Reception Help in Upstate NY

[efmrrt]

So I started off with an Antop flat panel antenna about 1.5 yrs ago:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Antop-Fl...413B/300490958

It was positioned on the house by the eves and was approx 14' off the ground. Reception was pretty good, but I wanted more. The channels to the south were coming in very good, and often times I could pick up Utica which is a little more than an hour away.

A couple of months ago I upgraded to a ClearStream Max, raised the antenna to 20+' off the ground (still a few feet short of clearing the ridge line. I set the antenna to approx 140' and it's okay however I'm missing some of the channels that I really want -All Syracuse stations and the stations from the tower that's about 5 miles away. Actually the Antop antenna did a better job of getting more channels (38) vs ClearStream Max at mid to upper 20's. Both are plagued with the same issue.

**The problem that I have is getting the stations that are only a few miles from the house facing the opposite way of the antenna. The antenna is slightly below the ridge line of the house, there is another house and some trees between me and the tower - we sit on a hill so after that house and tree there is nothing else in the way. If I position it to 180' I'll get all of the Syracuse stations, at approx 140ish I'll get the channels from the tower that's about 5 miles away with some pixelations but loose some Syracuse channels. If I turn the antenna a little more to towards the tower the pixelations go away, however I loose another Syracuse station. Some TVs do a better job of getting signals than others.

The questions that I have are:

How can I get all Syracuse channels and the channels from the tower near me.

No pixelated images.

TV Fool:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9038d2e6ebabf8


Equipment:
5 TVs total (At most, 3 in use @ once)
Cable pretty much all new this year with the least amount of runs to any of them. (1 should be replaced as it is >25 yrs old, and the antenna in line can be trimmed to size once I have the finial position).
1 BAMF 6-Way Coax Cable Splitter Bi-Directional MoCA 5-2300MHz


Thanks,
Bud

[JoeAZ]

Welcome Bud,

You have a few options. You don't specify whether you have the
2Max or 4Max from Clearstream. Both are very good antennas.
The 4Max has more gain to pick up weaker signals. One option
would be multiple antennas. One for most Syracuse stations and
the other for Ion and Utica/Rome stations. You would need some
kind of switch to keep them separate and you would need two
cable runs and switches to each television. Another option would
be a rotor. The drawback would be that you could not watch
Syracuse and Ion/Utica/Rome at the same time.

You might just want to move the antenna higher/lower or in alternate
positions and see if that helps. The would be simpler and far less
costly. Sometimes you can hit that "sweet spot" and get all the
channels just right..............

Joe formerly from W.N.Y.

[efmrrt]

Thanks Joe,

I have the ClearStream 4 Max. I have tried @ 6', 14' and 20'. As far as moving it, I believe I have the best location on the property. The driveway runs parallel & up to the house on side to the ION tower so that's out. Another area that would be good, has a pine tree that may be in the way now or will be in the way in years to come.

As for the pine tree, we have been thinking about keeping it pruned in size and height. Doing that would open up the second best area.

I think what I'll do on Sunday is take 2 bolts out that way I can rotate it about 5 to 10 degrees a week and see if there is a sweet spot. The rotor ideal and going higher has been in the back of my mind as well.


Bud

[JoeAZ]

Hi Bud,

A couple of other options:
You could purchase a separate digital tuner and connect it
to a dedicated antenna pointed either South or East. That would
still require another antenna with dedicated cable runs.
Another possibility would be to select a couple of your televisions
to receive signals from the East and the other televisions to
receive signals from the south.

There is no easy or inexpensive answer but at least you do have
the options.....

Joe

[ADTech]

In retrospect, either the C2, C2MAX or the DB2e would gave been better choices for your particular situation with regards to the ill-located ION station. The C4MAX has too narrow or a beamwidth for your particular needs. The other antennas have a much wider beamwidth and might be able to pick up the towers located about 110° apart. At that angle, the UHF gain is nominally unity, give or take just a bit.



FWIW, this is not an uncommon issue with ION stations. The owner of their predecessor network was notoriously frugal when it came to acquiring tower space so he usually went with whatever was cheapest without regard to local antenna users as his focus was achieving "must carry" status on cable and satellite systems.