I'm a lifelong OTA TV watcher and found a lot of useful info on this site when the DTV conversion forced me to upgrade my old antenna.
Two years ago I moved to the Sierra Foothills (Sonora, CA) and assumed that I would have to cave in to dish (cable won't reach me). Using the signal analysis tool I found enough hope to give OTA a try and bought a LAVA HD2805 "long range" antenna
only because I found one for $30. Like I have read elsewhere it is a cheaply made antenna, however, for the last year and a half I have used it to capture signals from Sutro Tower in SF and Fremont Peak near Salinas for two televisions and less than 100' of cable. This works about 70-80% of the time which is fine since I don't really watch much TV. A couple of weeks ago it stopped working and I have concluded that the built in amplifier burned out. I would not buy this antenna again, but for a $30 investment it did convince my wife that spending more for a quality set up is a good idea.
I ran the signal analysis for different antenna heights for my location. The tvfool results are as follows:
1’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84f494a97eadf
5’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84f3cea94f44b
10’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84f964ee6a894
25’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84f0d067e3651
40’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84f9e5ce598be
100’ AGL:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...c84fa7a7ca9e80
My house is on a west facing slope near the top of a ridge at 3150' with a clear view of the San Joaquin Valley. It has a main floor with a full deck on the west side and a daylight basement. With the LAVA antenna, I found the best reception was underneath my deck about 6' AGL and 3' from the house. This was confirmed by the tvfool plots at various heights that due to my location, lower to the ground is better. I could install an antenna on my roof at 25'AGL but am subject to periodic snow and high winds.
My main question is would upgrading to a bigger antenna (Winegard 7698P or Channel Master 3020) along with a Winegard 8275 amplifier give me a better result than going with a TERK HDTVo which is similar in size and functionality to the LAVA but supposedly much better constructed? The TERK could go in the current antenna location while the others would have to be mounted on my roof.
The best reception for the LAVA was pointing it at 249°magn. This was directly at Sutro Tower (120.4 miles). At this orientation I was able to receive KSBW (Fremont Peak, 205° magn, 108.7 miles) also. I actually got KSBW stronger this way then if I pointed directly at 205° magn due possibly to some trees on my neighbor’s property.
Another question is that I would rather get TV for the Sacramento area as that's my home town. These stations broadcast from Walnut Grove (273° magn, 69.1 miles). Unfortunately I have a 3100' ridge one mile away and a 3340' mountain 5.2 miles away on the direct path. The towers are only 1000' high so I assume that the signal can't bend that much (the LAVA when it worked couldn't get any signal at all, but people a few miles away without my obstructions are getting these stations). Any thoughts on if and how I could watch these stations instead of SF stations would be appreciated.