Setup advice for my location

[SanDiego_air]

Originally Posted by Tower Guy

With that info it's still hard to determine if your problem is multipath caused by the 2 edge path or a combination of losses and overload in your distribution system.

Have you ever tried connecting the 4220 to a single TV set to see if you can pick up the troublesome stations?

No matter which problem is causing your reception difficulty, your distribution system needed work.

I put together a drawing of my distribution system. I'm not sure what changes I can make that would make a difference. I have made sure to get good quality cable and connectors.

[kornnutz]

rg6-u or rg11 would be a better source line (antenna to first amp) than the quad.
quad actually has more loss than normal rg-6u.

[Tower Guy]

Originally Posted by SanDiego_air

I put together a drawing of my distribution system. I'm not sure what changes I can make that would make a difference. I have made sure to get good quality cable and connectors.

Replacing the 4 db distribution amplifier with an AP4700 preamp will improve the sensitivity of your system by at least 10 db. This is due to noise figure differences between the AP4700 and a typical TV set. The distribution amplifier didn't have enough gain to override the noise figure of the TV sets, but had too much gain for the stronger VHF stations..

[SanDiego_air]

So I spent some time this weekend reposition my antenna. My pre-amp just shipped to day so I'll probably get it by the end of the week.
After studing TV Fool analysis carefully I noticed that I would got gain any advantage by going up 10 or 20 ft in height, so I tested antenna position around the eaves of the house. A also followed ADTech suggestion and point my antenna 8 degrees up.
I found a position to improve my Channel 40 (NBC) to 27 dB. The rest of the channels drop a little bit but not noticeable.
But channel 6 and other channels in the same direction 153 degree true azimuth
28
22
23 (my channel 6)
32
29

are basically gone (maybe I get 5 dB for them).
Once I got up there again to install my pre-amp I might try a few more position, but I have to cut my loses and live without channel 23 (6).
I let you guys know and thanks for your advice so far.
A very good source that I found and it is mentioned a lot in other threads is www.hdtvprimer.com

[SanDiego_air]

I got my pre-amp and installed it today. Things are looking great. I moved my antenna around a little bit and in my current location I get both channel 39 and 40. Not only that, I am also getting channels from LA such as KTLA which is over 100 miles away. I'm blown away.
On side note, I am not receiving KBNT-LD but considering it is such a low power channel, I don't believe there is a way to get it.
Lesson learned from anyone that comes across this thread:
1. Check your location with TV signal Locator in TV Fool http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 and pay particular attention to antenna height. Play with different numbers and see if raising antenna makes a difference. It would have saved me 2 days worth of work if I would have paid attention.
2. READ HDTV Primer. It will help you understand how signal travels and why moving the antenna just a few feet can make all the difference, why pointing antenna 8-10 degrees up can help you get a better signal.
3. Pick antenna based on distance from TV stations. In my case I was less then 30 miles, so even a small antenna worked fine. No need to buy a new one.
4. Get a pre-amp. Since I had some strong VHF channels, I only needed a UHF pre-amp.
Use only the minimum amount of splitters, since they all introduce losses. Personally I'm using a amplified splitter in my AV distribution panel so I can drive the TV signal to 2 different parts of the house. I found that terminating the unused ports of my amplifier helped tremendously with my signal. Terminators are only 99c anyways, so it is a worthy investment, especially since it gives me the ability to provide TV signal to me rooms in the future.
5. Cable length and other miscellaneous distribution setup for the house. This is something that may impact a signal on the fringe (I'm talking about cable length) but in general your house setup is what it is. If you have a need to provide tv signal to 3 different rooms but the signal is too weak to do it and a pre-amp and better antenna has not help: get cable. No way around it.
6. PLAY around with antenna position.

Thanks everyone for their suggestions and help.
One last note, I have not noticed any issues with the signal being too strong by using both pre-amp and amplified splitter.


Here is my final setup:
Antenna -->CM-4220HD
Pre-Amp -->Winegard AP 4700
Amplified Distribution Splitter --> Channel Vision CVT-2/8PIA-III

Peace out from San Diego