Time to de-lurk and install some antenna hardware, here is my
TVfool report. I would like to do without a rotor, and start with a single antenna pointed at Mt. Sutro and San Bruno in San Francisco at 314 degrees, although I am also hoping to get the 357 degree stations in Fremont if possible. I am not interested in the stations to the south. I'll be doing TV over ethernet using a Silicondust HDHR connect tuner(s).
I've been trying to decide between the DB8e and CM-4228HD antenna (don't need VHF, KGO 7 is repeated on UHF 48), as well as figure out if I would benefit from a LNA. I'm not entirely sure what's inside the HDHR tuner, but it may have a power splitter before any amplification, in which case an amp may be justified based on that alone. But like I said, I don't know much about the RF design of this tuner.
The antenna will be chimney-mounted on a 10' mast, which will put it 2 - 3 feet above the peak of a single story roof. Because of the networked tuner location in the attic, the run of RG6 will be less than 20'. I don't have trees nearby at 314 or 357 degrees.
In a nutshell, DB8e vs CM-4228HD antenna, and can I use a 18 dB gain pre-amp like the AD Juice without compressing and distorting the signal. Local tribal knowledge says the pre-amp is iffy.
Thanks in advance,
Lifespeed
Edit: Here is a
teardown of the HDHR3 tuner. It looks like there is a pre-amp before the split to the dual tuner chips. With a short run of RG6 there may be little reason to use a pre-amp. Too bad they don't make that tuner in an outdoor enclosure version with Power Over Ethernet, could mount it on the mast and run ethernet up the pole.