Chimney mount w/ Solar panels
 

How small of a chimney are you talking about? and what is it made of?

Town, It's about 2 Ft. wide and 5 Ft. tall made of what looks like stucco? It's not brick. And it's on the side of the roof, with the top of the chimney being about the height of the peak of the roof.
So I'd need a 5 ft. mast to get it 5 Ft. above the roof.
I will post some pics of my roof and the line to the towers.

I also thought about eve mount, but the power line to the house is mounted right at that eve.... hmmm, but if I get it 5 ft. high above the power line I should be fine eh :)


Considering the cost of solar panels it might be wise to make sure that you locate the antenna in a place where, if it should fall over, it won't take out a panel or more.

Billi, LOL! yer right, never put much thought about the consequences of a fallen antenna.

^^^In the early 90's I had two very large antennas come down off a tower I had in my backyard thanks to bad weather. Thus, whenever I install a new antenna I make sure it won't take out any important objects like a window or electrical wires. Cables TV wires? I situate the antenna in a spot where if it does fall, it will fall directly on the now uselss and disconnected cable coax. :-)

If you have a stink pipe aka vent pipe on the roof, you may want to use that instead of the stucco structure you mentioned. Unless you know what is underneath the stucco, it would be wise not to attach a chimney strap. May only be 2 x 4's and particle board covered by the stucco. A vent pipe that is sturdy and not shaking around should be adequate as long as you don't use a lot of mast or a huge antenna like the Winegard 8200u. I have a Antennacraft MXU59 and Winegard YA-1713 on my stink pipe and I've had no issues with them moving around.

stink pipe
 

heh, yer funny with the stink pipe... I have one but it's not sturdy enough for a big antenna... unless I reinforce it in the attic....
guess I shouldn't put it on the eve close to the power line in case it comes down... sigh.
looks like I'll try strapping it to the chimney and also mount one side to the roof for reinforcement, king of like a chimney/roof mount. :)

Yeah, it's best to stay away from power lines. The risk of electrical shock is very real and you don't want to be within reach of any electrified wires while holding a "10 foot metal tree".

10 ft. metal tree
 

heh, i hear ya, loud and clear - don't mess with power.

been thinking about my signal-
Fm 100.3 comes in so-so by me - in and out.
This frequency is between ch 6 and 7 VHF...
so If I'm having trouble getting VHF, am I in trouble with UHF reception?
Granted the radio is on ground level and the antenna will be 25-30 ft. on the roof...

I don't think so. If you follow the advice given so far, I think you will be fine of TV reception. Putting an antenna on the roof gets you out of a lot of "clutter" (walls, cars, stuff inside the walls, neighboring houses, etc.) that makes reception difficult indoors. With a "clean" signal from your roof using the right size antenna, you should be fine.

BTW, the FM band is just above channel 6, so if you get a TV antenna that supports channels 2-6, you can probably hook up the same antenna feed to your FM receiver to get great reception. Antennas designed for high-VHF only (i.e., channels 7-13 or 7-69) don't go down far enough to help with FM reception.

place to mount...
 

Thanks for all your help guys - been scouting the outside of the house for a place to mount the antenna - I think one of 2 chimneys is best -

One chimney (smaller white one for boiler) is closer to the pine tree in the direction of the tower and the fireplace chimney (brick, bigger) is further back from the tree.
I'm thinking the further back from the tree the better - the only thing with the fireplace chimney is that it has a metal cap - will this impact my signal, with say a 5 ft mast?
Thanks.

The brick chiminey is the winner to mount, the cap should not hurt you at 5 feet up, and the trees don't look like they'll be an issue either. I'd bite the bullet, get a vhf/uhf antenna, mount it and see what you get.....

mast...
 

cool, thanks, was leaning towards the brick fireplace...
so I will need something like a 7 ft. mast to get 5 ft. above that metal cap - cause I will lose a couple of feet to mounting eh?
off to solidsignal to modify the cart...

Just buy a ten foot mast and cut it down to the right size. If the local hardware store can't do it then a hack saw should work. Lowes cut a 10 foot piece of EMT for me. May want to look there.

....or two 5 footers, this way, attach one 5'er to the chiminey, cut the other 5'er to length, attach antenna and coax to that one laying on the roof, then slide that mast onto the chiminey mast...easier and safer...

hmmmm
 

wouldn't the 2 masts have to be of different diameter for me to do that?
how would I slide one into the other... with say 2-5ft 1 1/4" pipes?

Most products sold as "TV masts" are not just ordinary pipes. In many cases, they already have one end of the pipe tapered so that they can inserted into the end of another section of mast. They also have notches or set screws that prevent the different mast sections from rotating relative to each other.

In other words, they are designed to stack end-to-end without rotating.

You can probably find TV masts at your local Radio Shack, Home Depot, or Lowe's if you want to see how they're built.

...and, with my design, if you ever decide to add a rotor, just split the masts and put in the rotor between them...on the chiminey mast, the small diameter end will point up, and on the antenna mast, the large diameter end will point down....

Getting there....
 

I purchased a Winegard 7698P antenna with Winegard AP-8700 pre amp along w/ 100' of rg-6 coax.
My plan is to eave mount the antenna w/ 5' mast, run the coax loose and connect to tv to see if I get a signal - if everything is good, I do a more permanent installation.

My question is on grounding - there is a unused comcast coax wire entering my foundation, which is connected to a block and is grounded to the water pipe coming out of my well.

I know the correct way to ground is via ground rod/block/wire outside - but can I get away with using the ground block just inside my basement (close to the entry point) for my antenna?

I will pull out the cable company coax, run my new antenna coax through, connect to the block, the run another coax wire to my tv.

John

I'd suggest doing the job right the first time, though many folks "get away with..."

Grounding

grounding
 

Yer right about doing it the right way - you're definitely not going to like what you see next :)

How effective would a device like this be?

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...rotection&sku=

If the only risk was voltage buildup between the center conductor and shield of the coax, that would be a good option.

Back to your question of Some people get away with a lot worse... All I can do is recommend doing it right. The link I posted is a bit to wade through but it does include some links to generic drawings and my somewhat biased opinions on the subject.

Probably.

It really depends on the length of the ground wire from the ground block to your house ground. If the CATV installer did it right, you'll be safe and legal, but not all CATV installs are done properly.

ground wire...
 

Cable coax comes in, about a foot from the foundation, and hits a ground block - the length of the ground wire from the block to the water pipe is about 1 foot.

the Fios guy did a much cleaner install of the fiber than the Comcast guy did with the coax - yer right, it depends on who you get.