I think a Winegard HD7695P or Antennacraft HBU-44 would be a better fit for you. These antennas are designed to deal with channels 7-69, so they are going to be smaller (narrower) than a full band antenna. These tend to perform better than the 7-69 antennas from Channel Master.
Unfortunately, you need to make a trade-off between having a "wide beam width" and having "high gain". If you choose to go with an antenna with a wide beam width, it will not have very high gain, and therefore you might lose some of the sensitivity you need to pull in the weaker stations. If you go with a high gain antenna, it will have a narrow beam width (by necessity) and you will have less sensitivity toward the "sides" of the antenna.
My initial instinct would be to go after more gain and a narrower beam width. I think that most of your local stations are so strong that it won't matter that they are going in through the "side" of the antenna. The extra antenna gain will help you pull in the more distant stations reliably.
Signal loss due to building penetration can vary a lot. Depending on the construction material, thickness, dampness, signal frequency, etc., the loss caused by the building is usually in the range of 5 to 15 dB. Wood and drywall will usually cause less signal loss than brick and concrete. Sometimes hidden objects (e.g., ducts, plumbing, foil-backed insulation, wire mesh inside of stucco, etc.) can cause a lot of signal loss.
It's almost always better to get the antenna outside. You have less signal loss due to the building, but you also get less multipath reflections and a cleaner signal to begin with. A stronger and cleaner signal means better reception all around. You just need to make sure your antenna is able to stand up to the elements and last a long time.
|