I have a roof ridge-mounted RCA ANT751 pointed south toward the cluster of towers of my local majors 25 miles away, and I do get decent reception for those; but I’m also particularly interested in ch43 and ch38 from a tower 15 miles east, at -108 deg. relative to the main. With my current setup I get no reception on those. It’s a challenging environment for those due to a ridge 1 mile east toward the tower that shadows me, plus I have 50’ tall high voltage transmission lines running north-south along the east edge of my property, maybe 60’ from the house.
So I’m soliciting opinions/options. Here’s my report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d2436e9a35a275.
More details on the current setup: To help pointing, I used a Winegard RFL-332 SensarPro to measure signal strength. I don’t know the units but the Winegard manual suggested a “40” is the threshold for reliable reception. Among the channels coming from the 187-189 direction, I maxed out at about a 55 when pointing at ~180 deg. true; was only about 45 when pointing at 188. Another interesting thing, rather than parallel to the horizon, I needed 5-10 deg. inclination to peak out the signal strength, maybe because those towers are up high on a foothill. (I’m on the Colorado front range.) So that’s how my ANT751 is mounted now, pointing at 180 deg. true and inclined ~5-10 deg.
Before it was mounted, the ANT751 was test-pointed at 80 deg., and the SensarPro showed marginal signal strength on CH43 of about 30, i.e. below Winegard’s recommended threshold. Certainly wasn’t a candidate for permanent pointing because signal strength for the majors was non existant that way.
As for the environment, this is a ranch house with neighboring 2-story houses to the immediate north and south. Tall mature trees throughout the neighborhood to the North, West and South. East is open except for the transmission lines and ridge. Wiring from Antenna is: 40’ RG6 from ANT751 to grounding block to 20’ RG6 to splitter, output#1 to HDHomeRun via 2’ RG6; output#2 to HDTV via: 2’ RG6 to coupler to 13’ RG6 to coupler to 3’ RG6. I didn’t use the SensarPro as an amp as I doubted it would weather well up on the roof, plus getting power to it wasn’t convenient.
So...maybe a 2nd antenna in the attic pointed at 80 deg., something big like a DB7e? I could power the SensarPro in the attic without a problem, and there is a convenient RG6 coax run already there, would just be a matter of a mounting. Not that I enjoy the prospect of assembling and mounting a large antenna in a fiberglass-filled attic, and a DB7e would be pricey for just 2 channels.
Or I’d be willing to consider a 2nd roof mount antenna if it’s on the small side, like a
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4221.html ? It seems to have a reasonable 12-14 dB net gain for these channels at least according to
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html, plus an advantageous null at +93 deg., to hopefully deal with a simple 2-way splitter/combiner, and avoid the need for a JoinTenna or TinLee selective multichannel combiner? But is this “old” unit the same as a currently available CM4221HD?
Or maybe I stay with a single antenna, and replace the ANT751 with something bigger like a DB7e with the panels pointed at different directions? But at least with that unit, then VHF CHs 7 and 9 might be a problem.
Enough of my rambling, I’ll shut up and listen now