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Is the C2V the wrong antenna for me? It seems silly to me that I could potentially need something even bigger, potentially the 4V, considering I am less than 4 miles from the towers...
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Based on your tvfool report, the C2V is the right antenna for you. Keep in mind that the report is only a computer simulation that doesn't take into account trees or buildings in the signal path.
A bigger antenna, like the Winegard HD7694P would give you more VHF gain (which you don't seem to need as badly as UHF) and about the same UHF gain, but would be a lot bigger. The VHF signals can refract over the rough terrain better than UHF.
Now that you have the FM signals tamed, I put more stock in your test results and the Tivo Roamio signal strength readings that remind me of when ADTech and I helped mulliganman:
question regarding overamplification
http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=15025
The readings that he got on his Roamio compared to your readings make me think your readings should be higher for satisfactory reception. At first, I didn't think you should use a preamp, but maybe you should consider trying one to see if it will help. You might be losing a lot of signal strength because of trees, buildings, and terrain.
If no preamp isn't quite enough gain, and a preamp is a little too much gain, you can insert an attenuator between the antenna and the preamp input to optimize the gain for your situation.
The preamps you might consider are the Antennas Direct Juice, Channel Master 7778, RCA TVPRMP1, and the Channel Master 3410. The Juice and the 3410 don't have internal FM filters; the other two do, but I would put external FM filters before all of them because of your strong FM signals. The first two are more expensive; second two less.
The Juice is highly resistant to overload.
The 3410 is a distribution amp for indoor use.
The quality control of the RCA isn't quite as good as the other three.
Update 5/29/15: Delete 3410 from the preamp list on the advice of ADTech; see later post 20.
A HLSJ also makes a good FM filter because it attenuates everything below CH 7 including the FM band. Use the common and high ports.
http://www.hollandelectronics.com/ca...-Diplexers.pdf
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=zhlsj
http://www.atvresearch.com/hlsjvhfba...-combiner.aspx
http://www.sterenshopusa.com/catalog/prod.asp?p=2227