We are reroofing our house and I’m looking to replace an old antenna that came with the house. In order to keep an OTA antenna, I’ve promised my better half that I will relocate it from the chimney on the front of the house to a less visible location on the side/back of the house, which shouldn’t affect the LOS. I’m also replacing all the coax with new RG6.
Here is a link to our report:
TVFool Report
I really only need ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS, which cover both VHF Hi-Band and UHF; all the transmitters I need are located about 30 miles away at 81° on Mt. Wilson in LA, so I’m looking at a highly directional antenna. According to my report, the strongest signal I need to receive is -71.5 dBm and the weakest is -98.0 dBm. I do have some significant terrain and trees between our house and Mt. Wilson. Last night I was able to pick up a very pixelated signal from a station (I0N/30.1) that is listed at -108.9 dBm at 83°.
For some unknown reason, I’m intermittently unable to receive one of the main networks, possibly KABC in the VHF Hi-Band, but can’t remember for sure … and of course everything is coming in perfectly when I check now. These outages seem to only occur in the 9th inning of baseball games or on the 18th green of major golf tournaments.
Here is my current OTA setup:
Existing antenna
Channel Master Model 7777 Preamp
Channel Master Model 0747 Power Supply
PCT-MA2-8P Distribution Amp
I assume that I’m looking for something like one of these:
Solid Signal Xtreme Signal Long Range HD VHF/UHF/FM Antenna(HD8200XL)
Winegard Heavy Duty Platinum VHF/UHF/FM HDTV Antenna(HD8200U)
I wouldn’t mind using the antenna for FM reception as well, if it doesn’t detract from HDTV reception.
Is there a specific antenna that you would recommend for my location? Also, should I reuse the existing Preamp & Distribution Amp or is there something better I should I install?
Thanks for any recommendations you can provide!