Antenna Evaluation

[Tomel]

I live about 5-6 miles from all but one of the broadcasting stations in my area and receive near perfect digital reception, except . . .

when it's windy and/or rainy. The problem is (as best I can determine from reading various sources of info on the net) multipath since my house sets amongst a large number of tall trees. Of course, the problem's worse when the leaves are on the trees. I'm currently using the Radio Shack Yagi in my attic pointed toward the statons (which are all within a 53 degree arc). One station (which I cannot receive at all) is in the same arc but 28 miles away.

A local TV antenna business says that they will provide a complete evaluation of my reception using equipment that will measure signal strenghth, detect multipath, etc. and will then provide recommendations to improve my reception and lessen the multipath problems. The charge is $75. Is this worth it?

[kevinw]

where are you? Can you move the antenna out of the attic? What STB are you using?
Whatt do you mean by 53 degree arc. Are all the towers in the same location or spread over a 53 degree arc?

More info and we may be able to save you 75 dollars :)

[Ratman]

Why not try a Channel Master 4228 for $50?

Or of course... mount the yagi outdoors on the roof?

[tigerbangs]

If we had a zip code to pull an antennaweb.org report, I'm sure we could be a lot more help: it would be nice to know whether we were dealing with full-power or low power stations, and in what direction from your house they are...

[Tomel]

Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I had to leave town for awhile unexpectedly. The following are in answer to your questions:

From antennaweb.org

Station Ch Net City St Dir Dist
WRIC-DT 22 ABC PETERSBURG VA 357° 5.5
WTVR-DT 25 CBS RICHMOND VA 357° 5.6
WRLH-DT 26 FOX RICHMOND VA 357° 5.6
WCVE-DT 42 PBS Richmond VA 356° 5.6
WCVW-DT 44 PBS Richmond VA 357° 5.6
WUPV-DT 47 UPN Ashland VA 28° 13.7
WWBT-DT 54 NBC RICHMOND VA 49° 6.5

My STB is the LG LST-3510A.

It's been windy here the last couple of days and the multipath has been bad. I know it's going to get worse when the leaves are back on the trees.

[tigerbangs]

You need to get the antenna out of the attic and onto the roof: you are close enough to the transmitters that you are probably getting strong multipath signals which will cause probelms with your receiver.

[jharv]

Hello...newbie here. Some time ago, DirecTV installed my HD ant. and an off-air ent. (not sure of brand/type). I received the locals fine for a while and then I just stopped receiving them. DirecTV came out several times and the final tech said, off the record, that "the off-air antenna we use sometimes just stops working on the locals." To me, this sounded much more like, "I can't figure it out, we've come out a bunch, and we're pretty much over dealing with it." Relying on this advice (even though I didn't believe it), I went out and bought the Square Shooter (with amp). Having no idea what I was doing, I installed it this weekend, placed it on the DirecTV pole.

I just pointed it generally in the direction of the old off-air ant. (that worked for a bit) and, not surprisingly, still have no reception ("Searching for signal") never goes away. I'm guessing a few things are happening: (i) the problem is not either antenna, but something that is going on between the ant. and the receiver; (ii) I don't have the ant. pointing in the right direction any way (and have no idea where to go to determine how/where it should be pointing) and (iii) I should not touch technical items in the future...ever.

I'm in Richmond, Va. and my antennaweb info. is below (assuming this is the right info):

* red - uhf WTVR-DT 6.1 CBS RICHMOND VA 252° 7.6 25
* red - uhf WCVE-DT 23.1 PBS RICHMOND VA 252° 7.6 42
* red - uhf WCVW-DT 23.1 PBS RICHMOND VA 252° 7.6 44
* red - uhf WUPV-DT 47.1 UPN ASHLAND VA 55° 17.4 47
* red - uhf WRIC-DT 8.1 ABC PETERSBURG VA 252° 7.5 22
* red - uhf WRLH-DT 35.1 FOX RICHMOND VA 252° 7.6 26
* red - uhf WWBT-DT 12.1 NBC RICHMOND VA 208° 4.2 54

I really just care about ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. If you guys could provide any advice, I'd be extremely grateful. Thanks!

[mjones73]

1. You need a compass and a lot of trial and eror to acurately aim the antenna
2. You are 7 miles from your transmitters, the pre-amp is overkill, it is possible to overload your receiver with too much signal strength. Consider getting the SS-1000 instead.

At 7 miles, an indoor Silver Sensor would probably pick up your stations fine.

Also, welcome to the forum, please post questions as new threads instead of tagging it to a 7 month old one, thanks.

[jharv]

Thanks, Matt- my apologies for tacking onto the old thread (I figured that was less intrusive than starting a new one...live and learn!).

Re: the compass- never used one, I take it I just pick one up and attempt to track the degrees in my above post the best I can?

As for the SS ant., I already have the one with the amp (stupidly thought more was better and they don't clue you in, of course, on the website). Would it likely make a huge difference? Given my issue (above), I'm thinking the problem probably lies with either the diplexer or a bad cable, as opposed to the ant. (but, what do I know)?