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Sorry for not replying back, but I've just been so busy.
So ... I bought the DB8E antenna, 50' coax cable from Monoprice and a new Samsung 32" HDTV. Hooked it all up at the cabin and received about 8 channels with the antenna just sitting on a couch leaning against a wall.
Moved the antenna around and received about 11 channels, with an all time best 18 channels when it was mounted in the rafters of a screened in back porch. Two weeks later, went back up and decided to try it in the attic.
Mounted it on a pole in the attic and adjusted, adjusted and adjusted some more but only received about 14 channels. Over the next several weeks, I've adjusted the antenna so many times I could'nt even tell you what direction it's facing now but I'm having trouble with receiving 2 channels ... 25 (CBS) and especially 28 (NBC).
The following week I went back up and mounted it on the roof on a 10' pole bolted to 2 2x4 boards mounted under the eave giving me a final height of about 7' above the roofline ... possibly 25' off the ground. I thought I would have no problem getting the 18 channels with the roof mount but it was actually worse than the porch rafter mount. We adjusted this thing for 2 days and still could'nt get the 18 channels back. I'm so confused. We adjusted the antenna so much that the last best position has both of the antenna panels sorta criss-crossing each other, which I don't think is correct, but it works to get the NBC channel, but not the CBS channel.
I contacted Antenna's Direct Support and talked to a tech for over an hour and she suggested several things: installing an amplifier, installing some sort of converter (sorry, I wrote it down, but left it at the cabin), and then she said that the NBC channel was a VHF channel and that she would sell me a discounted C5 antenna, which is a long range VHF only antenna. Now I'm really confused. I thought all of these channels were UHF, that's why I bought the DB8E, and I was able to get both of them eventually just not reliably at the same time ... CBS and NBC. I really don't want to shell out another $100 for the C5, but if that's the only way to get around this, I will.
Since we didn't receive any better reception with the roof mount, I have taken the antenna down and mounted it back in the attic, receiving about 14 channels, but still having trouble with the CBS and NBC together.
So .... what say the experts?
Am I doing something wrong when adjusting this antenna?
Is there a certain procedure other than just moving it and adjusting?
The last time we adjusted it, we tried to get just the CBS and NBC channels first, but when we adjusted it further to get all the other channels, we had trouble getting them and the CBS/NBC channels together.
Is there any other reason I have to roof mount if the attic mount works jsut as well or better?
I really prefer the attic mount for looks, and not having to ground the mast and coax.
Do I really need a VHF only antenna like the C5 that the tech suggested?
I know the DB8E (UHF only) is capable of getting both of those channels.
I will be going back up next week and would like to fix all this, so would really appreciate some advise from the experts. Thanks in advance.
Confused and frustrated ........................................
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