John> Thanks for the replies, however the landlord gave me the ok to put an outdoor antenna as long as it's not too big and can only put it up to 8ft high.
Our apartment is at the end of the building so I have a clear view of the 233deg orientation needed for those stations.
As far as the home made antennas, I figured modifying them would lower their reception, I just tried to make them as close to the original as possible and got pretty good result but not perfect. At some point I got about 75% signal strength on all of the channels I wrote in my original post, but somehow the next day, I had 2 or more channels that weren't received anymore when the previous day all were perfect.... sometimes I even got in the 90% (I was trying to tweak them a lot).
Is there any way something like the Winegard FV-HD30 would work ? I know it's a 0-30miles antenna but I've read quite a few reviews and ppl at about my range had good success with it (of course it could be due to their higher altitude).
I was also looking at the Winegard HD 4400 which is a 30-50miles antenna, I am thinking I might be able to install it or another inside my upstairs neighbors balcony, which would mean having it at about 9-10' up.
Here is a pic of the mount with highway behind and the balcony I am talking about.. the end board is only 3/4 inch thick.
Thanks again for your help.