Antenna recommendation, please....

[GTL]

I currently have an outdoor antenna I put up 20 years ago for analog reception of the Atlanta stations. Using it I was able to pick up channels 2, 5, 8, 11, 17, and occasionally 36, 46 and 69 with decent quality. I have no idea what model it is, but it is a large one mounted on the back of my house, about 20 feet above the roof edge and roughly even with the peak of the roof. The TV transmitters are located directionally from the back of my house, so I'm not trying to pick up the signal over the roof. The roof has asphalt shingles.

However, the ground slopes up gently from my house - the antenna is roughly the same height as the top of the hill about 300 ft behind the house. To make it even more challenging, my property and the property behind me are covered with large oak and poplar trees.

I'm using an amplifier and splitting the signal to four TV drop locations, but I currently have only two TVs connected. Right now, I pick up 11-1, 5-1, and 17-1 with only occasional pixelation and loss of signal, but when spring comes and the leaves come out, I'll lose all of the signals, except perhaps for 11-1 on occasion.

I have Direct TV, but I want to use the antenna as a second source without adding a second Direct TV receiver. I'm only about 35 miles from most of the transmitters, but the local conditions make reception difficult - will an antenna upgrade help? If so, what model?

My location: 34.047381, -83.945137

Many thanks!

[tigerbangs]

Based on the coordinates that you listed, you should have strong signals available to you from all of the Atlanta stations. If you have issues from your current antenna, it is one of several possible issues: aim of thy current antenna: it should be aimed at 235-240 degrees as measured your your compass. You antenna may be old and weathered, and the connections and cabling may not be good, in which case, we really need to start from scratch and redo the system. Often, a good signal arriving at the antenna is ruined in the distribution process, and this is especially true of UHF signals, which incur higher signal losses in cabling than VHF stations do. Let's assume that we should replace everything and start fresh if we want good reception.

Under most circumstances, I would suggest using a high-quality VHF-high-band plus UHF antenna mounted on your house as high as you can manage. Your description of the terrain concerns me, however: from this vantage point, it's hard to know how much the hill behind your house is affecting your reception, and how much of your reception problems are antenna and distribution-related. Based on what TVFool.com tells me about your location, I am willing to gamble that your issues are antenna related. Here's what I would do:

Replace your current antenna with a Winegard HD-7696P VHF-high-band plus UHF antenna, replace ALL of your existing cabling with new, satellite-grade, RG-6U coax cable. Run the new cabling into a proper antenna grounding system, then run the coaxial cable into the house, then use a new distribution amplifier-splitter, like the Channel Master CM3414 4 way splitter-amp. Be sure that you do not reuse ANY of your old cabling: use new cabling from the antenna right to the back of each TV set. I think that you'll find that your Atlanta stations should all be solid once you are finished. be sure to rescan your TV tuners to find the stations once the new system is in place.

http://www.winegard.com
http://www.channelmaster.com
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/AntInstallGuide.pdf