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Originally Posted by SVTarHeel
Well, that's where my ignorance comes in. The antenna is at least 40 years old and I wasn't sure if UHF analog was the same as UHF digital as far as the reception ability of the antenna was concerned or if the existing antenna is 100% useless in a post-analog world.
That's the station that's the least of my worries. Even with OTA as a backup, I'm set with belt and suspenders as far as ION - I was shocked to discover that the DirecTV channel lineup not only has the local station, but it has an East and West Coast national feed. So, even if I'm in the midst of storms, I can catch the West Coast feed 3 hours later.
And, since I live almost exactly between the Sauratown and Sophia towers, I was hoping I could split the difference between a table top and roof/mast mounted antenna and put something in the rafters that, unattended, can reliably get all those the signals, whether coming from the front or from the back.
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Keep in mind, there's really no such thing as a 'digital' versus 'analog' antenna. That is basically marketing hype. While the technology in the TVs (and the signal coming from the towers has changed), the basic makeup of antennas has not changed whether we are talking before or after the digital conversion.
The issue with your rooftop antenna is the age and the fact that your wiring is most likely in serious decay. Plus, the lifespan of an antenna is generally far less than the number of years that you've had yours sitting up there.
In your situation, an attic mounted antenna might work great for you. However, as many forum members on here will tell you, you must consider the types of materials that any such attic mounted antenna will have to penetrate to get outside. For example, is your home brick or frame? Do you have shingles on your roof or is it some other type of material? These are the types of issues you would want to consider. Obviously, a brick exterior or any type of metal on the roofing would have more of a negative impact on the ability of an attic mounted antenna to get at the signal.
My attic mounted antenna works great. However, my home is vinyl sided versus brick. My roof is just your average shingles. Plus, a bonus for my situation. I was able to place the attic mounted antenna on the A part of the roof line (in the attic). So all the antenna has to do is penetrate through the plywood and it can easily get at the signal outside. Obviously, while investigating things in the attic, you must keep in mind the direction in which your antenna needs to be positioned to get the best results. For example, my antenna is facing (south) inside my attic. It picks up all the signals from the Randleman/Level Cross area on the side (SE of me). Also, the antenna picks up the CLT stations (SW of me) on the side. With WXII and WUNL being so close, my antenna easily gets those signals--even though they are to my north (directly behind the direction in which my antenna is facing).
If your situation is favorable for an attic mounted antenna, you might want to consider this option versus going outdoors. You indicated that you really only care about over the air as a backup. Therefore, you may not want to spend the extra money and time that it would most likely require to install a new outdoor antenna. From my own experience, I can tell you that an outdoor antenna can become much more costly versus an attic install.
But everyone has to consider their own circumstances, what end results you are really hoping to obtain, and how much money you want to spend in the process. Hope this helps.
Note: unless you want to try to get any of the Charlotte stations with a longer range antenna, I would point any attic mounted antenna to the SE from Winston so it is facing directly at the antenna farm in the Randleman/Level Cross/Sophia area, south of Greensboro. Your antenna should be able to get WXII and WUNL on Sauratown Mtn (north of Winston) without much problem, no matter which way the antenna is facing. Of course, there's always exceptions--but that is generally the case with WXII and WUNL if you live in Winston.