow.