[Dagwood]

I tried aiming it a bit each way today, but it didn't make any difference, CBS is totally dead. FOX comes in fine.

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Thanks for the excellent photos. That looks like the Winegard HD7697P or 7698P.
That might be a good idea, as long as you understand that it could be something else like a bad connection in the CB-8269
cartridge housing (balun/combiner). The CB-8269 is an odd design. The forks make contact with the wires from the UHF and VHF sections in a way that doesn't look 100% reliable to me. There is a replacement available:
https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-CB-8.../dp/B003H2G5ZM

https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=cb-8269

http://www.winegarddirect.com/viewit...(CB8269)&post=

The trees and the hill certainly could be the major problems.

Rabbit: Is that a direct replacement for my setup, as far as you can tell by my pictures?

Originally Posted by JoeAZ

Growing up in Cheektowaga and Orchard Park, NY we were able to
receive locals plus Toronto, Hamilton, Barrie, Peterborough, London
& Kitchener in Ontario plus Erie, PA. We rarely received Rochester
even though it was much closer than many of the others. After seeing
your photos, with the trees that tall and the hill, it is surprising that
you receive anything at all. None of that explains why you are having
the recent issues and the outages. Your Winegard antenna is a very
good one but the weakest link in the design is that CB-8269 housing.
I have replaced many of those over the years that fail due to the heat
we experience here in Arizona. They usually cost around $25.00
As Rabbit indicated, Every connection is a potential source for problems.
In my head, I'm thinking that those total blackouts were caused by
shorting at one of those connections. If your cables are fairly old, like
over 10 years, you may want to replace them with new, RG6. If you
are up to it, you could replace each of the connectors yourself but be
sure to weatherproof those outdoors with good silicone sealant.

Originally Posted by JoeAZ

"So I took that plastic housing off the antenna (after unplugging the power supply inside) and there was quite a bit cobwebs and other bug "trash" in there. I cleaned it up, and after I got back down to earth again, I plugged in the power supply and turned the TV on. Everything is okay, but it may take a few days to see if what I did is helping any with CBS."

I frequently run into a situation as you describe above. In addition to cleaning
out the plastic housing, I also gently run some very fine sand paper or cloth
on the contact points and antenna lines where "contact" is made. It often
makes a huge difference.
I'm inclined to agree with Rickbb. When safe to do so, check each and every
outdoor connection point.

I re-read this thread, and from the comments made, I think I'll just order a new housing thing. For $24 delivered from Wineguard, it isn't worth my time to go up there and try to clean/test/fix the old one, which, as Rabbit noted, doesn't appear to be the best design anyway.