722k OTA antenna height.

[ronton3]

My 622 was just replaced with a 722k and module, the signal strength seems stronger, but I still have reception only from about 7pm till 9 am, and then it is about 70 on the scale. the towers are about 70 miles and I have radio-shacks best antenna at about 20 feet in fairly flat terrain. If I raise the height to 30 feet would I receive a signal the rest of the day. Thanks ron

 

[wkomorow]

My 622 was just replaced with a 722k and module, the signal strength seems stronger, but I still have reception only from about 7pm till 9 am, and then it is about 70 on the scale. the towers are about 70 miles and I have radio-shacks best antenna at about 20 feet in fairly flat terrain. If I raise the height to 30 feet would I receive a signal the rest of the day. Thanks ron

It is possible and the general rule is higher is better. The reality is that the sweet spot could be at a lower height - it could be a couple of feet from your present antenna location on the roof - it could be on a fascia on your house - it is all experimental. Antenna (terrestrial) is both a science and an art. A really good installer will take some time and look at several locations and heights and will discuss with you the pros and cons of each. I also notice that signals that are not line of sight but require skips do much better at night. There is a station outside of Worcester WUNI that I can only get at night and during Noreasters.

 

[sfollenius]

You could try to put the height of the antenna in at antennaweb.org to see if it makes a difference in the size antenna it says you need.

 

[ronton3]

Line of sight

I am thinking that 10 feet higher might give me better line of sight, I tried the locator and whether at 20 feet or 90 feet it says none are predicted, but that I may receive some depending on circumtances.

 

[Bill_KY]

Try a mast mounted amp. I have an outdoor antenna and I get Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio. Without the mast mounted amp the stations from Dayton do not come in.

 

[yosemitesam]

My 622 was just replaced with a 722k and module, the signal strength seems stronger, but I still have reception only from about 7pm till 9 am, and then it is about 70 on the scale. the towers are about 70 miles and I have radio-shacks best antenna at about 20 feet in fairly flat terrain. If I raise the height to 30 feet would I receive a signal the rest of the day. Thanks ron

: Been installing antennas pre-amps for 41 years ! Do not use Radioshack anything - period. One of the major brands way out performs that stuff. Their elements make good stakes for rose bushes though. I assume you are using a pre-amp ? quality coax ! One customer wired a large home with Tandy premium coax - took us an hour to figure out that stuff was bad also. --- good luck.

 

[bobvick]

Last year I had my old tower antenna upgraded. The antenna on it was about 28 years old and the rotator no longer worked. I had a Channel Master VHF and UHF antenna installed, I forgot to get the model numbers from the guy that came and put it in. I would have did it myself, but I did not want to climb 65 feet. Anway, it works great, I get all of the TV stations from Birmingham about 75 miles away in the hilly terrain of Northwest Alabama. I also get all of the locals from Columbus/Tupelo, Miss about 80 miles or so away. Based on my experience I would recommend Channel Master products, but I have never used anything else, so I can't really compare. I do know that with the old antenna that was up there, I could only get about 3 stations from Birmingham and 1 from Columbus though.

 

[Cold Irons]

As others have said:
- good coax, the less splitting/barrel connections the better
- a mast-mounted amp is a must - I use a Channel Master
- a good antenna; make sure its UHF or VHF or both depending on the stations
- usually, higher is better, but it really requires some experimenting; 25 feet is good for me

70 miles is gonna be tough; I'm at 45-50 & figure I'm on the edge of reception in my area.

 

[navychop]

Anything over 60 miles starts getting iffy. Best of luck to you, and please let us know.

 

[jgurley]

If you're interested in getting complete info try TV Fool for antenna needs.

TV Fool

I've found this site is by far the best I've seen, although wkomorow's post about placement being art and science is definitely true. I can move my antenna one foot in ether direction and loose all my OTAs. It took a lot of experimentation to find my sweet spot but worth the time and effort.

 

[allargon]

: Been installing antennas pre-amps for 41 years ! Do not use Radioshack anything - period. One of the major brands way out performs that stuff. Their elements make good stakes for rose bushes though. I assume you are using a pre-amp ? quality coax ! One customer wired a large home with Tandy premium coax - took us an hour to figure out that stuff was bad also. --- good luck.

The two best indoor antennas out there are Radio Shack antennas.

 

[ralfyguy]

I am in the same boat with being 75 miles from the towers. I use a Antennas Direct 91XG with a Channelmaster CM7777 on the UHF side, and a Winegard YA-1713 on the VHF side of the same amp. Both antennas on the same mast, with the Winegard about 1 foot below the 91XG. This is the best UHF antenna I tried. The CM7777 pre-amp is the best out there in the terms of gain and noise figure. I have reception arond the clock, even though the antennas barely peak above the roof top. Of course an amp can only amplify a signal that is actually there, it is more the loss in the cable runs that matters. An antenna at that distance will not be enough without an amplifier. You should start with getting a good amplifier and careful aiming.

 

[yosemitesam]

These guys have the right info. on brands. A knife edge signal - that peaks one hour at 22.4928 feet LOL changes as barometric pressure changes and it is always changing . so you would have to move the antenna height consistently to adjust for that [sweet spot], never found anybody that had the time to do that. So put it as high as practical and there you are. We put many hundreds in 100 to 150 ' pine trees for years.
Wow had not looked at good antennas in a couple of years ,those co's don't make but a couple any more. Winegard 9095 very good UHF I guess 5030 is the best VHF left in their inventory.
Channel Master 3671 U/V.
We look at 100 average miles to transmitter distance
Hey then you can put a 200' tower up that should do it, No I won't do that anymore. hope some of this helps in your decision making.

 

[chicagonettech]

My 622 was just replaced with a 722k and module, the signal strength seems stronger, but I still have reception only from about 7pm till 9 am, and then it is about 70 on the scale. the towers are about 70 miles and I have radio-shacks best antenna at about 20 feet in fairly flat terrain. If I raise the height to 30 feet would I receive a signal the rest of the day. Thanks ron

The signal strength of a received channel responds to the inverse square law. That is, for every four times you increase the height of the antenna, you potentially double the strength of the signal received.

I state potentially, because there are a number of other factors involved:

• The quality of the coaxial cable - I always use RG 6;
• The quality of the connector - the stuff sold off-the-shelf at many stores is not the best quality;
• How well the cable is prepared for the connector;
• How well the connector is terminated on the cable;
• The quality of the splitter - if used, in the feed to your sets;
• The quality of any antenna amplifier used - remember, you CAN have too high a signal strength which will overpower your receiver's tuner.

We are in Chicago, and have an RCA outdoor antenna mounted on our old Dish 500 mast. [I self-added a Dish 1000+ when we upgraded to HD]

The RCA antenna, which looks like a radar antenna, is highly directional. It give us access to more than 20 different digital Chicago area channels, by way of an amplified eight-way splitter provides enough output to power all three 722K tuners and also gives us additional feeds for the future. NOTE: The extra feeds are CAPPED with TERMINATING RESISTORS to keep the splitter signal quality at the highest possible level.

We are in the process of finalizing the purchase of a house on the Illinois Wisconsin border and will be adding a 50' tower with dual high-gain Yagi-style antennas once we close and move. There will be two on the tower because we will have both Chicago and Milwaukee stations, along with the Dish Network feeds.

This will require a bit more planning with amplified signals from both antennas being sent to a mixer to combine the antenna signals and then, once inside the house, to a distribution system to maintain proper levels.

In the case of the new house, it is a lot bigger and one of the cables will travel to an out-building, a 30 X 50 poll barn where I will have a workshop and my partner will have a studio, so we will have two sets there. I will probably experiment with RG 11 for the Dish signal for that as the only location which can see the satellites will be more than 300 feet from the location - as the cable runs.

There are many different antenna resources on the Internet.

For a good explanation of digital antennas and digital TV, see: DTV Answers : Choosing An Antenna

For a good resource for high-gain antenna suggestions, and resources, see: AntennaWeb

 

[boba]

My 622 was just replaced with a 722k and module, the signal strength seems stronger, but I still have reception only from about 7pm till 9 am, and then it is about 70 on the scale. the towers are about 70 miles and I have radio-shacks best antenna at about 20 feet in fairly flat terrain. If I raise the height to 30 feet would I receive a signal the rest of the day. Thanks ron

Where are you located at least give your Zip Code. Do you know what model Radio Shack antenna you are using and how old is it? What band are your broadcasters using UHF or VHF most have changed to UHF and 70 miles can be a challenge? Satellite Guys has an OTA forum you may get better response there.

 

[cditty]

The signal strength of a received channel responds to the inverse square law. That is, for every four times you increase the height of the antenna, you potentially double the strength of the signal received.

I state potentially, because there are a number of other factors involved:

• The quality of the coaxial cable - I always use RG 59U;
• The quality of the connector - the stuff sold off-the-shelf at many stores is not the best quality;
• How well the cable is prepared for the connector;
• How well the connector is terminated on the cable;
• The quality of the splitter - if used, in the feed to your sets;
• The quality of any antenna amplifier used - remember, you CAN have too high a signal strength which will overpower your receiver's tuner.

We are in Chicago, and have an RCA outdoor antenna mounted on our old Dish 500 mast. [I self-added a Dish 1000+ when we upgraded to HD]

The RCA antenna, which looks like a radar antenna, is highly directional. It give us access to more than 20 different digital Chicago area channels, by way of an amplified eight-way splitter provides enough output to power all three 722K tuners and also gives us additional feeds for the future. NOTE: The extra feeds are CAPPED with TERMINATING RESISTORS to keep the splitter signal quality at the highest possible level.

We are in the process of finalizing the purchase of a house on the Illinois Wisconsin border and will be adding a 50' tower with dual high-gain Yagi-style antennas once we close and move. There will be two on the tower because we will have both Chicago and Milwaukee stations, along with the Dish Network feeds.

This will require a bit more planning with amplified signals from both antennas being sent to a mixer to combine the antenna signals and then, once inside the house, to a distribution system to maintain proper levels.

In the case of the new house, it is a lot bigger and one of the cables will travel to an out-building, a 30 X 50 poll barn where I will have a workshop and my partner will have a studio, so we will have two sets there. I will probably experiment with RG 11 for the Dish signal for that as the only location which can see the satellites will be more than 300 feet from the location - as the cable runs.

There are many different antenna resources on the Internet.

For a good explanation of digital antennas and digital TV, see: DTV Answers : Choosing An Antenna

For a good resource for high-gain antenna suggestions, and resources, see: AntennaWeb

That is a great post. I hope you will come back and update us when you get your new system setup and working. I'd love to read about the specifics of that (and any challenges you had).

 

[ralfyguy]

On the other hand, putting people in a DMA that is 75 miles from the towers is ridiculous without a repeater. This should be against the law.

 

[yosemitesam]

The signal strength of a received channel responds to the inverse square law. That is, for every four times you increase the height of the antenna, you potentially double the strength of the signal received.

I state potentially, because there are a number of other factors involved:

• The quality of the coaxial cable - I always use RG 59U;
• The quality of the connector - the stuff sold off-the-shelf at many stores is not the best quality;
• How well the cable is prepared for the connector;
• How well the connector is terminated on the cable;
• The quality of the splitter - if used, in the feed to your sets;
• The quality of any antenna amplifier used - remember, you CAN have too high a signal strength which will overpower your receiver's tuner.

We are in Chicago, and have an RCA outdoor antenna mounted on our old Dish 500 mast. [I self-added a Dish 1000+ when we upgraded to HD]

The RCA antenna, which looks like a radar antenna, is highly directional. It give us access to more than 20 different digital Chicago area channels, by way of an amplified eight-way splitter provides enough output to power all three 722K tuners and also gives us additional feeds for the future. NOTE: The extra feeds are CAPPED with TERMINATING RESISTORS to keep the splitter signal quality at the highest possible level.

We are in the process of finalizing the purchase of a house on the Illinois Wisconsin border and will be adding a 50' tower with dual high-gain Yagi-style antennas once we close and move. There will be two on the tower because we will have both Chicago and Milwaukee stations, along with the Dish Network feeds.

This will require a bit more planning with amplified signals from both antennas being sent to a mixer to combine the antenna signals and then, once inside the house, to a distribution system to maintain proper levels.

In the case of the new house, it is a lot bigger and one of the cables will travel to an out-building, a 30 X 50 poll barn where I will have a workshop and my partner will have a studio, so we will have two sets there. I will probably experiment with RG 11 for the Dish signal for that as the only location which can see the satellites will be more than 300 feet from the location - as the cable runs.

There are many different antenna resources on the Internet.

For a good explanation of digital antennas and digital TV, see: DTV Answers : Choosing An Antenna

For a good resource for high-gain antenna suggestions, and resources, see: AntennaWeb

Depending upon the polarization of the transmitted signal, you can get high enough in the progmentation field to start lossing signel strength ! Yea I know that's not common but possible !
I am sure you meant RG56 not 59 nobody uses that any more. We must remember that the RG56 of today really does not qualify as as the original mill.spec. RG56, it was about 1/2" in diameter. fittings and connectors are not so important at terrestrial transmitted frequency's ! be careful putting 2 antennas signals together [mixed] without filters it won't be pretty . we run 300' with good Rg56 works fine - Dish & most Direct. Terminators are to keep signals from reflecting back into the feed source -thus terminating !

 

[chicagonettech]

I am sure you meant RG56 not 59 nobody uses that any more.

Thanks for correcting my error.

Yes, we always run RG 56. In fact, in cleaning out the basement recently, I found a short spool of 59 and gave it to a scrap collector.

The two antennas will be interesting::

Chicago will provide 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 20, etc, etc.
Milwaukee will provide 4, 6, 10, and lots of other close channels.

Being digital, however, I will need to look at the actual frequency assignments for all of the stations as they are not necessarily "next to each other" any more.

You catch, and correction, on the fact that I should have stated 56 is much appreciated!

 

[cditty]

I disagree with the radio shack post. They have a $90 directional antenna that works great. It is in my attic and gets my stations without even powering the preamp (which I don't do for the heat and I don't need it).

My parents live in the middle of nowhere and I bought that same antenna and mounted it outside at about 35 feet, replacing an element/boom antenna. It brings dramatically better signal in. Some of them suck, but that directional dome model is a great antenna.