Reception near San Antonio, Texas
 

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My location info is above. I currently have an Antenna Craft CS600 and an Antennas Direct Clearstream 2. I also have a pre-amp and a distributionamplifier and a rotator. This set up work satisfactorily wth the main stations located to the south as well as KMYS and KPXL when turned in the direction of those towers. KCWX, which is towards the North Northwest is less reliablt comes in ok, but other times it comes in and out. I'm considering getting a slightly stronger antenna to deal with this. I'm considering the Antennacraft C290. Would this really improve things. I've also considered much larger antennas, such as the Antennacraft C490, but I don't think I want anything that big on top of my house if I don't need it. Something that big might be overkill.

Any thoughts?

It all depends on what you want. If this were me (and I'm willing to experiment) I'd do the following:

- For UHF I'd get a DB-8e, remove the reflectors on both panels, aim one panel at roughly NW (with the back to the SE) and see if I can find a sweet spot for the channels that are roughly SW and SSE. I'd aim the other panel SW (hoping for some of the NE channels off the back).

- For VHF I'd keep the CS-600. Maybe. What happens if you aim it towards 5-KCWX? Do you also get the stations from 163 degrees (12, 9 & 13)? There are other options, but for channel 5 (VHF LO) I'm not sure what to recommend.

Others will post. Be patient.

Comparing the specs on the antennas mentioned:

CS600
2.3 dBd VHF Low
5.5 dBd VHF Hi

Clearstream 2
8.1 dBd UHF (converted from manufacturers stated 10.2 dBi)

C290
2.8 dBd VHF Low
6.0 dBd VHF Hi
7.9 dBd UHF

C490
5.0 dBd VHF Low
8.8 dBd VHF Hi
9.3 dBd UHF

The C290 is pretty much the equivalent of the CS600/Clearstream 2 you are using now.

The C490 has about a 3dB gain over your CS600 on VHF Low and Hi which is about a 2x power gain. It has 1.4 dB gain over your Clearstream 2 which is about 1.4x power gain on UHF.

The C490 is probably the minimum upgrade you could make to see any difference in the weakest stations.

Probably too much amplification for starters. What are you using for the pre-amp and the distribution amp?

How do you have the antennas combined?

Have you taken enough precautions to mitigate FM interference?

Do you intend to use the rotor all of the time or are you seeking to minimize it's requirement?

I used to call KCWX the "Longhorn" station. You need an antenna as wide as the horns on a genuine Texas Longhorn and, because of that, longhorn cattle were about the only thing equipped to pick up their signal which broadcasts pretty much from deep in the country.