More Antenna Help

[farjo08]

OK, I asked a few questions a few weeks ago looking for some antenna suggestions. First, here is my info from antennaweb.org:

* yellow - uhf KDEN-DT 29.1 IND LONGMONT CO 13° 14.1 29
* yellow - uhf KDVR-DT 31.1 FOX DENVER CO 214° 17.4 32
* yellow - uhf KWGN-DT 2.1 WB DENVER CO 215° 17.2 34
* yellow - uhf KTVD-DT 19 UPN DENVER CO Currently Not Available 214° 17.3 19
* yellow - uhf KPXC-DT 43 PAX DENVER CO Currently Not Available 204° 19.8 43
* yellow - uhf KCEC-DT 51.1 UNI DENVER CO Testing 215° 17.2 51
* lt green - uhf KTFD-DT 15.1 TFA BOULDER CO 204° 19.9 15
* lt green - uhf KWHD-DT 53.1 IND CASTLE ROCK CO 140° 37.9 46
* lt green - uhf KBDI-DT 38.1 PBS BROOMFIELD CO 229° 30.4 38
* red - uhf KRMT-DT 40 DAY DENVER CO Awaiting FCC Permit 196° 23.9 40
* blue - uhf KUSA-DT 9.1 NBC DENVER CO 165° 11.5 16
* blue - uhf KRMA-DT 6.1 PBS DENVER CO 165° 11.5 18
* blue - uhf KCNC-DT 4.1 CBS DENVER CO 165° 11.5 35

I also checked around on the AVS forums as they have a thread specific to my location. Upon feedback from them I decided to try a $25 Yagi from Radio Shack installed in the attic.

With that, i get KDVR, KDBI and KWGN (214 / 215) without any problems. I tried pointing the antenna towards 165 but I don't get any signal on those, however when pointed in that direction I am still able to pick up KDVr, KDBI and KWGN. I did, earlier today, start to get a slight signal on 16 and 18 about 13 - 16 although on some occasions it hit 100 but only lasted a second or two. So I decided to play around with the antenna again but it didn't do any good.

So the questions:

1) Would a better antenna like a 4221/4228 or DB4/DB8 help with this situation? Actually I think the 4228 won't be an option as from what I know it does not disassemble and I can not get it through the opening in the attic. Since I was able to pickup a slight signal and got some peaks of 100 it looks like the 165 signals are not completely blocked by the attic - so some hope there.

2) Would adding an amp/pre-amp help with either the current antenna I have or in combination with one of the others? I know that an amp can sometimes cause to much line noise that it makes the signal worse so I probably want to avoid this if possible - but curious if this might help.

It looks like I won't need a rotor since with the current antenna I have, I get the 214 / 215 channels when pointed at 165 so it's just a question of if a better antenna like the ones mentioned above would help.

Also any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[farjo08]

I really need some assistance with this. Some more information on my current situation:

Someone loaned me a 4221 and a DB8 along with a Winegard pre-amp. It seems no combination will work in my attic.

Currently I can't get onto my roof (my ladder is quite tall enough to get up there) but what I did was ran a coax outside and moved along the side of my house (that faces the 165 towers) to see what I could get.

I can get a slight signal holding the 4221 but nothing too strong. With the pre-amp I was able to lock into KUSA with a signal strengh around 60 by placing the 4221 on top of a ladder resting on the side of the house (so it was only about 5+ feet up). I only got about a 20 signal on KCNC (both the KUSA and KCNC antennas are on the same building).

I need to go higher but I am trying to figure out the best way to do this. Since I need to mount on the roof, or perhaps a wall / eve I am trying to figure out what my options are and what exactly is involved with each type of mount.

I have about a 2 foot overhang over my master bedroom at the back of my house (faces south - the towers are facing west). When climbing the ladder and placing the antenna in that area I seemed to get a pretty good signal - but since I didn't have anything to keep the antenna in place I couldn't really check the signals to see if I was able to get both KUSA and KCNC in that location.

So I think my options are as follows:

1) Wall mount - on back of house by use a mast that raises above the roof line.

2) Tripod mount - on apex of roof

3) Eve mount - on back of house (facing south) but would have the antenna facing west

4) Overhang mount - actually this I am not sure how I can do as the overhand is on a slant so I have no idea what I could use to mount a mast in that location - but this seemed to give me a good signal.

I need to get up on the roof and experiment some more but without having anything currently to keep the antenna in place it is tought finding the right spot. I don't want to start installing different mounts to test different locations so any tips on trying to isolate the best spot would be appreciated. And any tips on how to temporart keep the antenna in place in different locations (roof, apex, overhang, etc) would also be appreciated.

I will probably pick up some u-bolt and a mast later this week so I can at least get the antenna mounted to a mast and raise it a bit higher using my current ladder to see if I can get a better signal at some of the locations to maybe find a better location that might work with a wall mount. I'd really like to try to test this on my overhang (which is sloped) but just can't figure out how to keep the antenna in place for the testing.

[tigerbangs]

Didn't we address this for you over at Home Theater Spot.com? This situation sure sounds familiar! You need to mount an antenna that sees over the peak of your roof, and the best way to do that is to eave-mount the antenna, using wall brackets and a mast that will allow the antenna to see over the peak of the roof.

Because Denver still has a number of low-power digital stations, you will need a very good UHF antenna and a rotator if you want to see the important stations.

I would suggest using a Channel Master 4228 8 bay UHF antenna and a Channel Master 9521a rotator, fed into the house with high-quality RG-6u cable. Have a look at this .pdf about antenna mounting, and you will see the method of mounting an antenna mast on the side of the house. Do NOT iuse a preamplifier, as the preamp will overload in the face of strong signals from the other high-power UHF analog and digital stations.

The 4228 is fairly small, at about 39" square, and about 5" deep, and yet is one of the most effective UHF antennas yet devised, despite it's low cost and small size.

http://www.channelmaster.com
http://www.channelmaster.com/pdf/AntInstallGuide.pdf

[farjo08]

Didn't we address this for you over at Home Theater Spot.com? This situation sure sounds familiar! You need to mount an antenna that sees over the peak of your roof, and the best way to do that is to eave-mount the antenna, using wall brackets and a mast that will allow the antenna to see over the peak of the roof.

Because Denver still has a number of low-power digital stations, you will need a very good UHF antenna and a rotator if you want to see the important stations.

I would suggest using a Channel Master 4228 8 bay UHF antenna and a Channel Master 9521a rotator, fed into the house with high-quality RG-6u cable. Have a look at this .pdf about antenna mounting, and you will see the method of mounting an antenna mast on the side of the house. Do NOT iuse a preamplifier, as the preamp will overload in the face of strong signals from the other high-power UHF analog and digital stations.

The 4228 is fairly small, at about 39" square, and about 5" deep, and yet is one of the most effective UHF antennas yet devised, despite it's low cost and small size.

http://www.channelmaster.com
http://www.channelmaster.com/pdf/AntInstallGuide.pdf

I'll take a look at the guides. Thanks for the links. I have not visited that other site, so no, this was no addressed (for me) elsewhere. I have a CM 4221 and DB8 currently in my possession for testing purposes and the CM 4221 seems like it will get the job done. As for the rotor, I don't need that for the channels I want. The ones I am interested in are at 165 and 214/215. With an antenna pointed towards 165 it picks up the 214/215 channe's just fine - so a rotor is not needed for the channels I want to receive.

As for the pre-amp, without going a bit higher I won't know for sure but currently it is not causing any problems with the 214/215 channels (those are the ones I get great signals with) so it does nto seem to interfere at all - I just need to see if that is needed for the 165 channels.

So looks like an eve mount would be the easiest to install (for me) as I don't have to worry about drilling into the ceiling and worry about water leaks, etc.

Thanks for the tips.