Inconsistent reception

[ignatz13]

I'm about to go nuts trying to figure out how to get the best reception fairly consistently. Most of the time, I can receive 35 channels...14 from Arkansas towers and the rest from towers outside of Tulsa, OK. I frequently receive Oklahoma City and Little Rock channels at night. I am mainly interested in the Tulsa stations which I receive great most of the time.

The problem is my reception drops to anywhere between 14 to 20 channels several times during 24 hours. I have a DB8 antenna at 30' and a homemade McLapp M4 antenna 4 ' above it. I added the M4 so I could receive Tulsa Channel 8 KTUL. Both antennas are connected to a Channel Master CM-7778 preamp through a Channel Master antenna combiner. The cable lengths are the same from both antennas going to the preamp and the coax to a Vizio tv is about 40'. I've had this problem when using either of the antennas by themselves and when I was using the CM-7777 preamp which
was too strong for my area. Without a preamp, I receive 14 Arkansas channels and 3 from Oklahoma.

I understand that tropospheric ducting may play a big part during the day, but the same thing happens at night and I have to turn the antenna and rescan even though the antenna hasn't moved. Also I noticed that turning the mast a 1/4 or a 1/2 inch will either cause me to lose or gain channels. Should aiming the antenna(s) be that sensitive?

I could go up another 10' but don't really want to as I can only guy the mast on three sides and to the eave of the house.

My TVFool report:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c64af9dc4f4b

Thanks for any advice.

+=>

To see if reception conditions improve.

Please make and post 3 more tvfool reports at 45 and 60 and 80 feet antennas heights above ground.

[ignatz13]

Looks like considerable improvement with an increase in height, but 45' would be the absolute max I could go. Yesterday and last night I had 34 channels with no pixelation. Today,out of those 34, I am down to 17 clear channels and 2 with pixels and no sound. The others just show 'No signal'.

I'm going to take the mast completely down in a few minutes and add a 10' piece to it.

45 ft - http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c605d1bcd5db

60 ft - http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c60657be8499

80 ft - http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c693906e8195

+=>

Here are some ways to install the antennas higher.

http://www.ronard.com/712.html.
Ronard , (712-50-10) , 10 foot tripod antenna mount.

------

Home Depot has , 10 foot 6 inch , 1 and 3/8 inch diameter , TOP RAIL , chain link fence , PIPE , makes good antenna mast pipe , the price is low at about 10 dollars.

------

http://www.3starinc.com.

Has Push Up Poles that can be mounted at the peak of the roof , and then Guy Wired.

------

http://www.palcoelectronics.com/pe300.aspx.

Has , Free Standing , No Guy Wires , Light Weight Aluminum , Lay Over , Towers.

Can do Antenna Install and Adjustments Standing On the Ground.

----------------

Install the DB8e UHF channels antenna aimed at about 296 degree magnetic compass direction.

Remove the McLapp antenna and install a ,

http://www.antennacraft.net

Y10-7-13 VHF high band antenna.

If the CM7778 preamp is the old type discontinued separate UHF/VHF inputs preamp then connect the DB8e antenna to the UHF input of preamp and the VHF antenna to the VHF input of preamp.

If the CM7778 preamp is the New CM7778 preamp that has 1 input , then use a ,

Holland Electronics , UVSJ = UHF/VHF - Separator/Joiner.

http://www.hollandelectronics.com.

Connect the DB8e to the UHF connection of the UVSJ.

Connect the Y10-7-13 to the VHF connection of the UVSJ.

The single input of the CM7778 preamp is connected the the remaining connection of the UVSJ.

The coax lengths do not need to be the same length when connecting with a UVSJ.

Install the DB8e about +3 feet above the Y10-7-13 if installing on the same antenna mast.

------------

Aim the DB8e antenna at about 296 degree magnetic compass direction.

Aim the Y10-7-13 antenna at about 310 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

Use a Real and Actual magnetic compass to aim antennas , do no trust a , cell phone , tablet and etc. compass.

[ignatz13]

Thanks for all the info. I had a 12' section of aluminum pipe and went up an additional 10'.
Overall, reception was actually worse...picked up duplicates of 5.1 and 5.2 from Fort Smith, AR...and all of the Tulsa channels had a lot of green/black pixels, with the exception of 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 which were perfect. Total channels varied between 17 and 24 with several scans. Tried each antenna alone also and the results were about the same, although I received more channels with the McLapp.

Will try the Y10-7-13 and Separator/Joiner, I found both on Ebay. I have the newer CM7778 preamp. I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible to keep peace in the family.

Thanks again.