[SoTired]

I'm reporting back on my progress.

I have installed the antenna -- it was a bigger project than I expected. Assembly was not that difficult, but I have a very steep roof at the peak, so standing up there while we worked was unpleasant and made it take much longer than it should have.

Initially, I brought a small TV outside to measure. We got ABC and CBS strong, and NBC and FOX were sketchy. We got a couple independent stations as well. No CW, unfortunately.

Last weekend, we ran the wiring through the attic and connected the antenna to the main TV in our living room. Initially, we had slightly better luck getting consistent signals from San Diego, so we turned the antenna that way. That was consistent with what one of our neighbors had said (reception was better from San Diego). CBS and ABC were still good, but FOX and NBC were intermittent and pixelated to the point of being unwatchable.

Today we turned the antenna back to LA. Right now, we're getting pretty good reception overall. Here are the SNR readings in Windows Media Center through our Hauppauge 2250:

Channel Network SNR
43 (2.1) KCBS 20.5
36 (4.1) KNBC 17
7 (7.1) KABC 19.5
8 (8) KFMB 21
9 (9.1) KCAL 22
10 (10.1) KGTV 19
11 (11.1) KTTV 18
38 (30.1) KPXN 22

In addition to these, we also get a few Spanish stations and a shopping network. A few curious observations:

1) Even with the antenna turned toward LA, we still get the San Diego CBS and ABC stations just as strong as the LA CBS and ABC stations. Ironically, the signal strength on these San Diego stations is just as strong as it was when the antenna was turned toward SD.

2) We can't get CW to save our life. Not even a little bit. The TVFool report suggests that the signal should be much stronger on CW than many other stations that are much farther down the list, but we don't even get a hint of it. Which is too bad, because we like that channel.

3) We have had occasional pixilation watching Sunday Night Football on NBC tonight, but it's rare and tolerable. Much better than when we were trying to pick up NBC in San Diego.

4) We haven't watched the other channels enough to say how often they will cut out. Also, today is a perfectly clear day (although we get a lot of those in Orange County). We'll keep watching.

So far, we've been doing all of this with a single TV and no splitter. Next weekend I may install the splitter and run cable to the other rooms. I'll report back as we get additional info

I do have one question: The Windows Media Center signal strength indicator shows six out of six bars for all of the above channels, even though we occasionally get pixilation on NBC. Does the fact that we're getting 6/6 bars mean that I should be able to insert a 4-way splitter without an additional amplifier (I already have a preamplifier in the path)?