Should I even try?

[lilhat]

Noob Alert: I've never had a reason to pick up a signal that's more than ~40 miles away, so my experience is limited to buying a medium range antenna at Radio Shack with a cheap pre-amp and throwing it in the attic. Nothing to write home about.

The transmitters for Lexington, KY stations are 15-25 miles away. LOS, great signal, all that jazz.

The transmitters for Louisville, KY stations are all 69 miles away at 279 and 280 degrees. 2edge (no surprise)... but I'd really really like to pick up these stations instead.

Signal analysis at...
10': http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df97f311e900d
20': http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df900ce29781c
30': http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df98aa0bbeeef
40': http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df964feb8a9f3

I have no desire to pick up stations from both cities (rotator = no) and just the ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates is fine. One annoyance is that WHAS-TV is high VHF (real 11) while the others are UHF... real 26, 47, 49.

It's pretty obvious that I would need a long range, directional, UHF/VHF, roof-top antenna setup. I'm in a fairly new neighborhood so trees aren't an issue.... and there aren't any tall buildings. The signal strength is basically the same at every height I tried, slightly better at 10'. My budget is a few hundred dollars.

So, should I even try? What are the odds that I can get a good signal every day versus most days?... yadda yadda

Thanks for the help.

The signal strengths change very little , 10 , 20 , 30 , 40 , feet.

Roof top antenna height will be Ok , 10 , 20 , feet or so will be Ok. If nothing is blocking the signal.

Install a Winegard HD7698P antenna with a Antennas Direct CPA-19 preamp , aimed at about 286 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

For 1 Tv connected use no splitter.

For 2 Tv's connected use a , HFS-2D , 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , HFS-3D , 3 way splitter.

Buy the HFS splitters at , http://www.hollandelectronics.com , or , http://www.solidsignal.com.

Here are some roof top 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.

Here are some places to buy antennas and etc. , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.amazon.com , http://www.winegardirect.com.

As always trees and tree leaves do a real fine job of reducing or blocking Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions.

It is best install the antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the directions of reception.

The Tv/s Must Channel Scan for the Broadcast Tv Channels , sometimes named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu becauce the Tv transmissions travel through the air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.