Help with reception

[RickD]

Hi,
New to this forum and thanks in advance to any help you can provide. I cut the cable cord about a year ago and I am currently using an RCA Ant751 antenna about 25 feet up on the roof. Here is my signal analysis results;http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e2cba64c9c3c9b
Interactive map here;http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90
I have the antenna pointed towards the stations to the north( and slightly west picking up stations out of Detroit) My problem is I cannot pick up channel 9 CBC which is directly in the opposite direction. Do you think I should change to an omni direction antenna? Do omni directional antennas work as they advertise they do and if so can you recommend any? Or any other ideas?
Thanks again for any help.
Rick

[rabbit73]

Welcome, Rick:

Do you think I should change to an omni direction antenna?

Probably not.

Do you get CBC when you aim your 751 directly at it?

[RickD]

rabbit73- I will try aiming it at CBC this weekend and let you know Thanks

[ADTech]

The F/B ratio of the 751 is pretty shallow, I'd have to pull up my recent test data to give a number to it.

If a signal with a calculated noise margin of over 50 dB can't be received off the back of that antenna, there's something odd going on, either a hardware fault, signal blockage or some unwanted local electrical noise perhaps.

[RickD]

Hi rabbit73 and ADTech,
Ok, rabbit73, I pointed the antenna directly at CBC and channel 9 came perfectly 'as well as all the north stations out of Detroit' !! Problem solved ? I guess! Thanks!
ADTech, very sorry I am antenna naive :-) noise margines and db I don't understand.
Regardless I think the problem is fixed and I thank both of you for your help!
Any idea why I couldn't pick up CBC from the back of the antenna and I can pick up all the Detroit stations from the back? Just curious.
Also if you think any other antenna would be better in my situation let me know as antennas are cheap. (even though I think I'm good now)
Thanks again!!

[rabbit73]

Thanks for the report. You got lucky.

The antenna is directional, so it is more sensitive to CBC when it is aimed directly at it.

If it had been OK for CBC, but not the NW signals, you would have needed two antennas, one for NW and one for SSE, with a switch to select which direction you want. And you would have to rescan after each change of direction unless your TV can add a channel after scan.

Another solution would be a UHF antenna aimed NW and a bi-directional VHF antenna for NW and SSE, like the Antennas Direct C2V.

Do you still get Fox with the antenna aimed SSE?

[RickD]

Yes I still get Fox as well as NBC,ABC CBC, PBS, 32 stations in all. Thanks again rabbit73!