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Old 1-Sep-2010, 5:21 PM   #2
mtownsend
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 632
Hello and welcome!

Most of the channels down into the "red" zone on your list should be reachable with a rooftop antenna. The main issue for you is going to be the fact that the stations are coming from different directions all around you. You can solve this problem by installing an antenna rotator or an A-B switch to deal with the different directions.



Here are some important things to consider in your setup:

>>> Your local signals are very strong. They are so strong, in fact, that you can run into problems of having too much signal for amplifiers to handle. The amplifier on your current indoor antenna may already be struggling with amp overload issues. An overloaded amp can make things worse rather than better. For any future purchases, I recommend that you avoid getting anything with a built-in amplifier.



>>> WPVI is on channel 6. It is your only low-VHF channel. Any antenna designed to deal with low-VHF channels is going to have long antenna elements. There are some antennas designed only for channels 7-69 (they don't cover channels 2-6) that are much narrower because they don't have the longer antenna elements. WPVI is very close and very strong, so there's a chance that it can still come through even on a channel 7-69 antenna. But, if WPVI is very important to you, then you better play it safe and get a larger full-channel antenna.

vs.



>>> WLVT (ch 39, PBS) is in the "red" zone on your list, so it's relatively weak, but still within reception range. In order to pick up WLVT reliably, you'll need to get a higher gain (larger) antenna. You can't use a pre-amp (because of the strong locals), so for that reason you'll want to err on the side of choosing a larger antenna just to make sure WLVT comes in reliably.



Here are two possible setups that I think would work:

1) Use a single antenna like the Winegard HD7084P (large) or HD8200P (very large) on a rotator like the Channel Master 9521A. If you point the antenna at WLVT, there's a good chance that you'll still be picking up the strong local channels, but just in case you need to, the rotator will let you turn the antenna to pick up more Philly or New Jersey stations when necessary.

2) Use two antennas and an A-B switch. Install a Winegard MS-1000 (non-amplified omni antenna) on one set of cables to pick up the strong local stations, and then install a Winegard HD7697P (large) or HD7698P (larger) on another set of cables pointed at the Allentown stations. Use the A-B switch to select between the two. You can select the directional antenna whenever you want to watch WLVT (or any of the other Allentown stations) and select the omni antenna the rest of the time.
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