Need Help with Multiple Antenna situation
 

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b94de44204326

I live in Birmingham, Alabama on Brookview Trail. The zip is
35216. In Birmingham, we have an odd situation for OTA reception.

From the roof of my house I can see Red Mountain (where most of our tv
towers are located) around 6 miles away. To receive those channels, I
have a small RCA type antenna pointed to the North/Northwest and I receive all
of them located in that direction with good signal strength. However,
the ABC affiliate is located around 28 miles away to the
North/Northeast. The signal for that station (broadcasting on Channel
9) is watchable but marginal. At the top of my antenna mast located on
the top of my house at about 45 - 50 feet, I have a larger antenna (U2, I believe I got from Denny's several years ago)
pointed toward the ABC affiliate and, using a Wineguard 7670 coupler,
I have the smaller RCA type antenna for the remaining stations (Fox, NBC, CBS,
CW and MY). Both coax leads from the antennas are the same length so
that shouldn't be a problem and the two antennas are around 3 feet apart. I am using a Wineguard HDA-100
Distribution Amplifier to send the signal to a kitchen television, a
bedroom set and a main living area television.

My question is can I use a pre amplifier connected to the top antenna
to amplify the ABC station signal without affecting (possibly
overloading) the other stations? The pre amp would be installed right
below the big antenna used to capture the signal from the ABC station,
then routed to the coupler.

BG Eagle

Hello BG Eagle,

If I were in your situation, I wouldn't consider a preamp. With 70db signals in the air, I would fear overloading your tuners down lead even from an antenna pointed away from the strongest signals.

Regarding reception of WJSU, I did a search for "U2" from Denny's. I'm not familiar with it. Is this dedicated WJSU antenna high-VHF? Is it similiar to an Antennacraft Y5-7-13?

My first thought without spending any money is to go up on your mast and adjust the dedicated WJSU antenna down 8" - 10" and see what that does. Sometimes a small movement can yield a measurable improvement.

Regards.

Picture of what you have might be helpful.