Antenna Advice
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Please tell us a little more about your planned house. How many TV's are you going to connect? Is it frame construction, single or 2 story, what type of roof asphalt? What is the topography between you and the broadcast towers? FOX will be the hard broadcaster the rest are LOS.
Stick frame, 2 story, asphalt shingle. iowa city is hilly but nothing too high. Just looking for antenna sizing advice on the distance and hoping its high enough to get the fox to be LOS since my house is higher up in the neighborhood and 2 stories.
Thinking of doing the antenna with a short run to a HD Homerun tuner in the attic into ethernet to pump out to the streaming devices in the house.
Thinking of doing the antenna with a short run to a HD Homerun tuner in the attic into ethernet to pump out to the streaming devices in the house.
You have 3 VHF channels 7/9/12 that are going to require a large antenna. FOX at 39 miles 320 degrees will be your best shot. Play with the height on TV fool to see if you can improve on the 1 edge.
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A "long range" Yagi probably won't work (unless you're willing to suffer the considerable fuss of a rotator) as you've got channels spread across over 220 degrees (depending on what you do about a Fox affiliate). The beamwidth gets narrower as the antenna gets larger. The antenna that boba suggested has a beamwidth of 37 degrees on RF 7.
Two edges are nasty business and rarely provide consistent signal, if any.
Two edges are nasty business and rarely provide consistent signal, if any.
CBS/PBS/ABC & NBC are at 343-346 degrees and FOX is 320degrees well within the capability of Winegard HD7694. No it probably won't get all channels but it does get the major networks with FOX being the question mark and it is a 1 edge so it has the best chance of the 2 available FOX broadcasters.
Some (but surely not many) consider CW as being a network of interest. I don't know enough about the stations and who has what subchannels to determine what stations are desirable or necessary. I've seen some people do extraordinary things just to get a weather radar channel.
KWKB doesn't carry CW any more, it's on KWWL 7-2. That makes KWKB far less likely to be desired.
- Trip
If CW is a goal, you betcha.
We don't know what people want (or don't need) if they don't specify.
There's a CW app that has all their shows available totally for FREE. I have it on my Roku, and it's probably available on other platforms.
So, I wouldn't focus on the channel that carries CW. I would focus on the PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC channels. Anything else should be considered gravy.
So, I wouldn't focus on the channel that carries CW. I would focus on the PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC channels. Anything else should be considered gravy.
You think that would work better than something like the cm-4228hd? Trying to pick up the 4 major networks and anything over that is gravy.
As the high VHF gain on that antenna is only 5dB, it may not be sufficient where RF 7 and RF 9 are key networks.
With ATSC 3.0 having been given permission, I think now is not a good time to invest in UHF-heavy solutions. It almost seems likely that once RF 38-51 are off the table (some time after 2020), the whole idea of what an antenna needs to cover is going to change.
CM4228 is a UHF antenna that may pick up some high VHF channels, do you want ABC & NBC? CM 4228 is also more expensive than the Winegard. CM3016 is close to the Winegard and similar in price with shipping. I prefer Winegard but both are good manufacturers
Thanks everyone, that's why I asked here, you guys are very knowledgable. I appreciate the help!!!
Since you have a bit of a challenge, I'd strongly recommend 3 things:
- No matter what, don't use RG/59U cable. It's cheap for a reason...only use RG/6
- Seriously consider a rotator. They aren't that expensive and will really improve your chances of a good signal.
- Consider a mast-mounted preamp. RCA has one you can get for $30 that will really bump your signal...nearly 30 dB worth!
