Please Help with question about Antenna in Rural Area

[TerriClay]

I live in a very rural area. I would like to do away with the cable tv company. I have purchased all TVs that have Qam in them. I have no clue about antenna type, amplifiers...rooftop, indoor...etc. Very overwhelming! Can anyone suggest what Antenna (and amplifier if I need it) I should be checking into?

Here is what the tvfool.com site says about my location:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc499b123137cc

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

TerriClay

The tvfool radar plot report you have provided , says resolved to city level only.

Please use the Exact address to make a tvfool radar plot report.

Or if Exact address does not work , go to the tvfool home page , click on , -->Start MAPS<-- , move the pointer to your location and make the antenna height 25 feet then click on the button that says make radar map.

Post that map here at your thread.

How many Tv's are/will be connected??

Is this a , house , town home , condo , apartment , mobile home , motor home , or etc.??

What directions do windows face??

What directions do , patios / balconies , face??

What floor??

What is the top floor??

[GroundUrMast]

If your TVs were built in March of 2007 or later, they will also have ATSC capable tuners. This means that they will be able to tune over the air TV signals with no external convertor box needed.

[TerriClay]

Here is the second map it gave me:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc493d531b7e07

Here are the answers to your questions:

TVs connected: 7 to 12 (haven't decided for sure yet)

This is a house

Most of the windows face to the east.

Patios also face the east.

Most of the tvs will be on the first floor...some on second floor.

Most of the house is 1 story, but I do have a second story Home Theater that one of the TVs will be in.

Thank you so very much for all of your help!!

Terri

[elmo]

Well, to help explain your plot, the good thing is that the stations you are after are in one general cluster just S-SW of your location. Distance is about 18-38 miles on average. Ch 4 - WSKY is further away at 55 miles. It's a VHF-Hi broadcast, which you can see on the bottom chart. Is Ch 4 a station that you would like to tune? If not, that could simplify things a little.

How's your view of the SSW horizon from your house? Nice shade trees can play havoc with TV signals.

You are going to need a preamp to feed so many TV's. Do you know how the in-house coax is wired? Hopefully the input from outside comes into a closet/basement/garage where it can be split and distributed around the house.

[TerriClay]

Lots of trees around...we are right on the water (a little side creek off of the bay)

I am not sure about the in house coax....there is a box outside that has several wires coming in to it...I also have Direct TV dish on the roof over the deck (that pointed to the south) that is only about 25 feet off the ground (from the ground to the top of the first floor roof)

Wow! I didn't know this was going to be so complicated...sigh....

Thank you for your help!!!!

Terri

[GroundUrMast]

I would suggest a Winegard HD7696P pointed south and slightly west.

You may already have a distribution amplifier installed and working in the house. The question will be whether it's a satellite system only devise. If so, it won't be of use. The coax cable will be usable though.

A distribution amplifier for OTA such as a Channel Master CM-3418 has a built in 8-way splitter. If you are driving 12 sets, you can connect 3-way passive splitters to the last two ports of the 8-output DA or, feed a second CM-3418 off of the first.

[TerriClay]

Thank you so very, very much!!

You are an Angel!! :-)

Terri