Help with buying right antenna

[jbsb]

I want to pull the plug on my directv and use just over the air channels and streaming.

I'm located in Santa Barbara, CA on the Mesa. This location from what I've been told is blocked from most over the air TV stations. I bought a simple mohu leaf indoor antenna based on the reviews. Depending on where I put it, I can get a few channels (4) reliably. Keyt-dt is the local channel that I want and I seem to have pretty good luck with the leaf getting that channel but would like to get more channels. I'm looking at mounting an antenna on the roof but want to make sure I get the right one. I have about 30ft of RG6 already running from TV to the satellite dish on the roof. I plan to mount the new antenna in the same location which is about 20ft above the ground. I have a low pitch roof and there are lots of trees, houses and hills in my neighborhood. Here's my initial TV signal analysis results.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d5bc8f4aa82f4e

Any help on which setup would work best and the direction I should point the antenna would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
-Jon

[Electron]

Install 2 antennas , a Winegard HD7698P antenna aimed at about 30 degree magnetic compass. And a Winegard HD9095P antenna aimed at about 289 degree magnetic compass. Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html 2 separate coaxes will go from each antenna to the location of the Tv and connect to a Radio Shack # 15-1968 remote control A/B antenna switch and the output of the A/B antenna switch will connect to the Tv. (No the 2 separate antennas Will Not be connected together on to one coax) The 2 separate coaxes Will go to the A/B switch. This is the easy way to do it , You have a hand held remote control that you use to switch antennas. Get the antennas Up High , the better the antennas can look over the tops of the trees the better. Here are some above the roof antenna mounts , http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html , http://www.ronard.com. Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing the word ronard in the solidsignal search box or buy from ronard. Here are places to buy antennas and etc. , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.winegarddirect.com , http://www.amazon.com.

[Electron]

Make 2 more tvfool radar reports , 45 and 60 foot heights.

[jbsb]

Hi,
Thanks for the great info. I have two coax cables that run from the TV to the Satellite dish that is already up there so that should not be a problem I think I would need to move to the other end of the roof to get a more clear shot at pointing the antenna's correctly without obstruction from trees. If I add on another 30ft of RG6 coax would I still be ok with the setup you suggested or would I need an amplifier or something to help with the added length of cable?

Sorry I'm new to this so I'm assuming the radar plot is the same report I did previously.

Here is 45ft
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d5bc1900eb102d

and 60ft
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d5bc79032651a9

Appreciate the help,
-Jon

[Electron]

Mounting the antennas at 25 to 35 feet or so above ground is Ok. Yes can mount the antennas on the same mast. The HD7698P below and HD9095P above , separate by about 2 or 3 feet. Even with the extended lengths coax , preamp will most likley not be required with one tv connected.

[jbsb]

I've ordered everything you suggested and pretty sure I'll be able to mount it about 30ft up clear from the trees.

I have one more question for now. Suppose I wanted to add something like a channel master 7400 DVR to the setup. I'm assuming I can only record the channels on one antenna and would have to keep the a/b switch set to that antenna on a regular basis. Is there anyway to record from both antenna's short of having two DVR's (with no A/B switch).
Are there any DVR's available that have dual RF inputs? I saw that there is a dual tuner in the channel master 7400 DVR for recording two shows from the one antenna which is great but I'd like to be able to get full benefit of all channels that I end up receiving on one DVR. I did not see any dual RF input OTA DVR's in my search.

Thanks,
-Jon

[MisterMe]

Originally Posted by jbsb

....
Are there any DVR's available that have dual RF inputs? I saw that there is a dual tuner in the channel master 7400 DVR for recording two shows from the one antenna which is great but I'd like to be able to get full benefit of all channels that I end up receiving on one DVR. I did not see any dual RF input OTA DVR's in my search.

Thanks,
-Jon

I have a Sony DVR with an ATSC and Clear QAM tuner. It is also CableCARD-compatible. The DVR can record two programs simultaneously. However, it has only one OTA RF input. Multiple OTA RF inputs are the stuff of HTPC setups, not off-the-shelf DVRs.

[Electron]

Here are some DVR's with tuners to check out , http://www.digitalconnection.com , http://www.epvision.com . It looks like the epvision PHD-VRX has 2 antenna inputs. There are several devices for computers that will do what you require. Happauge , Elgato , HD Homerun , Moxie , Silicondust , and others.