I appreciate the previous help and good news and I’d taken the antenna/amp/tripod suggestion to heart, have even spoken to solid signal and Ronard equipment. I would install no sooner than a month from now, after trees have leafed out here. But now is really when I could use some more help. I’d like to report the lengths of my TV drops. Also, I checked actual height of my (upper) roof and now know it’s more like 26’4” rather than 32’. So, I’d set the antenna at about 28 feet. My drop lengths:
TV1: from CM 3414 amp, 28 feet; total from antenna to TV maybe 58 feet.
TV2: 25 feet from amp, total of 55 feet from antenna.
TV3: 22 feet from amp, total of 52 feet.
TV4: 41 foot run from amp, total of 71 feet.
I’d like to report my lat/long (used for the plots below): 35.763338, -82.621017
A new plot run at 28 feet
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1ddab9d386a6ff
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Same plot, elevation now 23 feet
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1dda5f5d320d30
In running the new plot at 28 feet, I went to tv fool>online tv maps>using coordinates. If anyone wants to do that with my lat/long it’s fine with me! I turned on aerial view (then you can see the proposed tripod location, on back porch roof). I turned transmitter lines on… and then noticed something I hadn’t previously: I think all the channels I might get (decent NM) and/or care about are in one or two clusters: 1) an arc South-southwest to south-southeast and 2) another cluster generally northeast (whether I’d receive is the question). The aerial view shows me that none of the channels in those clusters are blocked by my upper, main house roof: they all shoot straight in to the back porch location where I’d set the antenna. So, I played back and forth with two elevations: 28 feet (Ronard 10-foot tower #4712 with 10 foot mast, 3 feet of it in the tripod) and 23 feet (Ronard 5 foot tripod, #1011-15 with 8 foot mast, 6 feet of it in the tripod). The 4712 is $443 shipped and the 1011-15 is $161 shipped from Solid Signal. Fairly large difference. So I thought what is the difference in channel/network content for the money? Of the major networks (I’m assuming CBS is a goner) toggling back and forth on the aerial, it seems like at 28 feet I might have gotten NBC affiliate WYCW, Channel 62. At 23 feet that channel seems questionable, but I might still receive another NBC affiliate: WCYB. I really only care about having one NBC channel. I looked at other antennas e.g., the Winegard 8200U: but the gain at the NBC/major broadcast channels doesn’t seem to be much different, so the HD-7696P still looks good.
So I wonder, as an admitted novice, am I seeing anything here? I will install this spring: my wife is completely on board now. She said well, don’t cheap out; and I agree. But if I “temp/test” the Winegard at both elevations and don’t see many differences, and do receive at least one “NBC”… it makes me wonder. My wife said, but isn’t the big tower easier to maintain, climbable and all that? I said it’s just as easy or easier to stand on the roof beside a 5-foot tripod to check/adjust/remove the antenna as it is to climb a 10-foot tower, on a roof, hang on and check/adjust/remove the antenna while hanging on to the tower! The big tower would actually need a longer, heavier mast. So this is my quandry: big tripod/mast to get more elevation and get above the peak of the upper roof vs. smaller tripod/mast at lower elevation, that might actually be as good or “good enough” all things considered. I hope I’ve been clear. I’m all ears and thanks.