TV Fool - OTA Attic Antenna in Northern Virginia

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OTA Attic Antenna in Northern Virginia

Hello! I'm hoping you can help recommend an attic antenna or solution to improve my OTA reception.

TV Fool Report: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...f1f08e0066c350

Location: Northern Virginia, Washington DC Stations

Desired Channels: Major networks (WRC/NBC, WTTG/Fox, WJLA/ABC, WUSA/CBS) + PBS (WHUT, WETA, WMPT)

Current Setup: I currently have a large outdoor antenna (5-6') in the attic (something like this, but purchased many years ago at Radio Shack) attached to an HDHomeRun in my basement via 50' RG6 Coax Cable. I have a Antronix Residential Amplifier hooked to the bottom of the RG6 which also splits the cable into the back of the HD Homerun.

Current Signal Strength:

Code:

Call        Net        Chan        VChan        SigStren        SigQual        SymQual

WJLA        ABC        7        7.1        100%                80%        100%

WUSA        CBS        9        9.1        100%                75%        100%

WETA        PBS        27        26.1        90%                90%        100%

WHUT        PBS        33        32.1        90%                90-100%        100%

WTTG        Fox        36        5.1        100%                80-95        100%

WMPT        PBS        42        22.1        55%                50%        0%

WRC        NBC        48        4.1        100                80-100        100

Current Notes:
CBS and Fox are a little flakey - I'd like to make them solid! I've also tried this GE Attic Antenna and it did a little worse.

I look forward to your suggestions!

Your current antenna should work fine, but likely just needs some tweaking.

-Are all desired channels except 5 & 9 reliable?
-Have you ever tried running the cable directly to 1 Tuner with the amp completely removed?
-Have you tried moving the antenna around to different spots in the attic. High as possible is usually best.

First off, get rid of the amplifier and test reception via a direct connection to the antenna.

Your signal plot shows many very strong stations and potential over-amplification is the first item on the agenda to investigate.

I have found great difference in reception from;baluns;splitters;coax;last but not least location location location of the antenna. I myself have never experienced over amplification. And I have a good handful of really strong channels near my antenna with a high gain preamp on it. You would do much better if it was outside or possibly just one other area of the attic. as (no static at all)above reported

Depending on the amp it may or may not be overloading. The only way to tell is to see what happens without it.

Too bad the OP has disappeared as there is good hope for a successful attic set-up with a bit of tweaking. The biggest issue in the Northern Va area is airplane flutter from large jets landing at the 2 closeby Intl. airports.