Here's my current setup:
Vertically stacked Antennas Direct 91XG above Winegard YA-1713 on 18 foot mast.
Joined with UVSJ routed to Winegard AP-8275 preamp.
50 feet of RG-6 coax with grounding block inserted.
Panasonic TC-L32C22 television.
The YA-1713 antenna is oriented to 219 degees for the two VHF stations I like to get, while the 91XG antenna is oriented to 263 degrees for UHF stations. I've played around with the bearings, and these seem to be about right.
The TV Fool report is
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1ddaf003fde57f.
With the YA-1713 oriented to 219 degrees, I get a good strong signal on real channels 8 (KSBW) and 13 (KCBA). So for VHF, I'm quite satisfied.
I'd like to get a little better coverage on UHF. Mostly I would like to get PBS. CBS would be nice too. With the 91XG oriented to 263 degrees, I pick up real channels 31 (KSMS) 15 (KBSV), 14 (KTNC), 29 (KPIX,CBS), 19 (KOFY), 30 (KQED,PBS), and 45 (KBCW). However, reception varies greatly. Sometimes all of these channels come in well, but probably more than half the time I get about 20% signal strength indicated in the on-screen signal meter. I seem to need about 50% for reliable viewing. I haven't had the 91XG long enough to tell for sure, but I think it might be related to atmospheric conditions.
So where do I go from here? I'm thinking of the following possibilities:
1) Play around with antenna spacing. Right now the 91XG is 37 inches above the YA-1713.
2) Adjust the tilt of the 91XG. Right now it's just a little up from horizontal
3) Use a higher mast. I didn't specify a height for the TF Fool signal analysis. Eighteen feet sounds short, but I'm at the top of a small local hill.
The mast is inserted into a steel pipe driven into the ground and attached to the fascia board of the roof in a manner that leaves the mast free to be rotated by hand standing on the ground. Much higher and I might have to use guy wires, but my wife doesn't really like the idea of guy wires.
If I move the preamplifier up, I will need a longer run of cable. Am I correct in thinking that the insertion loss from another F-connector to add a few more feet is nothing to be concerned about, or should I buy a single longer length?
4) Rotate the YA-1713 to pick up PBS on channel 9. Note however, this requires me to rescan for available channels every time I rotate the antenna, since my TV wipes out previously found channels every time it does a scan, and there's no way to manually enter digital channels. If I replaced the TV with one that doesn't lose previously found channels when it does a scan, does anyone know what this feature is called so that I could look for it?
5) Add a second VHF antenna oriented to pick up PBS on channel 9. How would I join the inputs from two VHF antennas?
6) Better tuner? We just bought this TV and I don't like to spend much on this kind of thing, but is this a possibility and what would I look for?
Any other possibilities that I might consider? What would you try?
I hope that I was clear. If not, please ask, and thanks in advance for any advice.