Quote:
Originally Posted by gcd0865
CHD Dad:
You should be able to receive VHF 7, 9 and 13 reliably from your attic if you add a Winegard YA-1713 and connect along with your UHF antenna to a single downlead using a UVSJ:
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=YA1713
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=UVSJ
I've found the same result with attic antennas that you have, namely, that every bit of height is very important. I have my attic antennas mounted at the very highest (central) portion of my attic (so that the horizontal elements are just an inch from the attic roof plywood), using pieces of 1" PVC pipe that I hung from the rafters with a screw through a hole I drilled near the end of each piece. You would want to choose locations for your UHF antenna and your YA-1713 so that neither antenna "aims through" or "points through" the other, while both being as high as possible. Best aiming direction for your YA-1713 would probably be either 333 degrees (directly at WLOS-13, since it is the weakest of your thee VHF stations), or perhaps a little to the right of that to compromise (since WSPA-7 is at 355 degrees but a little closer to you and WNTV-9 is at 337 degress, but even closer yet to you).
Once you add a YA-1713, you should be able to re-aim your DB-4 to maximize UHF reception so that you no longer lose your FOX station. If possible, it might be best to see if you can continue to borrow the DB-4 for another week until you get the YA-1713 installed. That way, you can evaluate the DB-4's performance on its own for your UHF channels only, and decide if you need to purchase a DB-8 instead to ensure sufficient UHF reception. |
I looked at the YA-1713 but my concern is boom length. At 100" I may not be able to get the height needed to clear the dormers. Unfortunately it needs to run across the "V" of the roof and not with it. I need to get a 8ft board up there and see what will work and where. I already re-aimed this morning to get FOX back in and we lost CBS. I tried to split the difference but CBS was so weak in the first place I just lost it on our main TV.
Speaking of TV's, I noticed a big difference in tuner ability on our two TV's. One is going on three years (Panny plasma) the other is a brand new Sony. The Panny will drop picture completely around 45%. Even 50% will get a little iffy now and then. The Sony will show pretty decent picture down to 15-20%! It may drop a few pixels here and there, but overall I was shocked at how much better it was at pulling in weak signals. We could watch FOX reliably on the Sony last night when the Panny showed "No Picture Available". Signal strength was the same on both TV's.