Hi, I’ve learned a lot form this forum, you guys are awesome! My main question is, what’s the best approach for my situation… will this work, and do I really need Low VHF? I’m looking at the Winegard HD7694P or Channelmaster CM3016 “Advantage 45”, and the Channelmaster 7777 preamp, or the Winegard XT-200. I guess the XT200 is pretty crappy...? But I’d really welcome any other antenna, preamp, or other suggestions.
Here’s a link to my report, the signal strength for my 5 stations (below) seems decent. And sorry for the long post, I just want to give you all the info:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...8e039f0febf911
The stations I really want are WRGB Real Ch 6, WNYT Real 12, WTEN Real 26, and WMHT Real 34… all at 184 degrees. WXXA would be a bonus. There’s a small ridge in the LOS, maybe 100-150’ higher than me, about 1 mile away.
I’m trying to use the smallest antenna I can and still get my 4-5 stations, which is why I’m looking at the Winegard. Of course I’m going to get the antenna and preamp and try various antenna locations, and with/without preamp. But which antenna and preamp to get?
I saw a recent psot from Towerguy saying WRGB is available UHF on WCWN 45-3 at 720p, and I’m fine with 720… but I don’t see that sub-channel on the report. So does that mean it’s at 184 degrees like the others I want, and I’ll get the all of WRGB’s programming on that channel? So if that’s true I guess I don’t really need an antenna with low VHF, and a large directional is what I want?
If mounted alongside the house I can go 30’ high (roof peak is 20’, chimney is another 5’ but I don’t want to go the chimney route).
But I think this is my biggest problem… to mount the antenna in the “best” location anywhere alongside my house, all of the 5 stations I want are blocked by a giant 80-100’ Elm tree with about 8 thick branch trunks (12”-16”+). This tree is dead smack in the middle of my LOS, and the closest large branch is only 20’ away. Most of the leaves are a little higher than the 30’ level the antenna would be, but there are millions of them. There’s no other location along the house that would work, the next best is blocked by a nearby 80’+ pine forest, about 25’ away.
So I plan to try it near that elm, but if that’s not decent I may have to build a tilt-up mast in the backyard or nearby field (or if 20’ works maybe a telescoping mast)… but I really want to avoid this if at all possible. Doing that, the nearest LOS blockage is only the ridge, so I’ve eliminated the tree blockage almost completely. But it’s expensive, a bit of a hassle, and given the occasional 60mph wind, anything over 20’ would need guys, I think… a PITA to adjust or service. Not to mention it will add 100’ of coax for about -6db loss, plus I’d probably use #6 for the ground run (I have to research this more if I go this route, maybe #4), and that means a total of about 140’ to the mains ground rod. I’ve had a lightning strike on the house before, and it fried a lot of my expensive electronics (except the TV, go figure), so I don’t want to repeat that! So if I go this route, should I also get a lightning arrestor?
Any suggestions? I really appreciate it!