Antenna placement in attic

[Hall]

Okay, I went to Radio Shack today and got their U75R (http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...057.2032187.2032189.2032205&parentPage=family) UHF antenna to replace my Terk HDTVi. I have one station, the ABC affiliate, that's running at only 138kW vs the other stations in town who are at 425kW, 1000kW, etc, etc. I can get 90+ for the others but the ABC station fluctuates on me....

My roof is a "hip" type with a gable at the front. I'm shooting through the framing that joins the front hip to the side so as to avoid the aluminum siding. I do have to be careful to avoid some metal flashing that's at the location where the gable roof intersects the front.

Anyway, I have a fair amount of room to try but have a question regarding how far from the "structure" the antenna should be placed. It's real difficult to experiment for a couple of reasons: 1) It's 120+ degrees in the attic, 2) I have to use a ladder to get into the attic, and 3) the TV/receiver is 2 stories down. My wife just wants everything "to work" but won't help (or I won't ask her). My oldest child is only 7 and he'll start to help but then he often, uhhh, gets distracted...

Any tips or advice ??

 

[charper1]

Place it on the roof, the eave, or a chimney mount outside correctly aimed at the proper heading.

 

[Hall]

Outdoor mounting is not an option at the moment.

 

[ScottChez]

For my atic, I put mine ant at the highest point to avoid that Aluminum insulation sheet that is between the out side plywood and the wood sidding..


There is a very thin coating aluminum. All new houses in the midwest here seem to have it.

 

[Hall]

wanna take a look at the abc affilliate.

How's this ??

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=73155

I've been looking for information regarding them applying to increase power or something. I read a really old post in my local forum at AVS that mentioned "Sinclair" and reducing power to save electrical costs.

Two of my local stations, WDTN and WHIO, run at 1000kW. They're also the farthest apart, located at 254' and 264' respectively, from me. I typically get 92+ from them. Ironically, WKEF, the weak one, is at 258', so I'm pretty much aimed right at them since they're almost in the middle. My local FOX, WRGT, is also at 258', and I normally get 100 on the signal meter for it. It's running at 425kW also though.

 

[Hall]

For my atic, I put mine ant at the highest point to avoid that Aluminum insulation sheet that is between the out side plywood and the wood sidding..

I will try raising my antenna up higher, though there isn't that much room. Of course, I can move back towards the middle and gain height in the process.

My house was built in 1913, so it ain't new. It's been re-shingled in the past ten years though, but nothing special, that I know of, was put on the roof.

 

[Hall]

For my atic, I put mine ant at the highest point....

Better already ! I've raised it up only a foot or so and things are looking good. I haven't even "aimed" it at this point though I have a pretty good idea of which way to point it. In fact, my Terk HDTVi is still sitting in position and I can eyeball off of it.

 

[Hall]

Okay, I'm done for now ..... it's damn hot in that attic !!

I don't think I can do any better than this:

Station   Orientation   Signal strength
WDTN-DT     254'          96
WPTD-DT     255'          100
WBDT-DT     258'          92
WKEF-DT     258'          99
WRGT-DT     258'          100
WHIO-DT     264'          99

 

[charper1]

Looks good, now enjoy that cool den, with the HD and a frosty beverage of choice!

 

[code4code5]

I was doing some tinkering with my system the other day and made an interesting discovery. I have my OTA antenna in the attic diplexed into the feed from my D* ODU. Another diplexer separates the feeds before they reach the back of my H20. My OTA reception isn't bad for some channels, but some others are miserable. When I disconnect the satellite cable from the H20, my OTA reception increases exponentially and I can easily get everything out there.

Is there anything short of removing the diplexers that I can do to fix this? I would really like to aviod having to run a cable through the wall as I've never done that before.

 

[charper1]

I thought someone in the DirecTV threads posted that combining while using the H20 was not advised. You may want to search around over there.

 

[GB33]

Yeah, I read diplexing with the AT9 satellite was not gonna work. Is this your problem?