Seeking Some Advice in CT
 

Hello all, new to the forum.

I'm looking to cut the cord and I was hoping to get some opinions on equipment that I'd need to purchase in order to get as many channels as I can. Ideally, I would want something rather low profile and lower cost.

My signal analysis is here.

Thanks in advance.

-->A Simple Reception Situation of Hartford area Tv stations.<--

Above the Peak Of The Roof in such a manner that the roof and house are not impeding and blocking reception in the directions of , West , North West , North , North East.

Install a Antenna Craft , HBU44 antenna , aimed at about 300 degree magnetic compass direction.

Use a Old School magnetic compass.

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

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Here are some above the roof antenna mounts.

http://www.ronard.com/909911.html.
Use the , ronard(911) , 5 foot tripod antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html.
Use the , ronard(4560) eave antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html.
Measure the chimney and use a , ronard(2212) , ronard(2218) , ronard(2224).

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing , ronard(x) , in the solidsignal search box or buy from ronard.

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Here are some places to buy antennas and etc.

http://www.solidsignal.com.

http://www.amazon.com.

http://www.antennacraft.net.

http://www.channelmasterstore.com
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Install a Channel Master , CM7778 preamp.

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For 1 Tv connected use No splitter.

For 2 Tv's connected use a , HFS-2D , 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , HFS-3D , 3 way splitter.

Buy the HFS splitters at , http://www.solidsignal.com , or , http://www.hollandelectronics.com.

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You'll need a rotor if you want to pick up Ch. 3 and Ch. 8. I doubt a fixed antenna at 300 degrees will give you reception of these two channels. I think you'll need a HBU 55 if you want WCTX TV. I used the HBU55 at my former home and had signals on UHF as weak as that one and they came in fine without any amplification. In this case, since you have some weak fringe signals best to go with the larger antenna.

The HBU55 has only 1 dB more gain then the HBU44.

No antenna gain advantage by going to the HBU55.

Stay with the HBU44.

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The HBU55 has a narrower forward reception beam widith.

A narrower forward reception beam widith is not what is required for reception at your location.

The wider forward reception beam width of the HBU44 is what is requierd for reception at your location because the Tv stations are more widely spaced in the direction of the Hartford Tv stations.

The 300 degree magnetic compass aim direction , is a In Between aim direction of the groups of Tv stations in the Hartford area.

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As always , the starting antenna aim direction is the --> starting antenna aim direction.

The antenna aim direction at your location can be adjusted by hand to find the best and final aim direction.

Most Digital Tv's have Signal Strength Meter and some Digital Tv's also have a Signal Quality Meter.

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A antenna rotator is not required for reception at your location.

Antenna rotators Are Not channel surfing friendly , must wait for antenna to rotate and there Will Be Domestic Situations about the antenna aim direction using a rotator.

A antenna rotator is the Very Last Action that one will do to get Tv reception.

Adding a second antenna is what is done if one antenna does not receive some Tv stations.

I AM NOT SAYING that a second antenna is required.

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Install the HBU44 antenna and adjust for best reception.

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As always , trees and tree leaves , plants and plant leaves , have a Negative effect on Broadcast Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own roof and house.

The Best practice is to install the HBU44 antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the directions of reception including your own roof and house.

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The Tv/s Must Channel Scan for the , OTA=Over The Air , Digital Broadcast Tv stations/channels , often named the 'Air Channels' or ' Antenna Channels' in the Tv Setup Menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the Air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

Some Digital Tv's will Automatic channel scan for cable tv channels.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

Go into the Tv Setup Menu and select 'Air Channels' ~ 'Antenna Channels'.

Scan for channels.

Wow, thanks for all of the helpful info. One thing I noticed in the specs of the antenna is that the boom is almost 10' long. Is something that large going to be my only option? I have seen smaller antennas for sale on Amazon, such as the Clearstream series that advertise the same range, and are much smaller in size.

There are no magic antennas and you're not going to fool physics.

The only people that claim that smaller is better, are the guys that have the small antennas.

[QUOTE=teleview;37725]The HBU55 has only 1 dB more gain then the HBU44.

No antenna gain advantage by going to the HBU55.

Stay with the HBU44.

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The HBU55 has a narrower forward reception beam widith.

A narrower forward reception beam widith is not what is required for reception at your location.

The wider forward reception beam width of the HBU44 is what is requierd for reception at your location because the Tv stations are more widely spaced in the direction of the Hartford Tv stations.

The 300 degree magnetic compass aim direction , is a In Between aim direction of the groups of Tv stations in the Hartford area.

***My response***

A narrow beam width should help receive the weaker signals if a rotor is used. If we were talking signals in Yellow then I'd agree the HBU 44 would be fine and probably without a rotor.

A narrow beam width will help reduce the chances of unwanted interference from adjacent channels. Since the northeast has a lot of TV markets in a small geographical area, I believe it is wise to err on the side of caution and get the biggest antenna to receive the stations in Red on his report. And bear in mind inclement weather will impact those signals in Red especially if the antenna is not directly aimed at the tower. Again, if the signals were in Yellow on the report, this would not be an issue. I know from personal experience with signals that are that weak that a direct aim is necessary during bad weather for reception.

That 1 db difference is merely an average based upon the published spec's on the Antennacraft website. In reality, certain channels will have a greater or lesser gain value than is published. The OP should contact Antennacraft's engineers directly to find out what the gain difference will be on the antennas for the signals in Red.

Yeah... I'm sure that the larger antennas will be more capable of picking up the most amount of channels.

It's just that a giant antenna is going to be a tough sell to the wife, so I was hoping to get away with something smaller.

That's something else that's not an exact science and is constantly changing.
After 25 years, it's still unpredictable:)