Anttena Help
 

I live in Waynesville, NC and am having a problem picking up CBS channel 7. I have a Winegard HD8200U antenna and a Winegard 8700 preamp. There is 4ft of cable going from antenna to preamp, then 50ft to ground block. From the ground block there is 50ft of cable going to the Tivo box. This is my TV Fool profile http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df9fad8c26eb0 Here are my signal strengths when the antenna is pointed for the best channel 7 signal.
4-82%
7-27%
13-70%
16-50%
21-74%
33-90%
38-46%
40-75%
62-21%
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Describe the problems you are having with channel 7.

Looking at the generic report for the center of town, channel 7 is very weak & looks challenging.

I've resolved the problem with the link to your TV Fool report. (An extra few characters got added some how)

When you click on the path profile (click on the call sign of WSPA in your TVFR) you see that there is a tall mountain between your location and the transmitter. http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...dALLTV%26n%3d6

Have you experimented with various mounting heights? You may find better signal higher up but with this type of terrain obstruction, you should also try lower mounting as well.

I have moved the antenna onto a hill on in my back yard. It has a clear view to the southern sky. Unfortunately there are a lot of tall mountains around us. No tree around antenna.

Did you move the antenna to the hill just today or before starting this thread?

Along the lines of No static at all's question, do you get some reception of CH-7, but broken? Or do you get no picture/sound ever?

Tv Reception
 

I see that the tvfool radar report is for no feet antenna height above ground.

Please make 3 tvfool radar reports with antenna heights of , 01 , 10 , 25 , feet above ground.

Doing research , I see that WSPA has repeater stations that might be received.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSPA-TV.

The following are some tests for reception and not the recommendations I will recommend for reception depending on how tests go.

The following tests are using the preamp. Have only one Tv connected , no splitters.

W08AO-D channel 08 , at 5 degree magnetic compass direction.

W02AG-D channel 02 , at 154 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

I recommend doing a double rescans when trying for these repeater Tv stations.

The double rescan clears out the Digital tuner so the Digital tuner can do a fresh new scan for channels.

Disconnect the antenna coax from the Tv , and do a scan for digital broadcast Tv channels , this clears out the tuner.

Aim the antenna at a repeater Tv station , reconnect the antenna coax to the Tv , and scan for digital broadcast Tv channels.

And do the double rescan when trying for WSPA channel 7 CBS.

Aim the antenna at about 127 degree magnetic compass direction.

Also test reception of WASV-LP channel 50 NBC and Me-Tv and MyNetwork at 65 degree magnetic compass direction.
___________________________

And looks like WSPA is also on WYCW-DT REAL Digital UHF channel 45 , virtual number (62.1-2) , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYCW

20ft- http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df9dad1defa47
10ft- http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df994054790b1
30ft- http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2df9a64693a351

I get picture and sound, but it is in and out and not watchable.

Antenna is mounted about 20ft higher than the roof of my house. I can only get a signal for channel 7 when the antenna is point 160 degrees magnetic, but the tower is located at 127 magnetic. if I point at 127 degrees there is a 6200ft mountain in that direction. (Cold Mountain)

Your description makes me think you're receiving a reflected or diffracted signal. The direct path shown in the path profile http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...dALLTV%26n%3d6 is quite severe, presumably depicting Cold Mountain.

If you're seeing either a diffracted signal bending around the terrain or, a signal reflecting off of a building or hill, the path may never be stable enough to maintain a lock on the signal.

Have you any desire to either build an antenna or assemble an array of commercial antennas?

I was wondering if a added a Antennacraft Y10-7-13 for channel 7 if that would help.

HD8200U vs. Y10713 @ CH7
 

The HD8200U has as good or better CH-7 performance... on paper. The two are close enough that one could try though. If that fails...

The Y10713 lends itself to stacking. If done correctly, some additional gain and directivity can be had. One could hope for an additional 2 dB when stacking two. If stacking four, you might net 4 dB gain over a single antenna. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=1024

You need to have an understanding of impedance matching and basic antenna theory as well as the skill, tools, time & money to put into such a project.

If you are up to that sort of project, you might as well consider a custom built antenna. Rhombic antennas promise a lot of gain, but they are too big to rotate. Aiming is critical. http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=2865

There's an active group of antenna designers and builders over at http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=186

Thanks for all your help. I do not know how far I want to get into this but I will do some tinkering as time and money allows. Thanks.