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Old 18-Oct-2011, 5:54 PM   #16
GroundUrMast
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Greater Seattle Area
Posts: 4,773
The optimistic approach would be to install one antenna with a wide forward beam (such as the HD7000R) hoping to see both Redding and Chico. The CPA-19 is the better choice of preamp in your situation. Mileage ratings are less helpful than reasonably accurate gain figures... read through the forum threads for more thoughts and explanation re. mileage ratings. I believe the HD7000R and CPA-19 would be an improvement over the RS antenna but the extreme angle between the Chico and Redding transmitters worries me.

If that doesn't work well, you're faced with choosing from:

1) A larger (more directional) antenna on a rotator. This is often frustrating to anyone other than the viewer with control of the rotator. Many TV's will only display channels detected during a setup scan and will 'forget' the previous channels each time you re-scan. This can make using a rotator very frustrating.

2) Multiple antennas. This would require cabling each antenna separately to each TV. You can use an A/B switch at each set to select the desired antenna, but this will be problematic for sets that lack the ability to scan for or add additional channels.

3) Multiple antennas with an additional set-top-box tuner. SD tuners are fairly cheap. HD tuners cost a bit more... Channel Master and Pico Macom are a couple of examples of HD capable STBs. With one antenna feeding the existing TV tuner and the second antenna feeding the STB, the TV remote will usually let you select the HDMI or video input of the TV.

If I were in your situation, I'd go with a multiple antenna install. I'd point a Winegard HD7694P at about 245° and a another Winegard HD7694P pointed at about 130°. I'd mount the antennas separately, at least 8' apart. Again, the CPA-19 preamp would be a good choice for each antenna.

Re. grounding: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=901
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If the well is dry and you don't see rain on the horizon, you'll need to dig the hole deeper. (If the antenna can't get the job done, an amp won't fix it.)

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