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Old 15-Jan-2014, 8:01 AM   #7
StephanieS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 442
Hi Rick,

Thanks for the added info. I'm concerned about your signal drops with your strong signals in the air, they should be reliable. Do you have trees or other obstructions in the antennas path? How long is your run of coax? How are you splitting?

Good to know FOX is reliable at magnetic 135. Is your Clearstream a Clearstream 2V by chance with the high-VHF elements that stick on each side?

I've looked at your TVfool plot several times and the things that jump out:
1. You have quite a few very good to strong signals in line of sight of you. Ought to be easy reception.

2. You need high-VHF (real channels 7-13) and UHF (channels 14 and up) support from an antenna. (Clearstream 2V?).

3. There are multiple headings you have to be aware of.

In your situation we have a wrinkle, in:

4. Some of your signals are terrain obstructed and are weaker and require a different approach than the signals covered in # 1.

2-edge signals on your TVfool radar plot means there are physical obstructions such as hills or geography which prevent a line of sight to the transmitter in question. This makes signals in these conditions bend around the obstruction and therefore may be a little unpredictable. Often times, a larger UHF aerial such as a DB8, Channel Master 4228 or U8000 with a larger surface area is suggested to help "grab" these signals.

Your issue is you have two different needs based on your signals. One for easy reception, one for a more hostile 2-edge condition.

If I were at your location I might purchase a Antennas Direct DB8e or less expensive Solid Signal HDB8X and give it a shot. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=db8e or http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...u=700112818417 This design is advantageous for situations such as yours as it allows you to orientate each half of the antenna to a desired heading to concentrate on two different sets of towers. For example, in your case, one half would be aimed at magnetic 50 for your stronger signals while the other half would be aimed at magnetic 135 for FOX. If that aiming doesn't work, you have have to tinker with it to find a "sweetspot."

Keep in mind both the DB8e and HDB8X are a UHF designs, so WHTM being high-vhf and real channel 10 would be one to watch closely for reliability. So far you seem to be doing fine with it with your current antenna, plus the signal is strong at your location. If reliability problems come up, adding a smaller high-VHF antenna and adding a combiner might be needed. This is less likely though and I won't go too much into it unless it becomes needed.

Your desire to get 7 bars on each signal might be a challenge. The green shaded signals are doable. However, as mentioned prior you have very different signal properties with your FOX affiliate. For FOX I may be happy with say, 5 bars and reliability while the others are 6 or 7.

Edit: Your TVfool plot is also resolving to a block level. Can you rerun at your specific address?

Last edited by StephanieS; 15-Jan-2014 at 9:36 AM.
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