I purchased a cheap antenna off of amazon its I guess a miniyaggi kinda antenna with an amp and I can get stations off it. Its one of the newer designs has a single element and lots of collectors on it..
So then I decided to try building my own antenna and I ended up building a 4 bay with aluminum tubes instead of v shaped bunny ears on the side kinda deal.
That got me just about the same results
Then I added a RCA preamp to it I am not sure I got much out of it.. I bought it marked as Used from Amazon Warehouse and it was a return that they flipped and sold to me.. honestly not sure if it works at all I have had different weather patterns and testing at different times of day and mornings at sunup my channels were flaking out.
I am at a distance of 55 Miles from Philly and similar distances to other markets however Philly is performing best and I will probably just stick with that direction.
My antenna will be mounted in the attic and I am in a single story home so its .. you know wall height of 8 feet then whatever fits in the attic so figure 12 - 15 feet or something.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c69e2ce44011
That is my TV Fool Philly is 30deg magnetic...
I actually do pickup to the south of me WMAR 38 real when my homemade antenna is pointed north to 30deg..
not sure exactly why i get it .. could be reflections of me testing in my garage with a big metal door.. could be the antenna's reflector performing poorly.. could be i have so much gain on my antenna it just comes in.. I am not sure..
But from the signals and report what do you guys think would give me rock steady performance in all but the worst weather conditions? And maybe work then too...
Again I can't roof or tower mount because of my home owners association so please do not consider that at all .. it is really really not an option..
But I want something very dependable and something that won't require any maintenance or rotor.
I will need to serve a few / say 5 tvs in the home so a distribution amp will most likely be used after I disconnect the wires from my cable tv service leaving only the cable modem line to the computer.
Based on the signal which I am not really sure about how to read and understand fully the NM vs PWR
And what do you think is minimal for very good reception .. WMAR seems to come in great for me and its at 14db but I don't think I can get anything lower than that at this time without effort.
WBOC did come in and its showing a 4db signal to my area but I only caught it once in my initial tests.. it did seem to come in ok though.
What is the lowest DB and Noise that lets you get dependable signal?
VHF is not really important but would be nice maybe.
I see a lot of reports with people having 40 to 60db even and asking for help.. i think if i had that.. heh well I would be very pleased.. but I am on the low end of the scale and down to zero...
Need to understand that because some people are trying to get negative DB stations.. i see that too..
Thanks
Little lost could use a guide based on my report as what will work and what i can get dependably ...