A friend of mine wants to cut the cord and already has an OTA antenna installed 14 years ago. He had since had satellite and now has cable. He has already tried it out after not using it for years, but his reception is spotty.
He gets Virtual 50.1-50.4 (real 51) & 9.1-9.3 (real 19) and that's it. He claims he used to get many other channels. Looking at the TV Fool report, he should get many, many more:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e2cb8ab62580e2
2016-07-17 Rons Antenna resize.JPG
It appears to be a Radio Shack VU-120XR PN#15-1644 mid range antenna. One element is broken off close to the main beam and another was folded back, which I put back in place but couldn't secure it there as the rain started to fall.
Radio Shack VU-series:
2016-07-17 Rons Antenna resize close-up.JPG
OK, after looking at the signal meter it appears that he's about to fall off the digital cliff barely pushing 50% on 50 and 9. He said he used to get other channels, including 7.1 WLS (real channel 44) which should be the strongest. My opinion is that the broken element on the antenna shouldn't affect the bulk of channels which are UHF except for 2.1 (real 12).
Back when he first installed the antenna, I doubt the white pines directly in the signal path were in the way. They are 40-50 feet in the distance. I didn't get a picture as I was just checking his rotator. It's an old Radio Shack, in my mind, one of the better ones from the time period 2000 or so.
I find it hard to believe that real channel 51 comes in reliably but real channel 44 doesn't even move the TV signal meter.
At any rate, I think it may be an issue with the trees, plus his chimney mount puts the stainless steel furnace and fireplace very close to the antenna when aimed at Chicago.
Maybe just a new antenna, preamp (50+ feet of RG-6) and 5 feet more of mast? A new rotator if he wants Milwaukee, and I'm sure he'll want VHF too...
We haven't even discussed Milwaukee since his rotator isn't working.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Bob