Live in the shadow of Kennesaw Mountain, point my antenna up or straight?

[Dan4328]

I have an Antennacraft C490 antenna, 5 foot pole, tripod, and a Radio Shack 36dB amplifier+preamp I that purchased for about 65 dollars.

I am planning on running 25 feet of coax cable from the antenna mounted just below the top of the roof behind the house (Which means it WILL be facing the direction of the towers) into either my window, or the attic to the cable leading to my room, then into my TV.

The main issue is Kennesaw Mountain. At the planned antenna height which will be totaling 32 feet above the ground, the antenna will be exactly 600 feet below and 1.3 miles from the spot interfering my signal. And according to:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/antennas/siting.html
I should point my antenna up a little bit to receive the signals that are coming back down to me after the signal shadow from the mountain.

The last thing is that there are many 60-80 feet trees 200 feet away from the antenna placement (This hasn't caused any issues in summer with the leaves, though) so would pointing the antenna up at however many degrees cause an issue with the trees?

I would like to at least receive all the stations on the radar plot above 14.3 dB minus WATC (different direction) with my antenna, but would prefer any extra stations possible from Atlanta, too (Just for more variety)

Currently, with an RCA Outdoor antenna (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/RCA+-+Ou...&skuId=9736728)

I get WGTV usually, WXIA, WUVM, WPXA always, and on a good day I get WAGA with the RCA antenna 26 feet above ground in my attic.

With all that information provided, when I install this antenna, should I point it up at X degrees or straight towards the mountain?

SIGNAL ANALYSIS:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1dda7911d8948b



Sorry for the long post; I just want to list every detail of my situation since it seems pretty unique. I also just type out a lot of details in general for situations. If I missed some part of information, don't hesitate to ask.

The C490 is Ok.

Aim the C490 at about 120 degree magnetic compass direction.

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

The Tripod and Mast are Ok , however , might need to go higher.

And is best install the antenna as faraway from the trees in the direction of reception as possible.


-------->>What is the model number/s of the amplifiers??<<--------

[GroundUrMast]

Some tilt may help. Usually, you need no more than to point the antenna at the top of the obstructing terrain, rarely more than a few degrees.

[ADTech]

If you have to look up to see the horizon, then the antenna's reception ability will probably benefit from also doing that.

You'd have to have the antenna's vertical reception pattern available to see how much of a difference in gain there might be between boresite and an above boresite angle.

[Dan4328]

-I'll try tilting it up with a smaller UHF antenna that can still receive WAGA and WSB, and will post my results in a few minutes-

The link for the RadioShack amplifier is
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...uctId=3770519#
I know it has 2.5 stars on it, but for me it hasn't had any issues in the few months I've used it.

I also forgot to mention, my original antenna balun broke when I set the antenna up to test it. The kit in the amplifier box provided one fortunately, but is there going to be a slight decrease/increase in reception with a different, lower-quality looking one?

[Dan4328]

With the test, I found out just a slight bit of tilt helped increase the signal of channel 2/Real 39 by 10%, but a decrease in the signal of channel 5/Real 27 by 3%.

I also noticed a similar scenario when I tested the C490 with the radio shack amplifier, the antenna seems that it becomes more directional, or so it seems. On channel 11/Real 10, I saw a 20% increase, and on channel 8/Real 8, I saw a 20% decrease.


So I guess that when I finally install the antenna on the roof and all is set up, I'll do a final test on the roof with tilting and the amplifier.

I noticed there is a beginning of a propagation opening, so I'll test the tilt again once that closes.

Yes it is true , because of the Very Wide band of frequencies , antenna designs are a compromise , and are more or less directional on different channels both in the horizontal and vertical planes.