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Hmmm, that's disappointing that I placed the antenna poorly. I assumed that the location wouldn't make much of a difference given that the broadcast signals are strong; I thought it was enough just to get the thing outside and on my roof (which is about 12 feet off the ground, currently, but still a couple of feet below the peak, as I previously pointed out).
I live in a hilly area, and my home is located at a lower elevation that some close-proximity neighboring homes between me and the tower. No matter where I place the antenna on my roof, it will point at trees and other homes. Will these also present significant obstacles?
Before I settled on an outdoor antenna, I experimented by placing my Terk indoor antenna outside on my covered patio, running a cable directly into my HDHR as a quick test. In this configuration (with the antenna ~ 2 feet off the ground and seemingly blocked by the roof over the patio), I picked up everything except the VHF-hi station (7) just fine. Perhaps the style of antenna does matter in my case? I did this initial test with a Terk HDTVi.
According to the TV Fool report, the channels giving me trouble are ~2-3dBm lower than those I'm receiving without issue. Am I really on the hairy edge in my current configuration? Even the lower-powered VHF-hi station (7) comes in strongly; it seems like antenna location would affect it also.
In short: why do some stations come in strongly but not others? I'm hesitant to move the antenna until I have a reasonable understanding of why this matters. Reducing obstructions makes perfect sense, but I'm confused that anything is working well if my antenna is placed poorly.
Thanks,
EG
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