Hi All,
I've been reading this forum for the past few weeks prepping for an OTA antenna install. I completed it this weekend and now am coming for advice.
Here's my signal plot:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc49b71cd43b91
I bought this 4 bay DIY antenna:
http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweath...Bay%20Kit.html
I mounted it to a 6' wooden post and attached the post to a 10' PVC pipe. The 2" PVC pipe slides over the post of my old DTV J-mount. Total altitude to the top of the wooden mast is about 30' (the signal plot is set at 25').
I attached antenna to a Winegard HDP269 Signal Amplifier via a 2' coax cable. I then connected into my existing DTV cable which runs into the house (approximately 80'). Other than the pre-amp, I have one pass-through connector (grounding block) and the amp power connection splitter before terminating in my HDHomerun Dual tuner. I have an HTPC running Windows Media Center.
I am receiving all stations down to WLIW (21.1) except WABC (7) and WCBS-TV (22), although I don't know how to tune WCBS-TV (22). It doesn't show up in my listings and nothing tunes if I add the channel manually in WMC.
My goal is to pick up the channels at 19/33 and as much as possible in 236/250, but if I could just add 1 Fox and 1 CBS station, I may be able to convince the wife to drop cable. We were without cable for almost 3 weeks after Hurricane Sandy and I'm ready to give the cable company the finger.
Briefly, during my various testing, I was able to pull in 4.1 and 5.1 (this was when I had the wooden mast sitting on the J-Mount, about 7 feet lower than it is now and angled poorly. Both stations showed no signal in WMC, though.
I have to get a better compass, the one on my phone seems sketchy, but in the 3 positions I tested (directly at 236/250, 19/33 and "splitting the middle" at 220/235), pointing at 19/33 seems to give me the best results, in that I can pull in 30.1 NBC where I couldn't otherwise.
Any suggestions on how to proceed from here?
How much signal loss am I getting with ~80' of coax? Would a stronger pre-amp help any? Would it pay to mount a 2nd 4-bay antenna on the other side of the mast and combine the signal before connecting to the pre-amp? Does the mast material make a difference?
Any other suggestions?