Antenna Advice (83402)

[Mallard]

LOL! Not really. OTA only has value to me if a) drop cable completely or b) switch to satellite. I'd like to switch to Directv and purchase the Sunday Ticket. My wife of 29 years loves her cable dvr and is reluctant to make a change. Convincing the Mrs is the biggest challenge. I've known since this spring the following facts:

Reception is better on the north end of the house than on the south end
A DIY mclapp 4-bay can receive all the desired channels (including ch 8)
Setting the antenna at 235 degrees reduces margin to dropout by 3 to 5 dB
All the locals are still receivable with the antenna 70 degrees off axis (ie 200 deg stations receivable with 270 deg aim and vice versa).

I have not yet finalized the DIY antenna for outdoors since the wife has not totally agreed to make the switch. She's wavering though.... I would like to show her commercial options if she is not happy with the DIY. Will look very similar to the old 4221, only wider. All of the antennas in my neighborhood are combo units. The 7694 would fit right in with the others but I would only consider it if it can match the performance of my mclapp. Your commercial solution would beat my mclapp on high VHF gain but would be lower in UHF gain.

[Mallard]

I visited with winegard tech support today. Polar plots are available on-line at winegard.com. I had been checking various retailer websites... oops! Anyways, it is very clear cut. The 7694 has too narrow of a beamwidth. Aiming 35 degrees off direct axis would reduce received signal by ~8 dB or more. Conversely, a 4-bay would only lose 4 to 5 dB with aiming 35 degrees off direct axis. The 7694 appears to be a poor choice in my situation due to lower signal strengths when aiming 35 degrees off axis. Makes a decision very easy. Final choices are DIY 4-bay or a 4221 HD + an AntennaCraft Y5-7-13.

[Mallard]

Just a quick update....

I have completed my attic install a few months ago (includes a DIY 4-bay plus a Winegard AP8700 pre-amp). Signal strengths exceed 90% for all the major locals and margin to dropouts are in excess of 48 dB! CW lags a bit lower with 85% signal strength. Very happy! Tiger's commercial antenna solution would have worked in my set up but I chose to use an already constructed DIY antenna.