Setup Help

[GroundUrMast]

Yes, moving in any direction is certain to find different signal conditions. You'll need to experiment to find a sweet spot.

[BobHaskett]

OK, I tried the ANT751R. I was able to get PBS, however, my FOX signal dropped and was very unreliable. What was weird was it gave me PBS, increased my ABC, NBC, and CBS strength a bit, but reduced FOX quite a bit.

Are there any other "compact" style antennas I could try that would give me the UHF reception of the Clearstream 2v but the VHF reception of the ANT751R?

[lbo]

Originally Posted by BobHaskett

OK, I tried the ANT751R. I was able to get PBS, however, my FOX signal dropped and was very unreliable. What was weird was it gave me PBS, increased my ABC, NBC, and CBS strength a bit, but reduced FOX quite a bit.

Are there any other "compact" style antennas I could try that would give me the UHF reception of the Clearstream 2v but the VHF reception of the ANT751R?

I just installed a DB4e from Antennas Direct in the attic at my mom's house, I was trying to pick up stations 40 miles away and in the same general direction. Not thinking I would pull in much, if anything especially in an attic, I managed 38 stations! I used a pre-amp but even without it I had many stations coming in......... the pre-amp helped with signal strength with the stations I was getting.

VHF was a little difficult since the DB4e is a UHF antenna. I simply made a horizontal dipole using two telescoping rabbit ears and picked up Channels 6 and 12.

Check out the DB4e, it was perfectly sized too for my moms cramped attic.

[BobHaskett]

Originally Posted by lbo

I just installed a DB4e from Antennas Direct in the attic at my mom's house, I was trying to pick up stations 40 miles away and in the same general direction. Not thinking I would pull in much, if anything especially in an attic, I managed 38 stations! I used a pre-amp but even without it I had many stations coming in......... the pre-amp helped with signal strength with the stations I was getting.

VHF was a little difficult since the DB4e is a UHF antenna. I simply made a horizontal dipole using two telescoping rabbit ears and picked up Channels 6 and 12.

Check out the DB4e, it was perfectly sized too for my moms cramped attic.

How did you make the VHF dipole?

[lbo]

Originally Posted by BobHaskett

How did you make the VHF dipole?

I took an indoor UHF/VHF antenna, unscrewed the telescoping antenna's and took the rabbit ears off. Then I just weaved each telescoping antenna once through the metal mesh grate on the back of the DB4e and put one on each side joining them at each end (in the center of the DB4e). Then I adjusted the length of the antennas (dipole) until the signal was the best for these two VHF stations.

Now this is indoors in an attic so I don't have to worry about the elements outdoors. I suppossed cable ties would help secure it if outdoors, but for an indoor antenna it is picking up Channel 6 out of Philadelphia 40 miles away. The antenna by itself would grab Channel 6 but very poorly, it would pixalate, freeze, black screen or just "no signal" at times. This gave me a consistent 4-6 bars now, same with Channel 12.

Sounds strange, looks strange, but it worked. I noticed the VHF attachment for the CV2 antenna so I called Antennas Direct if this attachment would fit on the DB4e. They gave me this suggestion over the phone.

Here is a picture;

[No static at all]

Originally Posted by BobHaskett

OK, I tried the ANT751R. I was able to get PBS, however, my FOX signal dropped and was very unreliable.

Were you able to vary the height any with the ANT 751? Did you try bypassing the splitter & connecting directly to 1 TV? Leave the pre amp connected when testing with 1 set.

[BobHaskett]

Originally Posted by No static at all

Were you able to vary the height any with the ANT 751? Did you try bypassing the splitter & connecting directly to 1 TV? Leave the pre amp connected when testing with 1 set.

Yeah I tried every possible height with multiple direction changes. I just could not get a reliable FOX reception. I have now ordered the Winegard 7694p. Hopefully that will help UHF and VHF reception and I can be done with the tinkering...

[BobHaskett]

Ok now I am at a loss. I "upgraded" to the 7694p and went from 23 channels to 9 channels. I have tried different heights, directions, etc. On paper is the 7694 not a much stronger antenna than the C2V?

[No static at all]

The particular spot where all 3 antennas have been mounted is evidently a high multipath area. There is something near that spot that is reflecting signals, therefore the quality of the signal reaching the TV(s) is poor.

Either one of the 3 antennas should work well if placed in a area where signal reflections are not an issue. I have noticed that signal quality is poorer when the antenna is very close to the roof in some instances. The antenna will likely need to be re-located. As you have noticed, the reflections can kill reception of even robust signals.

If this were analog TV, you would be getting the problem stations, but would see severe ghosting in the picture.

[BobHaskett]

Originally Posted by No static at all

The particular spot where all 3 antennas have been mounted is evidently a high multipath area. There is something near that spot that is reflecting signals, therefore the quality of the signal reaching the TV(s) is poor.

Either one of the 3 antennas should work well if placed in a area where signal reflections are not an issue. I have noticed that signal quality is poorer when the antenna is very close to the roof in some instances. The antenna will likely need to be re-located. As you have noticed, the reflections can kill reception of even robust signals.

If this were analog TV, you would be getting the problem stations, but would see severe ghosting in the picture.

First of all, thank each and every one of you for helping me in my ridiculously long thread.

NoStaticAtAll, I have a few updates, and a few questions.

Questions
1. On paper is 7694p the most powerful antenna of the three that I have? Is it more/less prone to multipathing? If it is the best for my particular case, I am going to quit trying the others and focus my time on getting the 7694 to work well for my needs.

2. I am going to try a few other locations on the roof this weekend. Would a picture of the mounted location and additional options help?

3. I removed the splitter and the preamp from the equation. I went back up from 9 channels to 21, but I got spotty Fox reception like I did with the ANT751R. I did not get PBS at all (my reason for trying the 7694). Does this mean my preamp may be bad?