Antenna Advice Norfolk VA

[dimdem]

I'm in 23508. I've got a computer monitor that is also a HDTV, and when we cut back on cable a few months ago I got a Terk antenna and have been watching TV on it. Reception on most network stations is pretty decent, but a couple are spotty, as are some of the minor stations. We recently bought a larger plasma TV for the family room, and I think that this deserves a serious antenna. The major stations are all within 4 degrees of each other and are all about 12 miles away. According to TVFools I have LOS on most but NBC and Fox are 2edge unless I get the antenna up to 20 feet, at which point they are 1edge. I might want to watch a non-network station occasionally, or more likely my wife might, but not often. I have what I think would be a good spot in the attic for an antenna but a rooftop mount isn't out of the question. In a perfect world I'd have ports in the house to connect up to 4 TVs to the antenna, but since installing some of those ports might be a major hassle (the older part of the house has plaster on lath walls) I could live just having the big set on it and continuing to use Terks for the others.

[tigerbangs]

Time for a roof-mounted antenna and a proper distribution system that will allow all of your TV sets to be connected to the antenna. You don't need a big antenna, because the stations in your area are pretty strong, but you need one mounted in the clear, outdoors, because indoor mounting will cause the kind of drop-outs that you have been experiencing. I would use either a Winegard HD-7694P or an AntennaCraft HBU-33 mounted on your roof, aimed at 255 degrees, as measured by your compass.. Run the antenna lead into your house into a central location, add add a Channel Master CM3414 4 way distribution amplifier, then make runs from the amplifier to all four of your TV sets. use all high-quality RG-6u coax cable, and be sure to ground the antenna system according to code. You'll see all of the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Hampton stations without a problem. If WSKY is important to you, consider adding a small VHF yagi like an antennaCraft Y-5-7-13 aimed at 190 degrees, and combine the signal with the main antenna using a Channel Master Jointenna tuned for channel 9

Here is a good antenna installation guide to help you:
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/AntInstallGuide.pdf

[dimdem]

Thanks for this. I'll probably do with the Winegard. Unless you tell me otherwise, I think that a gable mount may work best for me. I have a gable on the west end of the house, and conveniently that that's the wall that the new TV is on. (I''m starting to lean toward just having the new TV attached to the antenna, at least initially, rather than distributing it to different rooms.) Would a simple J mount suffice?

[tigerbangs]

The Winegard antenna will be just fine. As for gable mounting, J-mount's for TV antenna are less than ideal: I suggest using a specific gable mount with a separate piece of masting to hold the antenna, as that combination is much more secure than a J-mount and costs no more.

http://ronard.com/100204.html
http://www.channelmaster.com/TV_Antenna_Mounts_s/28.htm

[dimdem]

The antenna finally went up this week. I had an outfit in VA Beach, SVT installers, put up for me, and I was generally pretty happy with them. (If I had it to do over again I would have been more specific about where I wanted the cable to exit the wall, but that's no big deal.) I get around 30 channels, I guess, although some of them not very well and most I don't care about anyway. The important thing is that the signal is perfect on all of the channels I do care about. And just in time for the Superbowl! Thanks for all of the help.

[dimdem]

Okay, I'm a little less satisfied with my installer now. I had a great picture during clear weather, but I was surprised at how much it was freezing on some channels to which I am LOS to the transmitter with clouds in the sky. I looked at my antenna instructions and realized that they had the antenna pointed 180 degrees the wrong direction. This is an ignorant question, but with an antenna like the Winegard 769, how much does that matter. From what I have read on here I know that antenna direction can matter quite a bit, but I am curious whether being 180 degrees wrong is worse than being, say, 90 degrees wrong or whether what is most important is just that you be able to sight down the antenna properly.

[ProjectSHO89]

Winegard's 7-69 antennas typically have a F/R ration of anywhere from 10 to 20-something dB, depending on model and the channel of interest. That will severely reduce signals when pointed 180 off the correct axis.

If you have a 769x antenna, the narrow end should be pointed towards the broadcast towers for best results. Online tools such as http://www.antennaweb.com , http://www.antennapoint, com , and http://www.TVfool.com all have aids to assist in proper aiming.

[dimdem]

Well, my antenna is up and pulling in a great signal. However, I've got some concern over whether it is grounded adequately. The installers ran 14 gauge wire down from the antenna to the grounding block, and then a short piece of wire down to a rusty piece of rebar; the wire was held onto the rebar with electrical tape. Okay, I knew that didn't cut it, so I replaced the rebar with a 4' ground rod. Then when I had an electrician out today I asked him about it, and he replaced the wire to my grounding rod with a wire that runs to my panel and house ground. He thought that the whole arrangement was entirely satisfactory, but I'm still worried about the wire's not being thick enough and making too many turns on the way to my panel (the electrician ran in the trim of my siding, and that had several sharp turns in it). On a scale from 1-10, how worried should I be about this?