Out in the woods in Central Mass

[Vint_age]

Hello,

First post, looking for advice on an antenna. Here is the tvfool report on my location.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d243e4a2e1c15d

Looking to get the stations @113* Green and Yellow
Antenna will be mounted in the attic of a 2 story wood framed house with asphalt shingles. We are in the woods, surrounded by tall trees. At the heading that the antenna will be pointed the trees are about 50 feet away.
The antenna coax to the longest run is about 50 feet with 2 splitters.

In the days of analog tv we had an old beat up (bent and broken elements, corrosion, etc) yagi in the attic, which did an acceptable job (some ghosting) at the time for VHF, not so good for UHF. It is possible the antenna was VHF only or the UHF was not working properly. When that antenna was put into service for digital with a Motorola HDT100 tuner, the results were very spotty. Great picture one day, nothing the next. Channels had to be re-scanned often. Family got fed up and we went to cable.

I have room to put an 8 bay bowtie or a yagi up to 120" long or so.

I appreciate any advice that you can offer on antenna selection or associated equipment for receiving the local OTA stations.

Thanks

[stvcmty]

If all you want are the station on 113, then all you need is a UHF antenna. If you want to put it in the attic and nothing anyone says will sway that you will need all the gain you can get and you have room for a 8 bay antenna so that points to an Antennas Direct DB8e or a Channel Master 4228. The 4228 may have a better chance of getting WNAC and WPRI from 159 which are VHF stations; since you have a Fox and CBS in your 113 group on UHF and you did not specify wanting the 159 stations, if a 4228 got them, they would be a bonus.

Attics are not good places to put antennas for reception. If it works great but the results are not predictable and it may take hours of trial and error to find a “sweet spot”.

Try the antenna without an amp. If needed an amplifier tolerant to high signal levels could be added such as the RCA TVPRAMP1R or the Antenna Craft 10G201.

If the antenna will go on the roof, a lower gain antenna could be used, but all the stations you want are on the same heading, so the extra gain of an 8 bay antenna would not hurt. Same as with the attic case, a high signal tolerant preamp could be added if needed.

[GroundUrMast]

My TV Fool report looks a bit like yours, perhaps a bit stronger signal levels, though not by much. I could never get acceptable reception in the attic or at near roof top level. I have a lot of tall Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar in the area. With the antenna at roughly 25' above ground, I'm able to get decently reliable reception unless the wind is moving the trees. When they're wet the problems are worse.

My point is (agreeing with stvcmty) that if you decide to limit yourself to only one antenna mounting option, you may not be able to achieve acceptable results. To succeed, you need to put the antenna where theres clean signal to receive. The signals aren't going to be drawn to the antenna, it has to be in a position that intercepts them. In practice that can mean a fair bit of trial and error, testing reception at potential locations, before committing to drilling any holes.

[Vint_age]

Thanks for your inputs.

The attic location is not necessarily cast in stone. I have limited outdoor locations as well. The porch roof (that I could install myself) would lower the antenna about 10 feet or so from the attic location, but its heading would be right into the thick of the woods about 30 feet away. The second location would be on the peak of the main house roof (would require an installer). It would raise the antenna about 10-15 feet from the attic location. It would also be pointing into the denser part of the woods, again 25-30 feet away. Both outside locations would be closer to the trees but, of course eliminate the losses from the roof etc.

A tower is definitely out of the question. Cost being the first reason and second, even a 75 foot tower would not clear the trees.

I think I will give the 8 bay bowtie a shot and if it does not work, look to have an installer put it up on the main roof in the spring. Are there any worthwhile differences between the CM 4228 and the AD DB8e? The gain specs appear quite a bit different, but is that real or because of the way they are spec'd? How about some of the lower cost units like the Winegard, Antenna Craft or the Stellar Labs?

Thanks again for your inputs.

[GroundUrMast]

The CM4228 will have some modest ability to receive H-VHF (real CH-7 through 13). The DB8E will have a slight edge in UHF gain but is less likely to provide usable performance in the H-VHF band.

[Tower Guy]

I'd be considering a UHF only aimed at Boston plus a VHF only aimed at Providence. Add them with a TVPRAMP-1R. My favorite antennas are the 91xg for UHF and the Y10-7-13 for VHF.

.

[Vint_age]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am going to order the DB8e and work with that in the attic and see if I can get that to work for the Boston stations. The VHF stations in Providence I know I will not be able to receive as I am on the up slope of a hill to the south. I was never able to get those stations with an analog antenna either.

I will report back after I get the DB8e hooked up.

[Vint_age]

Installed the DB8e in the attic today. It is now hooked up to the TV in the bedroom with 20' of RG-6. All the stations in the report at 113* come in with signal strength in excess of 90% on my Panasonic TV.

Project for the weekend is to reverse the cable wiring/splitters to get the signal to the 2 other TVs. Hopefully there will be no need for a preamp.

I am very pleased with this antenna and quite surprised at the signal strength so far. One step closer to cancelling cable.


Thanks for all the help.