Help needed choosing an antenna

[Bud]

Thanks for your help, I'll see what he has to say. I spend most of my life in an experimental area with no guarantees, so I'm good

[ADTech]

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Sorry to hear that. It has been a very useful resource for me and an ideal site to send posters to. Wish I had downloaded some of his images.

Oh, wait, I found one.

Good news, looks like he got it back online with another year's registration!

[Bud]

ADTech, Thanks for the heads up. I'll check out the site and get a little more educated. Any suggestion on what antenna to start with? I realize there's no perfect answer just trying to find a good starting point.

[ADTech]

Well, rabbit's initial one in post #18 is the correct one, but no one likes to hear it for some reason...

I really don't see the prospect of any us reliably predicting what will happen, there are simply too many variables and you have the impediment of trees relatively close by. I do not believe you have any prospect of reliable reception from either DC or BMI unless you could get above those trees, an unlikely prospect.

Therefore, I'd suggest focusing on the Salisbury locals plus seeing if you can pick up WRDE for your NBC coverage.

As an initial step, re-aim your existing antenna at UHF 31 and see if you can get it. Let us know 1) if you get it and 2) if you lose any of your other locals.

[Bud]

I aimed it at 31 and got nothing, also lost 28-1,2,&3. I then moved it up to 24 ft , aimed it the same(88deg) with no difference in reception.

[rabbit73]

Originally Posted by Bud

I aimed it at 31 and got nothing, also lost 28-1,2,&3. I then moved it up to 24 ft , aimed it the same(88deg) with no difference in reception.

Sorry to hear that.

WBOC has a NM of 68.8 dB and WRDE is NM 14.2 dB, for a difference of 54.6 dB. That is a big dynamic range. In order to think of a possible solution, I'm wondering if the problem is IMD spurious signals wiping out WRDE, or just WRDE being too weak, or maybe both.

Whatever the possible solution, WRDE or Baltimore, it will probably be necessary to somehow attenuate your strongest signals, or make WRDE a lot stronger to reduce the dynamic range.

How much trouble and expense do you want to put into trying getting NBC, with no guarantee that it will work?

What I have in mind is a 91XG or DB8E aimed a WRDE, a single channel custom bandpass filter for channel 31, and a preamp.

For WBAL it would need to be a high gain VHF or VHF/UHF combo antenna, a UVSJ or 2 in series to reject your strong UHF signals, and a preamp. You could combine it with your present UHF antenna with another UVSJ, no rotator or switches needed.

Did you ever call the WRDE station engineer to ask his advice?

Phone (302) 227-WRDE (9733)

[Bud]

I'm willing to spend what I need in order to get the best results for my situation. I have not called over there yet, too much going on with the holiday weekend. My present antenna is on the way out, I'm guessing it's 25 years old and the rivets and brackets are about rusted through. So if I'm gonna combine anything I'll replace it too.