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Originally Posted by shipfaced
To keep it away from the roof, could we could use a sailboat mast that we use as a flag pole now? Does the antenna need to be stable - ei:not swaying on the end of a mast?
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Most antennas are designed to clamp around a pole up to 1.5 inches in diameter. If your boat mast is generally round and under 1.5" across, then it should be possible to mount the antenna on it.
Then again, antenna masts can be purchased in 5 and 10 foot lengths at modest prices.
You also need a way to hold the mast. Depending on what your options are, you might consider chimney mounts, tripods, eave mounts, wall mounts, towers, etc.
It is a good idea to minimize antenna sway and rotation. If the antenna movement is too much, it might be bad enough to cause signal breakups. Antenna sway is usually not that big of a problem unless the mast is getting long or is not sturdy enough (larger diameter, thicker walled masts are more stiff than skinny ones). If the mast is getting to be over 10 feet high, then guy wires are probably a good idea.
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Does an amplifier help in this case or is it best to stay away from them...
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A pre-amp is a good idea in your case. Pre-amps boost your antenna's output before all the lossy components that come later (coax, splitters, and other devices that cut down the signal quality).
There are some cases when nearby signals are too strong for pre-amps to handle. This causes amp overload that makes things worse rather than better. However, in your situation, there aren't any signals strong enough to cause concern of overload. The improvement from the pre-amp should be a net gain.
The Orlando stations are pretty weak, so a pre-amp should help you preserve as much signal quality out of your antenna as possible.
When choosing a pre-amp, be sure to select one with a low Noise Figure (NF) specification. A "good" pre-amp should have a Noise Figure of 3 dB or less. Popular "good" pre-amps include the Channel Master 7777, Winegard 8275, and Antennacraft 10G202.
A rotor is useful if you want to grab stations from different directions. However, in your case, you should be able to get all of the major networks from Orlando. There's not much need to go after the West Palm Beach stations since most of them are harder to get and would mostly duplicate what you get from Orlando.
Unless you have a specific need to get stations from both directions, then you can probably skip the rotor.