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Old 27-Aug-2013, 8:20 PM   #1
dustyhughes
OTA In the Woods
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 4
Talking Help for OTA in the woods

I was wondering if I could get some advice on what antenna or general setup advice for my area.

I live in a densely wooded area (mostly oak, some hickory and very few evergreens) where the trees extend 40' or more past my roof line so I don't think I will be able to feasibly get an antenna up past the trees to get a decent line of site. I am near the top of the side of a hill facing where I will be pointing the antenna and not counting antenna height the location is about 465 feet above sea level. The previous owner had DirecTV and the dish is installed on a shed (about 15 fee up) behind the house with 2 coax cables buried from the top of the shed to under the deck of the house where one of the cables is split twice with two two-way splitters. The total length of coax is about 100 - 150' depending on where you are in the house.

Here is where I would mount the antenna, and get it as high as possible (there are some limbs above it that make me nervous... and there is already a dent on the dish from what looks like a falling limb


Here is a shot from the perspective of the dish, going straight back from where you are looking is about 230-240 degress magnetic.


I would like to be able to watch TV in at least 3 rooms. I would like to get most of the major network channels (ABC, NBC, PBS, CBS, FOX, CW) if possible. One of the biggest ones I'd like to get may be one of the more difficult ones (if at all possible) and that is CBS (WREG-DT). Another one that may cause some difficulties is NBC (WMC-DT) real channel 5.

Because of that one, I was looking at getting the Winegard HD8200U Platinum and pointing it toward magnetic 250ish. Based on what I have read, I may need to get a preamplifier since I'm on the fringe and have a fairly long cable run but I have no idea where to even begin there. I've read good and bad about several... I know the Antennas Direct CPA-19 is recommended several times on this forum and I've read good things about the Channel Master CM-7777 (or the "new and improved" CM-7778)... But honestly, this is all based on what I have read and what little I understand of my signal analysis and situation. Here's my Signal Analysis Report

I think that covers most everything pertaining to this... the only other thing I can think of is, I will have two 5 foot 1900 MHz DIY Yagi antennas (Mobile broadband from Millenicom) mounted on the house. I don't think there will be any issues with this, but just want to throw it out there in case I don't completely understand all this jazz.

Thanks in advance!
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Old 28-Aug-2013, 3:53 PM   #2
dustyhughes
OTA In the Woods
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 4
Is my situation hopeless? I have built an Antennas Direct DB4 clone several years ago, just to see if I could get some UHF channels. It worked pretty well, but I was living in a subdivision at the time and had line of sight to all towers I was trying to get... Maybe it would be worth building a DB8 and adding some dipoles for the VHF channels (I would have the majority of the material, left by the previous owner of the house) and combining the signal with a preamp or a vhf/uhf combiner?

I don't mind spending $200 for the Winegard and preamp if it's necessary (much cheaper than Satellite or cable), but if it will be useless for me, I don't want to waste that money, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to make a confident decision as is.

If someone could offer some advice even if it's "you'll be lucky to get anything", I would be very grateful. Ok, I'm going to shut up now and be patient

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Old 28-Aug-2013, 5:18 PM   #3
dustyhughes
OTA In the Woods
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 4
And just to spam my post some more, I was playing around with the height settings on the signal analysis to see if raising the height would help with the two channels I think I will struggle with (real channels 5 and 28).... Well, it turns out, the lower I go, the better reception is for these two channels (based on the Signal analysis' estimation), which just kind of blew my mind a bit... Here's the TV Fool report for 1 foot above ground level (I know 1 foot isn't practical)... http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46ae7830765d15 and here is the one for about 20 ft (mounted on the shed) http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46ae4cf91c56af

I'm still thinking the Winegard HD8200U because of the low VHF channel 5 and maybe the preamp, because of the long run, but I never thought of LOWERING the antenna to improve reception...
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Old 28-Aug-2013, 8:36 PM   #4
ADTech
Antennas Direct Tech Supp
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,942
Playing with small increments of antenna height in the simulator may be fun, but it's not useful.

Give the 8200 a try, forgo the pre-amp as it will overload from your very close Jackson stations.

Have a good chainsaw, just in case? Sometimes, that's the only real solution to trees.
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Old 28-Aug-2013, 8:43 PM   #5
dustyhughes
OTA In the Woods
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by ADTech View Post
Playing with small increments of antenna height in the simulator may be fun, but it's not useful.

Give the 8200 a try, forgo the pre-amp as it will overload from your very close Jackson stations.

Have a good chainsaw, just in case? Sometimes, that's the only real solution to trees.
Thanks for the reply! Fortunately, the previous owner left a bunch of stuff (including a chainsaw ) and said whatever he left I could have. So, I may do a bit of cleanup before I get the Antenna installed just to have a bit of protection available and clear up the view a bit.
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