Hello, mh272:
I think you are doing very well with an indoor antenna. Some people would by happy if they got as many channels as you are with an outdoor antenna!
There is a big difference between your two tvfool reports; 5 feet makes the signals a lot stronger.
The C2V is doing well for Philly with the real UHF channels listed. It is also doing as well as can be expected for the Baltimore channels that are much weaker.
The C2V has much more gain on UHF, real channels 14-51, from he double loop, than on VHF (2-13), because it only has a dipole (the "V" of C2V). This is why 11 and 13 from Baltimore aren't as good.
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As you can see, to get ABC, I have to point to Baltimore because I can't get WPVI-DT 6.1 with this antenna.
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The dipole attachment for the C2V isn't long enough for channel 6; it is designed for 7-13. And even if it were long enough for 6 and 2, the noise level (electrical interference) on VHF-Low is often strong enough to wipe out strong signals.
WHYY-TV 12 (12.1) PBS is your weakest VHF-High Philly signal. The dipole doesn't have enough gain for it. You could try adding a preamp to the C2V with an FM trap/filter because you have some strong local FM signals, like WDSD 94.7, 5.8 miles away with a strength of -25.0 dBm. See the attachment.
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Even though I am in an apartment, I am willing to put an outdoor antenna indoors no matter how big or ugly it is. Which one(s) if any should I try? Should I just get myself a C2V?
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If you want to experiment further than with the C2V, you might consider the Winegard HD7694P which has a little more UHF gain than the C2V, and a lot more VHF-High gain.
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...enna-(hd7694p)
http://www.skywalker.com/catalog/Manuals/WIN1051.pdf
You could have two antennas, one aimed at Philly, and one aimed at Baltimore, with an A/B switch to change antennas. If your TV can't add a channel after scan like my Sony, you could have the second antenna connected to a separate tuner and feed the output to the A/V input of the TV, so you don't have to rescan every time.
If you want to experiment with the C2V, you could add a preamp, a DIY folded dipole antenna for channel 6, a folded dipole for channel 2, and a HLSJ to combine a VHF-Low antenna with a VHF-High antenna.
http://www.hollandelectronics.com/ca...-Diplexers.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_A...on_frequencies
Channel 2 is 54 to 60 MHz, center frequency is 57 MHz.
5540/57 = 97.2 inches dipole length.
Channel 6 is 82 to 88 MHz, center frequency 85 MHz.
5540/85 = 65.2 inches dipole length
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Could I get greedy and get something like an Antennasdirect DB8e (because of the moveable panels) for UHF? Or would that be stupid to do? I would still need a VHF antenna.
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You could try the DB8E with the panels in different directions. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
In spite of some glowing reviews, the antenna with two panels, each aimed in a different direction, often doesn't work. When the same signals from each antenna panel reach the combining point, they can interfere with each other if they are not in phase.
No, it wouldn't be stupid. It might be an interesting experiment, but don't get your hopes up.
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Originally Posted by ADTech
The DB8e is pretty much as just described. Customers have been asking us for years to include the flexibility of independent aiming of the panels so we tossed the feature in there. When the antenna gets up in the air and the panels are aimed independently, either it will work or it won't. For those customers for whom it works, everyone's happy. If it doesn't then it will be necessary to fall back to the conventional practices of rotors, A-B switches, and the like. There's nothing magical or otherwise about the combiner - it's a very good two port splitter that is about as efficient as we could produce. If it's been treated with pixie dust or otherwise has "special" characteristics that eliminate signal phasing issues, I didn't get told about that. The coaxial cable's length has been optimized for this application.
As the DB8e is a UHF design, its application is going to be somewhat limited by the presence of VHF channels in many markets. It isn't for everyone (no antenna is) but, for those who need its peak boresite gain for "straight-ahead" locations, it's the best thing this side of a parabolic for UHF performance.
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Yes, you would still need a VHF antenna.