that lists for under $100 and is on sale for 50% off that will solve all my problems.
Plus, I can't afford, wouldn't want, would probably not be allowed to put up, the 400 foot tower that would get me LOS reception.
So, real world time. We're in the fringe due to good size hills and lots of trees, even though we are only 26 miles from Central Park in NYC. (We are located in NJ, northwest of the city.) The Radar map (attached, 30 foot antenna ht) has us at 2 Edge reception for all channels, mostly courtesy of a 1000' peak about half a mile from the house. The good news is there is a saddle almost in line with the transmitters, and which is about 100 feet higher than our house.
Virtually everything I want to receive is in the same direction, about 145-160 degrees true. Thus I am looking at some directional antennas. I want VHF Hi and UHF. I am looking to get the major broadcast channels, plus a PBS, ION and MyNine (lowest NM = 7.9 dB with a 30 foot antenna).
The house is a two story with a peak height of about 22 feet. I plan on putting the antenna mast at the back left corner, which would then face at an angle over the front center of the house. 25 feet would be a minimum height. Running through different antenna heights yields a theoretical 1 dB gain for every 5 feet of height above 25 feet for low channel numbers, and about 1/2 db gain for higher channel numbers. I am assuming that there isn't much value in going above 30-35 feet antenna height. Trees in the yard are probably a bigger issue. Although, I am tempted by a Lowes top fence rail product which is a 21 foot long swaged 16 ga pipe. I could easily anchor two of those off the gable end of the house on a small concrete pad for about 40 feet of height. Might not be too pretty, though.
One issue is that the PBS channel is at 198 degrees true, so I wonder if a separate VHF and UHF setup would be better as I could align them separately.
I liked the Winegard HD-7084P combined antenna with gains of 7.2, 12 and 14.6 for VHF lo, hi and UHF, and 11 feet in length. However, it is no longer available.
The Channel Master Masterpiece CM-5020 lists "15-20 dB gain" (must be dBi) is only 109 inches long and might be suitable for a combined antenna. I haven't been able to get more detailed information on this and so I am not confident of its performance.
The Yagi HD 8200U has similar performance to the discontinued HD-7084P but it is 14 feet by 9 feet in size which is a negative.
For a two antenna set up, the Clearstream C5 lists a VHF Hi gain of 7.6 dB, and the Yagi 91XG for UHF lists 16.7 dB gain. Both are highly directional. I understand that I would want to separate these by at least 4 feet on the mast to avoid interference.
I am planning on a Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT HDTV Preamplifier, and a 4 Port DTV Distribution Amplifier (CDA4) to distribute the signal to three tv's.
So, the big questions: What are the recommendations for specific antennas? How far down the table of channels should I reasonably expect to receive a watchable signal? What am I missing in my set up?
Thank you for your time!
Parke
