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Old 23-Mar-2015, 7:28 AM   #5
GroundUrMast
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Greater Seattle Area
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Thanks for the added info.

Signal conditions improve significantly between 6 & 30'. Besides signal strength, the path profiles appears to to improve somewhat which can be just as significant.

Still, it looks as if an Antennas Direct DB8E is your best option given the combination of signal levels and path profiles. If you have a mounting location that avoids obstructions such as structures and trees, the DB8E gives you a shot at seeing signals with NM values as low as the -4.3 value predicted for KPTN.

Test reception before drilling any holes. Be open to trying alternate locations and heights if you don't find reliable reception at your preferred location. I'd start with both panels of the DB8E facing 123° magnetic. Be prepared to adjust the aim of the panels in small steps, so that one panel moves toward 115° and the other toward 150°, adjust in equal but opposite amounts, rescanning and checking reception. Use the aim that produce the best overall reception results. While testing the initial antenna aim, use no preamp and only one TV, no splitters and a single coax cable, not longer than 50'.

http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=13646

Presuming you will have more than 50' of coax between the antenna and any single TV, I'd start with an Antennas Direct 'Juice' preamp at the antenna, and a passive splitter located at a convenient distribution point. To drive five tuners, you may find that a 4-way splitter with a 2-way splitter in tandem will provide better results than an 8-way splitter. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=13090 If you find that you need a distribution amplifier, because you loose signals after adding all the loss of cabling and splitters, a distribution amplifier can be added, but I'd resist the temptation to do so because the gain of the antenna plus the gain of the preamp should be enough. Over-amplification leads to signal distortion which equals less reliable reception due to the poor quality of the signal delivered to the TV(s).
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If the well is dry and you don't see rain on the horizon, you'll need to dig the hole deeper. (If the antenna can't get the job done, an amp won't fix it.)

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