Thread: In the Sticks
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Old 14-Sep-2014, 9:23 AM   #3
StephanieS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 442
Greetings BigBean,

Your antennas you mention (Ant751, MXU59, etc), I would use none of them. You'll notice you are in 1 or 2-edge conditions. In these situations it is often advisable to have an antenna with a wider surface (IE, an Antennas Direct DB8e, Channelmaster 4228) that can keep a lock on signal that might shift a bit.

Thus, if I were in your situation, I'd focus on Hartford exclusively. With a two antenna system successful reception of ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS is within reason.

Antenna 1: Antennas Direct DB8e. Point to magnetic 0 degrees. This antenna will be responsible for CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS.

Antenna 2: Antennacraft Y5710. Point to magnetic 276. This antenna will receive ABC.

Mount the DB8e on the top of your mast. Mount Y5710 about 4' below. Install on mast a RCA TVPRAMP1R preamp. Coax jump34 from DB8e will go to the UHF input, coax from Y5710 will go into VHF input. This will combine both antennas into one coax going into your home. In your home, have a two way signal splitter split the signal (so when the time comes, you can run a feed into the bedroom).

When doing testing though, it is always best to use the single lead coming down off the antenna system into the back of your TV. This sets a baseline for your performance as a system. If your first test is good coming off the antennas, and after you split the signal problems start, that gives you a good starting point to problem test.

The RCA ANT751 is a great little antenna. I own one. It's been in service two years now. For local stuff it does well. However, for your application it is the wrong antenna and would leave you disappointed. The ANT751 doesn't have much gain, nor does it have a large surface area for signal reception. This leaves it in the domain of best with stronger signals. As long as has a healthy signal to access, it'll do fine. Once you start dealing with weaker or terrain obstructed signals, it won't keep up. My general rule with the ANT751 is if you aren't line of sight or working below 20db signal strength signals, don't go for that antenna. I have an exceptional result with my ANT751 in reliably catch a 17db signal that is 55 miles and line of sight. The ANT751 is strictly a local, line of sight antenna.

Cheers.
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