[craigb]

I have recently dumped my satellite service, and am working on getting decent OTA reception. I live in Portland OR, zip is 97219. I currently have an EZ-HD antenna from Dennys Antennas installed on a chimney mount, about 5 feet above the peak of my composite shingle roof. It is aimed at the transmitter towers (~345 magnetic) about 5 miles away. There are some large fir trees directly between the antenna and the transmitters, about 25’ from my antenna.

During dry weather, I get signal strength readings of 50’s to 80’s for all channels (at least the ones I am interested in). However, when it rains, or shortly thereafter, signal strength on most UHF channels (2, 6, 32, 49) drops significantly – chans 6 and 32 drop below 30 and become unwatchable. Signal strength on the VHF channels (6, 8, 10) drop some to low 50s, but are still acceptable, generally.

I could possibly move the antenna to a location to the side of my driveway, where I have a mostly clear view of the transmitters – partial obstructions (trees mostly) are at least 100’ away. I could probably get it about 10’ above ground at this location. I haven’t tried this location to see how it would work. This would mean adding approx. 75’ more coax between the antenna and the receiver ( to the current approx. 35’).

I would appreciate any suggestions that would help with my reception in the rain. If I get crummy reception in the rain here, it is a big problem, cause it rains all the time!