outdoor antenna help

[. Raine]

That's a tough TV Fool report to comment on. It's not really good, but not totally horrible either. No LOS [line of sight] stations, all one, two edge and Tropo.

One edge means single edge diffraction, the signal is bouncing off of one thing before it gets to you, two edge is double edge diffraction, the signal has to bounce off of two things to get to you and tropo is tropospheric scattering, the tropo stations you probably won't get at all no matter what antenna you use, nor the 2 edge stations in gray except for the rare occasion when tropospheric ducting is occurring in the atmosphere. Probably 10,8,17,48 and maybe 32 were the stations you were getting to the south before?

I wouldn't think the Antennas Direct Clearstream 2V would be a good choice looking at that report. The range for it is 50+ mi, but that figure would be based on LOS stations, not one and two edge. The gain on it is 10 dbi so actually it's about 8 db, it has a wide beam, but the only place that would really help would be with the stations to the north and it might not be able to get them, the closest north station, 34, is 1 edge and 44.6 mi away. It probably would pick up some channels, but I'd think a long range/high gain antenna with a good pre-amp would be a better choice. With a good long range antenna, a good pre-amp and a rotor you may pick up quite a few channels to the south and to the north, but it's hard to say with that report.

What channels are you really interested in getting? Do you know what model your old CM antenna was?

Let's see what other members think and maybe we'll get lucky and someone will be familiar with that particular area!

 

[. Raine]

Boy, this is one of those cases where the exact address does indeed matter, here's with just your zip at 10', quite a difference!

 

[boba]

I almost wish you hadn't posted your TV fool, it is rough. You think the top of the roof where the sat. "J" pole is mounted 30', so here is my guess. Antennacraft HBU33 or a Winegard HD7697P pointed for 192*. CH 10/8/48/17/32/47/28 & 39 are the ones that might come in. 39 & 47 have cochannel interference from other stations on the same frequency most of those are 2edge for the interfering broadcaster so there is a chance. Anything from the NORTH be happy if it shows up but the southern stations at 1 edge are your best chance. I would try without a preamp first

You're not fringe reception because of distance but because of topography.

 

[DinoDaddy]

I figured this was going to be a tough one for you guys. Thank you A Raine and Boba for your advice.

I don't know what model the old CM was. And you're right about the exact address making a difference. I did a TVFool report like you did just based on the zipcode and I could not believe the difference. Before the antenna broke, I was getting channels 8, 10, 34, 27, 23, and 11, and had some success with 22, 50 and 47. With the rabbit ears, I'm getting 23, 10, 17, 8, 32, and having some success with 48, 22 and 34. Go figure. I ran another TVFool report and estimated the antenna height to be 20 feet, and it showed 8, 10, 17 and 48 as LOS, everything else one or two edge. At 30 feet it adds 39 as LOS.

I'd like to be able to get all the networks with at least one from the Charlotte market, because it has better news and weather for this area. I figured I'd be better off with a long-range/high gain antenna like the Winegard over the Clearstream. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Would it be too difficult to put something like the Winegard or HBU33 on the satellte J-mount or would I be better off putting it on mast that extended about 2-3 feet above the top of the roofline? It would be expensive to do that, all I've seen are the 5 foot long masts with the swedge ends, so I'd need at least 7 of them, unless there is a better option I'm not aware of. If I go that route, I'll try it without the preamp first.

I've got a lot to think about. With the topography and all the trees around the house, there's no guarantee what will work, but alas, that's life.

Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how it goes once I figure out what I'm going to do.

 

[boba]

I figured this was going to be a tough one for you guys. Thank you A Raine and Boba for your advice.

I don't know what model the old CM was. And you're right about the exact address making a difference. I did a TVFool report like you did just based on the zipcode and I could not believe the difference. Before the antenna broke, I was getting channels 8, 10, 34, 27, 23, and 11, and had some success with 22, 50 and 47. With the rabbit ears, I'm getting 23, 10, 17, 8, 32, and having some success with 48, 22 and 34. Go figure. I ran another TVFool report and estimated the antenna height to be 20 feet, and it showed 8, 10, 17 and 48 as LOS, everything else one or two edge. At 30 feet it adds 39 as LOS.

I'd like to be able to get all the networks with at least one from the Charlotte market, because it has better news and weather for this area. I figured I'd be better off with a long-range/high gain antenna like the Winegard over the Clearstream. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Would it be too difficult to put something like the Winegard or HBU33 on the satellte J-mount or would I be better off putting it on mast that extended about 2-3 feet above the top of the roofline? It would be expensive to do that, all I've seen are the 5 foot long masts with the swedge ends, so I'd need at least 7 of them, unless there is a better option I'm not aware of. If I go that route, I'll try it without the preamp first.

I've got a lot to think about. With the topography and all the trees around the house, there's no guarantee what will work, but alas, that's life.

Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how it goes once I figure out what I'm going to do.

Home Depot & Lowes have 1 1/4 x 10'6" fence top rails for about $10. There are a variety of mounts depending on your houses construction try a google search.

 

[. Raine]

Depending on the way your house is built, you might be able to use a gable mount, like this:

Amazon product ASIN B001DFTGUQ
That's the one I use, it's been on my house for a few years now with no problems but I do have the antenna on a very short mast, it's only a few feet above the peak of my roof. I have the gable mount with a few feet of mast to a rotor and then a Winegard HD8200U a few feet above the rotor.

Before the gable mount I had a mast running up alongside of the house and anchored onto my porch roof but the wind took it down twice, the gable mount has been good.

 

[DinoDaddy]

Thanks guys for your help. I never thought about the fence rails or the gable mount, both are very good ideas. I'm still unsure what I'm going to do. I've done some research (on the Dish Forum) about a possible return. It has been nice not having that monthly bill, but frustrating not having a lot to watch. Maybe I need to get a chainsaw and start cutting down every tree in sight

 

[boba]

Thanks guys for your help. I never thought about the fence rails or the gable mount, both are very good ideas. I'm still unsure what I'm going to do. I've done some research (on the Dish Forum) about a possible return. It has been nice not having that monthly bill, but frustrating not having a lot to watch. Maybe I need to get a chainsaw and start cutting down every tree in sight

SC probably doesn't have a great need for firewood so go easy with the chainsaw.

 

[DinoDaddy]

UPDATE.......

I decided to try the Antennas Direct Clearstream 2V. Saw one at BestBuy and figured I'd try it, if it didn't work well I could return it. They also has the 4V, which has a 65+ mile range, as opposed to 50+ on the 2V, as well as a little higher gain and beam width, but I couldn't see that being worth the extra $70 it cost.

I installed it on the existing sat j-pole, but the pole sits about 2 back from the roof peak, and as a result, I wasn't getting a clear line of sight over the peak of the roof. Also, the straight top part of the j-pole wasn't long enough, causing the bottom of the antenna (the wire portion) to hit the curve of the pole, putting some slight pressure on it. To solve this, I got a 3 foot piece of 1" PVC pipe and stuck it inside the j-pole. It was in there fairly tight, but I put a 1-1/4 inch flexible coupling over the j-pole, inserted the PVC pipe and tightened it all down. Obviously it doesn't grip the PVC as well as I'd like due to the size difference, but it's pretty tight, although I can turn the pipe with a good amount of pressure. The true test will be how it holds in heavy winds. I also realized that I was off with the 30' height estimate, it's actually about 25'.

I tried every direction I could, starting south and going from there. I'd turn it about an inch each time and rescan for channels. The best reception (in terms of the # of channels) came from the east and south, ending up SSE. I am getting the 4 nets plus PBS. I can't get the two CW stations, which is no big deal. I'm getting a couple of channels I wasn't able to pick up before, but lost a couple too.

Overall I'm pretty pleased. I might could've gotten better results with the 4V or a larger element-style antenna, I don't know. I'll have to wait and see how the setup holds under heavy winds, I may have to figure a better way to secure the PVC to keep it from moving (I'm open to any suggestions you may have to best do this, and it probably would be better to use metal than PVC). I'm curious to see what kind of reception I get in the fall/winter once all the leaves fall off the trees.

Just wanted to give you guys an update. Thanks again for all your help and advice.