Expert advice sought: tricky antenna situation zip 45684

[mathiasg]

Hello,

Hoping for advice for the following situation.

Zip 45684. Very rural. Wondering if one of the 100+ mile antennas I see on the web really will work for me.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbe2ee7ce7d15

Any and all guidance on an antenna to choose, how to set up, etc greatly appreciated! If I should just throw in the towel, honest advice would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Dave Loudin]

Sorry, it looks like it's towel time for you. A high-gain UHF antenna, like the XG-91, would likely catch the first two, if not the first three stations. All the other stations are tropo paths, so no matter what you do, you will get spotty reception.

As a last gasp, you can rerun your report via the maps option. That way you can verify that the reception point is truly in the right place, as the 911 grid sometimes is off a block or two in rural areas. I doubt you'll see any change, but it's worth a shot. You could also bump up the antenna height to see if any of the 70+ mile range stations ever switch from tropo paths.

[mathiasg]

Thanks, Dave. I was afraid that might be the answer. I was hoping that some of the eBay or other online antennas that promise 100-125 mile coverage might be a magic bullet, but looks like those are too good to be true. I double-checked my TVfool profile and it is accurate.

If anyone else has any other tips or ideas, they would be welcome. This is a weekend home, so cannot justify $50/month for satellite, but it would be nice to have something other than dvds to watch on rainy days.

Thanks again.

[Billiam]

Free To Air TV might be your best option. After the one time cost of the dish and installation you won't have to pay for any programming.

[Dave Loudin]

In some cases, you can get really long-distance reception with high-gain antennas. Part of the value in using TVFool is seeing what you're truly up against. In your case, there are just too many terrain obstacles that the signals have to scatter over before they get to you.

We can also use the noise margin predictions and some math to see what's possible. Picking on WLWT, the predicted noise margin "in the air" is -19. Realistic gain values of the largest antennas are 15 dB or so. Adding the gain in leaves an NM of -4 dB - still no lock.

Now the important part - any amplifiers, either integrated with the antenna or installed separately as a pre-amp WILL NOT ADD to the noise margin (you're amplifying the noise picked up just as much as the signal). Pre-amps will zero out cable losses, but they also have internal noise that SUBTRACTS from the overall noise margin. The better pre-amps have a noise figure of 3 dB, so adding one in this case drops the noise margin for WLWT back down to -7. No lock.

There's no fighting physics

I am looking at many different maps of this area and from what I can see , no one lives up the sides and when I say UP the sides I mean UP the sides , or tops of the mountains. If the Tv antenna were at the top of the mountain to the west and north of Stout/Rome Ohio , then that Tv antenna will be receiving 'Way Too Many' Tv stations. It is interesting that the people live at the bottoms of the mountains. To check the antenna locations out , go to the >>StartMAPS<< part of tvfool , and move the Red Balloon Pointer to other locations , like UP High on the sides of the mountains and Tops of the mountains. . Here is information of FTA = Free To Air , SMALL DISH Satellite Tv. .http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=265 , the FTA Dish can be Any Where , as long as it has a clear view of the satellite belt that is 23,000 miles out in space above the equator of the earth. When I say any where , I mean Any Where , as long as there is a clear view , even on the ground. The reason I am making a Big Point of this is many times I see small satellite dishes mounted at some real Monkey Swinging places and there is No Need to put it there.