Help & Advice Buford, GA

[dmac]

Hello all,

Reaching out for a little help and some suggestions on the best antenna and preamp to use for my OTA setup. Below is the link to my channel availability in my area. I will be mounting an antenna to the exterior roof of my home approximately 30' in the air. I plan to split the main feed after about 50' into 4 different TV's in my home.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8e03f4a51b8850

As with many of us Newb's, I have already purchased a "RCA Yag Style" antenna, which got me (1) major channel and a "Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM ClearStream 2-V Long Range UHF/VHF Indoor/Outdoor DTV Antenna", which got me 2 major channels. I have been told by a local antenna installation company that I need a deep fringe antenna.

What antenna and pre-amp would anyone recommend so that I receive all my major local stations?

Thanks in advance!

[ADTech]

The C2V should easily have received far more than that unless there are other factors involved (*see below). You should easily pick up at least four four stations (12 sub-channels, WSB twice) with nothing more than a paper clip based on that report.

Where was it mounted?
What direction did it face?
How was it connected?
New cable or reused from anything else?
What is out in front of the antenna?
Which specific stations did you pick up (identify by legal call letters, they're unique most of the time)?

*Other potential factors include:
Bottom of a hill
In a forest
Reused old sat cables and didn't remove multi-switches
Analog-only TV
TV still set to "Cable"
Faulty cable or tuner
....more.

[dmac]

Thanks for the reply.

The antenna is currently mounted in our attic. New cable is run approximately 25' into our existing RG6 house wiring. There I have a coupler...not a splitter and it's currently run to 1 tv using the existing wiring. Direction 235 degrees. No multi-channels. For the main channels, we receive 2.1, 2.2 2.3, 46.1, 46.2 46.3 and several other junk channels. Of the major carriers I can receive CBS and ABC. Newer TV set to "Air"

Our house is located on a hill. We have a large open area between us and the house across the street. We do have tall trees in the subdivision

Thanks

Doug

[ADTech]

Attic reception is impossible to predict. Move the antenna outside and, using a temporary mounting arrangement, point it at Atlanta and retest. Report the results.

If results do not improve satisfactorily, run a temporary cable from the antenna directly to the TV set, bypassing ALL existing cabling.

Our house is located on a hill.

Your TVFool plot indicates you're in a valley or behind a larger hill in the direction of Atlanta. Something doesn't match, perhaps Google cannot find your street address accurately?

Use the Interactive/Online maps tool to place the marker directly on your rooftop, run a new plot and see if it's the same as the old one. If it's noticeably different, post the new one.

several other junk channels.
While the other channels are not of interest to you, their data is important to diagnosing reception issues. Please include them. Also, use the CALL LETTERS, please, as virtual channels are not exclusively unique.

[rabbit73]

I agree with ADTech; something is wrong. You should be doing better with the C2V.

His advice to double check your location with the interactive map is good.
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90

I estimated your location as west of Chateau Elan Golf Club, south of Duncan Corners, near Duncan Creek and see a lot of trees that would be in the SW signal path from Atlanta. See attachment 1.

Attachment 2 is an FM Fool report showing a strong signal that might interfere with TV reception.

[dmac]

Just an update, spent some time this weekend tracking cable lines in the house. My main antenna line has several splices... so I have ordered new cable lines and intend to install the antenna outside on the roof this weekend and run all new lines to the needed TV's. I will let you know how it works out.

[rabbit73]

The coax shield should be grounded with a grounding block that is connected to the house electrical system ground with 10 gauge copper wire for electrical safety and to reject interference. For further compliance with the electrical code (NEC), the mast should also be grounded in a similar manner to drain any buildup of static charge, but the system will not survive a direct strike.

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1457&d=1440509845