antenna advice

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Looking for advice on what antenna set-up to go with. In a small town with one story homes N, E and W of me. To the south is nothing but cow pasture with some rolling hills to the SW.
Got the report of my area http://http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d0b86f4b22f65c9

Will be using one tv for now but plan on adding a second. Primarly interested in getting abc and cbs, anythingelse will be just a bonus. Antenna will be outside about 15ft up. New to the area and not sure if i can go larger than what the fcc rule allows on antenna size. Thanks in advance for whatever recomendations you can give.

john

[Electron]

Here is the Federal Law that says Yes you can install and use a tv antenna that is the size needed to get tv reception and the height needed to get reception. This Federal Law is written so that those that will like to receive tv signals can receive tv signals using a antenna. Imagine that , A law that is written in your favor. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

[Electron]

Make a new tvfool radar report with the antenna height at 25 feet.

[Electron]

The receivable network channels are of 3 different directions and most are weak signal strength. One way to receive the tv stations is to use a rotor , antenna rotors are not friendly for channel surfing , must wait for the rotor to turn the antenna to the station you want to surf. And antenna rotor will not be friendly for two or more tv's connected because there will be disagreement about where the antenna is pointed. I am evaluating the situation to combine more then one antenna for simple reception and channel surfing.

[Electron]

Install a Antennas Direct DB4e with Antennas Direct CPA-19 preamp , aimed at about 345 degree magnetic compass , for the reception of , KNWA-DT 50 NBC , KXNW 34 MeTv and Retro tv Network , K62DQ 41 CBS and MyTv Network , KEGW-LP 30 MyTv Network , KWNL-CD 31 Univision , KFFS-CA36 This Tv , KWOG-DT 39 IND. . Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html. Mount the DB4e just above the roof. The reason just above the roof , your reception location , the higher the antenna is , the weaker the weak stations become , this is an effect that some times happens when tv signals are bent a little when traveling over hills and low mountains. The bending effect concentrates the tv signals lower to the ground.

[Electron]

For reception of the tv stations/channels to the south , KAFT 9 PBS , KFTA-DT 27 FOX , KFSM-TV 18 CBS and also KHOG-DT 15 ABC. , aim a Winegard HD7698P antenna with a CPA-19 preamp at about 185 degree magnetic compass.. . The HD7698P with CPA-19 preamp and the DB4e with CPA-19 preamp are 2 Separate antenna systems. The 2 Separate antenna systems Will Not be connected together on to one coax. The coaxes of the 2 Separate antenna systems will go to the location of the tv and be connected to a Radio Shack # 15-1968 remote control A/B antenna switch , the output of the A/B antenna switch is connected to the tv. Here are places to buy antennas and etc. , http://antennasdirect.com , http://www.winegarddirect.com , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.amazon.com

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http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...0b86305c1751dd

Thanks for the advice and posting the fcc link.I was thinking there was a size restriction but after reading that page i guess the restriction is just for dishes.

Would i have issues with the preamps causing overload problems as both tvs will not be super far from antennas and with channel 15 being relatively close?

[Electron]

Try the HD7698P without the preamp , being that the coax run is short. And as to the size of the 'small dishes' , no one but one one is going to whip out a tape measure and measure the size of a small dish to see if is over the size limit.

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Got db4e,amp and the stuff needed for install on the way. Looking forward to seeing what all it will pick up. Will experiment with different directions with the db4e before deciding what to do on the second antenna.

For the heck of it i dug out an old rca non-amp indoor antenna and hooked it up just goofing around.Put antenna up about 4ft facing out a north window. Considering my house is brick and has metal blinds on all windows i did'nt expect to get anything. To my suprise i picked up 4 channels. I get KFTA-DT (fox 27) and KHOG-DT (15 abc) both stay around 70-75% signal. Then KNWA-DT (50 nbc) at around 50-60% and KWOG-DT(39 cw) that bounces around from 38 to 50% signal.
Readings have stayed the same over a two day period so looks like i have atleast some stuff to watch while waiting for the db4.

[inflames]

Well it's taken me alot longer to get around to getting the antenna up and posting the results than planned. Getting settled into a new house while playing with ota reception is a slow but rewarding process.

Anyway, with the db4e i first experimented with getting stations to the south. The db4 would pick everything up fine during the day but the problem was it did the best at around 6ft above ground on 18 and 27. Tried placing it in several different locations but always had to keep it low to get good signal on those channels. The issue with this is that there is a road to the south and everytime a tall profile vehicle drove down it, i'd get freezing up, drop outs etc. Also at night i'd lose 18 and 27. Since i could get both cbs and fox elsewhere, i stopped trying to get 18 and 27.

To the nw i was able to get much better signals. So much so that the preamp actualy made reception worse. I ended up with the antenna 23ft above ground pointed 338 magnetic with no amp for my best results. I also added a vhf dipole to the db4 from a c2 reflector kit. I recieve the following channels:

12.1 KODE-DT ABC

13.1 PBS
13.2 PBS Kids
13.2 Create
13.3 World
13.4 Audio

29.1 KHOG DT ABC
29.2 KHOG CW

31.1 KKYK-DT Univision
31.2 Me-TV

34.1 KXNW-MY MyN
34.2 KFSM CBS

39.1 Daystar

51.1 KNWA-DT NBC
51.2 KFTA-SD FOX

All except 12.1 have been rock solid reliable day and night, rain or shine. Most are between 80% to 100% on signal meter, exceptions are 12.1 which floats between 25% to 45% and 39.1 which hangs around 58%. Over all i'am pretty pleased with my results and i appreciate everyones suggestions.
May still have to mount another antenna but that subject's for another thread.
john

[ADTech]

KODE would never be reliably predicted based on your TVFR. Too far away and too weak.

Congrats on the success so far!