Antenna Advice

[FRVA]

I am new to the whole OTA. I currently have a db2 (recieved 18 to 22 stations depending on tv pointing around 11 degrees) and it did ok until the weather changed but I only planned on using it temporary while I saved up for a better system. Now the time has come for the upgrade but I am not sure how to go about it.

Here is my TV Fool report; http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...67d9445f2af500

My wife really likes WTTG for the news and I would like to get that station if possible and basically as many as I can especially covering the major networks. The setup is to 4 tvs with about 125 ft of RG6 total. Longest run of RG6 is 35ft. Mounting on roof at a height of 30ft. Any recommendations for antenna/pre amp etc would be greatly appreciated.

[ADTech]

Your line-of-sight back to DC is blocked by Blue Mountain which is about 1100' above your elevation. Unless you can catch a lucky reflection, the stations in DC (in particular) will not be receivable.

Be sure to distinguish between stations and sub-channels as digital TV stations typically carry from one to three (or more) channels.

[Dave Loudin]

Comparing what you receive with what's listed in your TVFool report, what is the weakest station that you receive? Your location may be "overachieving" per the predictions.

As it stands, you have no realistic chance of pulling in any DC channel except under rare enhanced propagation events. Click on WTTG's listing in the table of your report and you'll see how you are shadowed by terrain.

The db2 may already be getting all the stations you could realistically hope for.

[FRVA]

The weakest channel I was getting is 29 (67.1) then would be 40 (54.1).

The Channels were;
21, 46, 49, 44, 12, 26, 28 (snowy), 38, 40, 41 and 29. The sub stations came with them making the total 18 to 22 depending on the tv. The newer the tv the more channels. I thought RG6 length would matter but it was not just the age of the tv. Some stations like 40 and 41 would go out in morning and return at night. Right now once the cold weather set in I only get Channel 21 (42.1) on all the tvs, I set the antenna in Fall around Sept/Oct.

"As it stands, you have no realistic chance of pulling in any DC channel except under rare enhanced propagation events" I guess that means if I am super lucky that a freak occurrence happens then maybe if super lucky, oh well WTTG news is at least streamed via the web. I am having trouble reading the shadow portion. Am I to the right of the map for the station broadcast?

I did get Channel 9 when I first was trying the db2 pointed in different directions but that caused me to lose more channels than the way I had pointed it.
Is there another setup I can do to pull the others back in? Could I get a CBS station into the mix I had?

[Dave Loudin]

Originally Posted by FRVA

The weakest channel I was getting is 29 (67.1) then would be 40 (54.1).

The Channels were;
21, 46, 49, 44, 12, 26, 28 (snowy), 38, 40, 41 and 29.

Aha! Note that those last four are all Baltimore stations! I can understand why you would think you could get the DC channels. I've been in discussions with people near Winchester on other forums who were complaining bitterly that low-power stations in the Shenandoah Valley were wiping out these channels that were pretty reliable.

For some reason, reception of Baltimore stations in your general area reliably exceeds what the propagation models used here and by the FCC show. If anybody has an idea as to why, I'd love to hear it. There's not much (anything?) you can do to restore reception of those channels when they disappear. They will come back, but not till it warms up.

[FRVA]

That is exactly why I thought DC stations were possible. I figured Baltimore is further and has more distance to carry a signal and like I said moving the db2 around I was able to pick up CBS channel 9 but maybe that was a fluke or is a warm weather station too. Ok, I can deal with waiting for warm weather to get them back. They are super clear when they do come in.

How about all the other channels I lost 46, 49, 44, 12, 26? Should I adjust the db2 to 286 degrees now? Or can they come back with maybe a db8 and a pre-amp? Maybe an XG91? Any recommendations you may have I am open.

Thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it.

[Dave Loudin]

This is a tough call, as you want to distribute to multiple TVs. I don't see a good way to reliably get the channels you want with a single antenna and there is no good way to combine the two into a single feed. Your db2 should work for the 286 group. For the stations to the north-northeast you need a high gain hi-VHF/UHF antenna like an AntennaCraft HBU-55 or a Winegard HD-7698P. Since both antennas receive UHF, you can't combine them.

You may need to decide which TVs see which antenna. I know @GroundUrMast has some thoughts using computer-attached tuners.