Help with antenna in a sketchy area?

[Cordcutter23]

Hi! I'm very new to OTA antenna usage. (Please bear with me!) I'm wondering what set up would be best?

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c6225089be49

Thank you!

At 20 ft: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c6e33bcc144f

At 40 ft: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c6ec94d17bd8

At 60 ft: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c6e347c6caa7

Edit 2: Thanks again for your time and knowledge!

[StephanieS]

Greetings Cordcutter,

Can you rerun your tvfool signal maps with heights of 20, 40 and 60 feet and link them?

We need to see if there is improvement in signal at the greater heights so that gives you a shot at Knoxville (magnetic 106).

Any early front runner in your needs is one of the HBU series by antennacraft, either the HBU44 or HBU55. Winegard makes good antennas too, a Winegard HD7698P might be a good fit as well. These support high vhf (channels 7-13) and UHF (14 and up), which is what you'll need.

http://www.antennacraft.net/Antennas/AntennasHBU.html

http://www.winegard.com/offair/fring...f-antennas.php
Cheers.

[Flint Ridge]

At 102 degrees or so you should be able to pick up all major networks, with an overload resistant amp as my concern is the strong station WBXX.

And seeing some different elevation data might help.

[StephanieS]

Thanks for the updated info Cordcutter.

Well, not much of an improvement. In some cases 10' makes a sizable difference. In this case not so much.

What are your goals? Easy reception will be CW and PBS. Now the very weak signals in CBS, ION and NBC. These are just below what we call the ragged edge of reception. About 7db signal strength and below signals can come and go due to temperment of the atmosphere. This means if you do try for CBS, ION and NBC you may see them come and go sporatically during the day. Solid reliable reception of those signals is very much in the very long shot category.

So this leads back to what you want. Easy would be CW and PBS. Going after CBS, ION and NBC will take you to an Antennas Direct DB8e for UHF and a Antennacraft Y10713 for VHF installed at 40' in the air with a unobstructed path to magnetic 102 with a quality preamp and live with the results.

ABC WATE is likely too weak to decode at all.

Cheers.

[Cordcutter23]

Thanks again! I get CW and PBS very easily with a $5 antenna from Walmart.
I was just wondering if there was anything I could do get consistent signal from other channels. A person can only watch so much Maury and PBS haha

This is the result I was afraid of. 😑

[StephanieS]

My goal wasn't to discourage you, instead give you a possible reality. Some with their TVfool reports find reception outperforms what their maps say. There can be a variety of reasons that this happens. In other cases, what should be slam dunks are difficult and have no reason for the problems in reception. The morale? If you want to find out, put something in the air and give it a go. You may luck out, or if not, buy from a place with a generous return policy.

With a premium set up (DB8e and Y10713) and a quality preamp, you have a chance. It'll require luck, but you have a chance. I receive a 7db red shaded signal at 55 miles. I am on the NE part of the signal's footprint (which happens to be its weakest part of the lobe). I receive the signal but I get occasional drop outs from it, especially on warm to hot summer days. The signals you want 3 db weaker. I'd expect them to behave if this map holds true with intermittent pixellation and drop outs.

What to do? Only you can decide. If you have 5% better performance than the TVfool map indicates. That can push those weak ION, CBS and NBC signals up to 8 or 9 db signal strength. Those are much better values and will yield you greater stability. It may even give you a shot at ABC.

When discussing these maps, it's important to be realistic. I think we've covered likely and a good outcome. Get the DB83 and Y10713 in the air and give it a go!

(If I were you I'd do it just to see, these values are close enough on the very weak signals, one or two breaks and 85-90% reliability isn't out of the ballpark)

Regards.