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Old 1-Mar-2021, 2:11 PM   #1
Reaper7534
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Join Date: Oct 2015
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Antenna for my location

I live in the High Point, NC area and receive most of my station fine with a normal flat indoor antenna, the exception being NBC which is the opposite direction. Even with the indoor antenna, I will get some pixelization when walking in front of TV for time to time so I had been debating putting up an outdoor antenna. I recently cut the cord and just stream now, but need a backup if my internet dies so I'm looking for an antenna or multiples if necessary.


I will be mounting the antenna about 20 feet in the area with no obstructions in the way towards the High Point towers and some trees in the way of the Winston Tower, it is the one I don't get NBC on and about 40 miles away. I will be feeding 2 tv's in the house with about a 30 foot run to one and 50 foot to the other.

What would I need to do to make this all work ?

Zip code is 27370, all channels are UHF

report from rabbitears

https://www.rabbitears.info/searchma...tudy_id=225167
Attached Images
File Type: jpg antenna.JPG (34.6 KB, 589 views)
File Type: jpg antenna2.JPG (23.0 KB, 579 views)
File Type: jpg antenna3.JPG (36.3 KB, 582 views)

Last edited by Reaper7534; 1-Mar-2021 at 2:36 PM.
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Old 1-Mar-2021, 3:20 PM   #2
Tower Guy
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This antenna does not have a reflector, so it would receive in your two directions.

https://store.antennasdirect.com/cle...NDYxNTUwOC42MA..
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Old 1-Mar-2021, 4:39 PM   #3
Reaper7534
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tower Guy View Post
This antenna does not have a reflector, so it would receive in your two directions.

https://store.antennasdirect.com/cle...NDYxNTUwOC42MA..
Any advantage of getting the one with two elements, bays, sorry not sure of of the terminology. Found that one on Amazon for 109.00, it has the reflectors on it, but I assume I can take that off.
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Old 1-Mar-2021, 5:00 PM   #4
Reaper7534
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper7534 View Post
Any advantage of getting the one with two elements, bays, sorry not sure of of the terminology. Found that one on Amazon for 109.00, it has the reflectors on it, but I assume I can take that off.
Edit,


Antennas Direct responded to my question and said I'm unlikely to get NBC since there is a 400 foot mountain in my way.
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Old 3-Mar-2021, 3:44 PM   #5
rickbb
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I'm in Elon and get 12, NBC no issues from 60+ miles. It is in fact one of my strongest stations. I use a DIY 4 bay similar to the AD with no reflectors.

Their broadcast tower is on top of Sauratown MT, the MT is 2,200 feet and the tower is another 500 to 1,000 feet at most. They transmit at 1,000Kw. That puts the transmitter at around 3,000 feet.

A little 400 foot hill is not likely to be in your way unless you are at the very base of that hill and directly in the RF shadow.
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Old 3-Mar-2021, 3:51 PM   #6
Reaper7534
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rickbb View Post
I'm in Elon and get 12, NBC no issues from 60+ miles. It is in fact one of my strongest stations. I use a DIY 4 bay similar to the AD with no reflectors.

Their broadcast tower is on top of Sauratown MT, the MT is 2,200 feet and the tower is another 500 to 1,000 feet at most. They transmit at 1,000Kw. That puts the transmitter at around 3,000 feet.

A little 400 foot hill is not likely to be in your way unless you are at the very base of that hill and directly in the RF shadow.
Thank you for that location information. I picked up a small yagi since I didn't think I'd receive NBC. I'll make sure to aim it in that direction to see what whill happen. If I pull that in I'll look at one of those 4 bays.
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Old 5-Mar-2021, 1:09 PM   #7
Reaper7534
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rickbb View Post
I'm in Elon and get 12, NBC no issues from 60+ miles. It is in fact one of my strongest stations. I use a DIY 4 bay similar to the AD with no reflectors.

Their broadcast tower is on top of Sauratown MT, the MT is 2,200 feet and the tower is another 500 to 1,000 feet at most. They transmit at 1,000Kw. That puts the transmitter at around 3,000 feet.

A little 400 foot hill is not likely to be in your way unless you are at the very base of that hill and directly in the RF shadow.

You must be in the perfect storm. I cannot even sniff a signal from WXII with a directional yagi. I'm currenly about 5 feet off the ground but will be extending it another 15 ft this weekend, don't know if it will make a difference
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Old 7-Mar-2021, 12:43 AM   #8
rabbit73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper7534 View Post
I cannot even sniff a signal from WXII with a directional yagi. I'm currenly about 5 feet off the ground but will be extending it another 15 ft this weekend, don't know if it will make a difference
Antennas Direct is correct; there is a hill in the signal path.



Using different software to confirm the problem:





This is an image of the signal report you posted at AVS; it's more accurate for your location:



The only chance you have for WXII is a separate antenna like the HDB91X aimed at WXII.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Reaper7534TVFp3WXII.jpg (89.1 KB, 1823 views)
File Type: jpg Reaper7534TVFp2WXII.JPG (108.0 KB, 1836 views)
File Type: jpg Reaper7534TVFpathWXII_1.jpg (143.1 KB, 1826 views)
File Type: jpg Reaper7534TVFreportRE_1.jpg (207.2 KB, 1839 views)
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Last edited by rabbit73; 7-Mar-2021 at 12:56 AM.
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Old 7-Mar-2021, 1:47 AM   #9
Reaper7534
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Do you think it would be a waste of money or should I accept defeat ? If you think it is worthwhile, what would be a good combiner and would I have to worry about multipath ?
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Old 7-Mar-2021, 3:13 AM   #10
rabbit73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper7534 View Post
Do you think it would be a waste of money or should I accept defeat ? If you think it is worthwhile, what would be a good combiner and would I have to worry about multipath ?
It's a longshot, a gamble, only for the dedicated experimenter.

I did the analysis to make an evaluation.

With signals like that, the signal reports can be off either way.

My educated guess is that it is difficult but not impossible.

First you try to get the signal, then you worry about combining. Combining will not be easy; you might have to keep it separate.

You could use a separate tuner for NBC with its output connected to the HDMI input of a TV.

If you use a Mediasonic HW-150 ($40) you can enter channel 16 in the manual search window. This will avoid having to rescan over and over.



It also has a signal quality scale that drops out below 39% if the tuner can't pick it up.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDQzvFG3chs

There are ways to see if the signal is there even if the tuner can't pick it up, like an RTL-SDR.COM V3 SDR ($30) with DIY free software from Github or a SiliconDust HDHR tuner ($100).





It's your decision about what to do for WXII.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg MediasonicHW-150 CH20atDigitalCliff_2.jpg (141.9 KB, 1791 views)
File Type: jpg Mediasonic Manual Search Screen_1.jpg (79.1 KB, 1809 views)
File Type: jpg Tyler-How to Add Channels_1.jpg (133.8 KB, 1781 views)
File Type: jpg VHF-High Scan Gain 25.4 dB5rev.jpg (114.5 KB, 1812 views)
File Type: jpg Channel 9A_3.jpg (117.5 KB, 1766 views)
__________________
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Last edited by rabbit73; 7-Mar-2021 at 7:50 PM.
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