New OTA Install - 30 Miles North of Atlanta

[jonwh]

Greetings,

I have been browsing this forum and was hoping to get a head nod for our OTA plan. Also, I am trying to decide whether to shoot for an in attic installation (with radiant barrier) or external rooftop installation...

We live 30 miles North (and a bit East) of Atlanta. Here is the signal analysis:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc498a8e465c39

Based on the signal analysis, here is a list of stations we would like (with relevant info):

Stations we want:

8 (8.1) - VHF HI - PBS (WGTV-DT) - 20.9 miles - 187 degrees (S)
10 (11.1) - VHF HI - NBC (WXIA-DT) - 26.8 miles - 210 degrees (W of S)
19 (46.1) - UHF - CBS (WGCL-DT) - 23.9 miles - 215 degrees (W of S)
27 (5.1) - UHF - FOX (WAGA-DT) - 24.4 miles - 214 degrees (W of S)
39 (2.1) - UHF - ABC (WSB-DT) - 27.2 miles - 214 degrees (W of S)

Nice to have:

20 (17.1) - UHF - IND (WPCH-TV - CBS affiliate) - 23.9 miles - 215 degrees (W of S)
51 (14.1) - UHF - ION (WPXA-TV) - 32.8 miles - 301 degrees (N of W)
25 (36.1) - UHF - MYN (WATL-DT - NVC affiliate) - 23.9 miles - 215 degrees (W of S)

Based on other posts, I was thinking about an ANT751 antenna with a Winegard 8700 pre amp:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT751R-Ou...I2B8W1TL03H7QF
http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-ANWI8...I2VXE5L54WJOP5

Luckily, almost all of the stations we want are near 214 degrees azimuth (mag) and are a reasonable distance. The issue is that we have a large hill to the south of our house, and the top of the roof just clears the top of that hill. Although I have entered 25 feet height into the signal analysis tool, it may be more like ground level... The flip side is that I have a terk bow tie antenna in the master bedroom on the 2nd floor and I pick up more than half of the stations listed above in a fairly stable manner... So the hope is that the antenna and pre amp combo above will help pick up the other stations and keep things stable.

However, my real concern is where to mount the antenna. I prefer to mount it inside our attic, but we have a radiant barrier under the sheathing. Since all the stations we desire are in a single direction, do you all think removing a 5’ x 5’ section of radiant barrier will work for us? I prefer this to external install because I would have to hire someone to install it externally...

Any and all ideas and observations welcome.

thanks!

Attics Are Not a reception friendly environment and Never Will be a reception friendly environment.

The metal backed Radiant Barrier will cause reception issues , reflected signals bouncing around in the attic , multipath.

Yes you can try the ANT751 in the attic aimed at about 202 degree magnetic compass direction.

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

Yes remove the Radiant Barrier and get the ANT751 antenna close and aimed through the hole.

I recommend try reception without the preamplifier.

The preamplifier will amplify the reflected signals bouncing around in the attic off the metal backed insulation and can make reception worse.

WPXA-DT UHF Digital channel 51 is the odd one out , because of the direction of the transmitter , and will most likely will not be received in the attic.

The metal backed radiant barrier will most likely block the signal.

[jonwh]

thanks for the info!