[GroundUrMast]

You're right, there's a mix of UHF and VHF channels in your area. UHF channels are the real channels 14 and higher. There are two groups of VHF channels in use through-out North America, the High-VHF group is real channels 7 through 13, and the Low-VHF group which includes real channel 2 through 6.

Because digital TV technology supports multiple video channels in the same bandwidth that one analog channel occupied, the virtual channel is needed. The antenna is not 'aware' of virtual channels, only the real channel is relevant when choosing the type (UHF, VHF or combination) of antenna. If you consider the real channel to be analogous to a street address, the virtual channel is analogous to an apartment number. In the analog only days, they could only send one video per real channel, so there was never any need for more addressing detail. Now with the DTV format, the virtual channel is often chosen to maintain branding that has been in place for many years or even decades. The switch to DTV included a period of transition that saw many stations build all new transmitters while their existing analog systems remained in operation. The new DTV transmitters could not operate on the same real channel that was occupied by the legacy analog transmission. Once the analog systems were shut down in 2009, few stations had a compelling need to move the new DTV operation to the vacated channel that the analog system had used. So, many virtual channel assignments do not match the real channel number, which can be a source of confusion until one understands the need for real channel numbers (street address) and virtual channel numbers (apartment numbers).

Your experience with the HDX1000 is somewhat common. It is not particularly directional. This means that aiming it is not very critical but, it will also receive from multiple directions... if there are sources of interference or multipath from directions other than the direction of the desired signal source, low signal quality can result.

To improve the quality of a received signal, you may need to use a more directional antenna, which will result in an increase in desired signal while reducing undesired reflections and interference.

An Antennacraft HBU-44 (equipped with an RCA TVPRAMP1R preamplifier) pointed a bit west of due north (about 350° per a compass) will very likely give you solid reception of the signals from the north and NW. This should include the signal from W27AU which is a translator station that repeats the signal from WJFW, another NBC affiliate.

To receive WEAU, will require a second antenna dedicated to that one signal. Combining the two antennas into a signal coax is possible, but can be a bit expensive when the proper filters are used. Often a second antenna is best cabled as a separate system, and terminated in an external set top tuner that connects to an axillary video input of your TV.

Obviously, if you are happy with the WJFW version of NBC programing, you could skip the second antenna,forgoing WEAU reception.