Help for Antenna rookie!

Bburk329 · 16-Apr-2014, 8:35 PM

Hello Everyone,
I found this forum while searching for help with antenna shopping. We cut the cord for budget reasons. We have been without tv for almost 5 months, except for Netflix and Amazon. We are looking at getting an antenna. According to the signal analysis, I am about 50 miles from the towers for my local networks out of Chicago. Here is my signal analysis :
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b9425abba2da6
I am looking at the Antennas Direct ClearStream 2V. Would this be an adequate antenna? I have a fairly clear unobstructed place I could put the antenna about 10 ft off the ground on my roof.

If this is a decent enough antenna, how would I go about attaching it to the roof? I am not super handy but I can do small jobs around the house. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Tower Guy · 16-Apr-2014, 9:06 PM

The C2V will have a bit of trouble with WBBM, CBS. Consider an HBU-44, HD7696P, or similar hi VHF and UHF designs.

Mount it using an eave mount or a wall mount below the eave.

Bburk329 · 16-Apr-2014, 9:26 PM

Thank you! So if missing out on CBS isn't a big deal for me, this would still be a good choice? I actually have an old antennae on my house that I have been meaning to take down because it is not grounded at all and is on the opposite side of my house as I would like it to be. As far as that goes, if I were to mount the antenna I listed in my first post to the current mast, how much signal degradation would there in a 100' run of cable vs. about a 50' run? I plan on using the RG6 coax as things I have read say that is what should be used.

GroundUrMast · 17-Apr-2014, 12:00 AM

Long runs of coax can be dealt with through the use of a preamplifier or distribution amplifier. 100' of RG-6 will have as much as 6 dB of loss at the top of the UHF band, half that in the VHF range.

Here's an extreme case... http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=13659

An RCA TVPRAMP1R would be a good fit for your situation.