Hi Dave, welcome to the forum.
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My wife wants to get DirectV because of it, and I am definitely a cut the cable guy. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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I'll try to get you out of the hole that you have dug for yourself.
I agree with ADTech; you need a much better VHF-High (real channels 7-13) antenna because of your important channels 7, 11, 9 and 13 from 319 magnetic. You also have 8 CBS and 10 ABC from 143 degrees magnetic, but your new higher gain antenna will be facing the wrong direction for them. This will create a problem for CBS, unless you are able to receive KCBS on real channel 43 also from 319 degrees. I did another report using your estimated location, and small changes switch the two CBS stations around with slight changes in location because of the rough terrain.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...8e035c0771d436
The antenna to consider is the Winegard HD7697P. The 7694 doesn't have enough gain because of the terrain. The 7698 has the best gain, but it might be too big for your roof location.
If CBS becomes a problem, you could have a separate antenna and preamp for CBS from 143 and use an A/B switch to select antennas. Your TV tuner would need to be able to add a channel after scan so you don't have to rescan. Another alternative would be to have a separate tuner for the second antenna and feed the tuner output to an unused TV input.
The preamps to consider are the Antennas Direct Juice, Antennas Direct PA-18, Channel Master 7778, and the RCA TVPRAMP1R. The Juice doesn't have an FM trap, but I don't see a
serious threat from strong local FM signals to your TV reception based on an FMFOOL report using your estimated location; see attachment. If my estimate is off, you can add an FM trap later. The other preamps have FM traps. The RCA is OK but has a history of quality control problems; you can buy 3 RCAs for the price of one of the other amps.
The coax shield should be grounded with a grounding block that is connected to the house electrical system ground with 10 gauge copper wire for electrical safety and to reject interference. For further compliance with the electrical code (NEC), the mast should also be grounded in a similar manner to drain any buildup of static charge, but the system will not survive a direct strike.
Please let us know the results of your tests on this same thread.