ADTech & ALL,
Thanks for trying to help my neighbor.
Dub is ~2.35 miles E-SE from my location @ ~106 degrees, so he is further out of Box Springs shadow. His TVFool report shows about 9 dBm more signal strength (8X) than mine so I expect with a single dual band antenna he will get more reliable reception than me. My dual UHF antennas are only yielding ~2.7 dB of gain over a single UHF instillation so he should be well above my cliff. I did offer to lend him one of my spare 91XG UHF antennas to see what he can get. I don’t have a spare High VHF antenna for 7, 9, 11 & 13, however, since they are no longer sold, that’s kind of a moot point.
TVFool report @ my house:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e6a4cc5d0ba5ba
Dub’s TVFool report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e6a4069490a1c0
I own a condo that is 4.31 miles @ 132 degrees from my location or roughly twice as far east and south as Dub’s location. Its TVFool report is all high green, so here, just a few miles makes a big difference.
TVFool report @ my condo:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...dfaff76843edec
Here is how I answered his questions & what I suggested:
Dub,
Okay thanks. I won't be able to get all of these channels correct?
The channels you’ll get depend on a lot of factors. Atmospheric absorption (attenuation) weakens the signals coming from Mt. Wilson so reception changes with temperature, cloud cover, fog, rain, smog etc. The biggest problem for our area however is 1 & 2-Edge reception.
What that basically means is that the signals we receive, instead of traveling line-of-sight or directly to our antennas, are blocked by one (1-Edge) or two (2-Edge) obstructions. Think of shining a flashlight beam on the wall (equals line-of-sight reception). Then cover the main part of the beam with a piece of cardboard held a few feet from the flashlight. The strong spot disappears but a much dimmer area of light can still be seen. That’s effectively all the signal we have to work with. The further back from the obstruction the stronger the signal gets.
That’s why for real UHF channel 43 (CBS virtual channel 2.1) your TVFool report shows -103.3 dBm and mine only shows -112.4 dBm. Another words, your signal will be 9.1 dBm (or approximately 8 times) stronger than mine.
Your UHF channel 36 (NBC virtual channel 4.1) is -98.3 where mine is -107.4 or again, yours is approximately 8 times stronger.
You are getting CBS and NBC from San Diego correct?
CBS & ABC from San Diego are broadcast on real channel 8 & 10 from Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. I get them sporadically but not reliably enough to watch regularly. I used to get NBC on real channel 40 (virtual channel 39.1) real reliably, but last summer something changed and now I hardly ever get it at all. Ironically, I still get the co-located Fox & PBS transmitters like gang-busters.
Can I also get those channels from there or no?
The only San Diego stations I see in your TVFool report are K12PO an analog channel 12 repeater in Temecula for KUSI and KFMB CBS in San Diego @ -105.6. You’ll get CBS UHF channel 43 (CBS virtual channel 2.1) from LA @ -103.3 dBm more reliably without having to turn your antenna.
If I am not able to get all of these channels, can you recommend an antenna which can get me most of these channels?
Because of the weak nature of your signals I recommend the highest gain antenna you can afford/install. I use separate High VHF and UHF antennas because at the time I bought them they afforded the most gain available. Unfortunately, the High VHF antennas I use are no longer made so for your location I would recommend something like the Winegard HD7698P @ $124.99 or similar.
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=hd7698p
I’m sure Dub would appreciate input from others besides me on acceptable solutions. Just keep in mind he’ll probably want a High VHF/UHF solution because we have four (7-ABC, 9-CBS sister station, 11-FOX & 13-KCOP) High VHF channels with the CW on channel 31, NBC on channel 36 and CBS on channel 43. There are a multitude of others like ION on channel 38 or that show movies on sub-channels that he’ll want, not to mention all the foreign language channels if he speaks a second language.