[N4DBC]

I want to thank all of you for your comments.

Due to the holiday, family, and work I haven't been able to try any of your suggestions, hopefully I can try some of them soon.

I'll try the 'tilting' the 91xg trick. It makes sense that at least a small degree of tilt might make a difference with signals 'diffracting' over the ridges & mountains. That might also help with the WDBJ station (uhf 18) that is '50/50' depending on weather/season. Do you have to fabricate some sort of shim or wedge to do this, or is there enough adjustment in the mount as is?

The suggestion of 'walking the property for hotspots' also makes sense. One of my amateur radio friends mentioned doing that for some of their more troublesome 2-meter and 75-cm fm problems, which happen to be similar to OTA tv in many ways.

One of my friends found a recent article suggesting that the fcc and Obama regime ("administration" is too kind) is considering forcing more of the ota stations presently using uhf to vhf frequencies. They evidently want more bandwidth to 'auction' for more mobile comm services (where uhf is preferred). If they start with the highest frequencies, then maybe they will force WOAY (uhf 50) to a lower channel that will work better in the mountains. Unfortunately, it also sounds like the government is moving towards eventually forcing "free" OTA (over the air) stations to OTA (off the air)! It also sound like more interference issues, but I digress....

Even if I can't get an OTA ABC station, I'm still working to improve the reception on the stations that are presently marginal but possible (WDBJ, WVNS, WSLS). Even though I get pbs, nbc, cbs from Dish Net, and the network programming is pretty much the same, sometimes different DMA stations will have variations in sports & other regional programming. Plus, as I previously stated, if the economy gets worse (as predicted by many economists), then Dish Net will be the first 'costly' thing to go, at which point even the difference between game shows or talk shows might be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

PS - I forgot to ask before. The tripod that I have doesn't have a 'pitch pad' or cushion for the 'feet'. I have new 30-yr asphalt shingles on roof. I was wondering if anyone can suggest where I can buy them (or an alternative)? I have a Lowe's store nearby, and a few small hardware (ACE) stores? Thanks!