[rabbit73]

Hi, nkreed:

I started to answer your question earlier today thinking that your friend's situation is like yours, after reading your previous thread:

Help with Reception in Buffalo 17-Jul-2013
http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=13457

One thing I know will be a problem is the broadcast tower 2.5 miles away. My little research has found that I cannot use any power within my system. I am looking to receive the Buffalo and Toronto broadcast signals. These stations are nearly 180 degrees apart.

I was going to tell you to use the same solution for him that you used, but I suddenly realized there was a big difference between the two locations. Your TVFOOL report was no longer available, but it seemed that your strong local signals were south of your location and his are north of his location. This is a big difference, because when the antenna is aimed north the local strong signals are in the same direction. So, I backed off and let Tower Guy make a suggestion. He is a TV station engineer with a lot of experience, and his solution is a simple and elegant one. It is the best simple solution for your friend's location.

First, the DB-4 is discontinued, but the DB-4e is available, is that the antenna you suggest?

They are pretty much the same. The DB4E has been redesigned for the new 14-51 UHF band, has wires that are less hazardous, and has more eye appeal for the ladies.

Also, would the bottom set of bow-ties point at Colden (channels 39, 33, 38) and the top Toronto (20, 19, 41)?

No, I don't think he meant that. He told you to remove the reflector to get North and South with equal gain.

Wouldn't you expect the GI farm (the strong signals 32, 14, 43) to overload this antenna?

They wouldn't overload the antenna, but they might overload the tuner.

The polar gain plot for the DB-4e looks to have a significant amount of gain in the direction of GI if I pointed the antenna at Toronto.

Indeed, that's what makes the situation so difficult. You could use an antenna with a little less gain, but the local signals would still be vastly stronger, and the ratio between the two would be the same.

If so, could that be tampered down a little with an attenuator to possibly help receive the Toronto stations NE of the farm?

An attenuator will make all signals weaker by the same amount, so from the standpoint of signal strength, it wouldn't matter, because the difference in dB between the weak and strong signals would stay the same. This is called the Dynamic Range. A TV tuner is only capable of handling a certain Dynamic Range because the strong signals create spurious signals from distortion in the tuner that wipeout the weak signals.

The advantage of inserting an attenuator is that you can optimize the antenna system for the particular signals at that location to preserve as many weak signals as possible. This works, because for every one dB of attenuation, the spurious signals are reduced 3 dB. I have proved this to my satisfaction by making numerous overload tests. It works for tuners as well as for preamps:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/1597002-post3490.html

Not all installations are the same, I know that, but I used a CM2016 antenna to reach Toronto and receive the Buffalo stations through the back it. The only difference between the installations (other than my antenna is 10 miles closer to Toronto) is that the GI farm was 2 miles ESE of my antenna. Do you think an antenna like this will receive the Toronto signals?

I think you need to try some tests with a temporary setup before any permanent mounting.