Antenna Suggestion for 98404

[carandc]

Hello folks.

I live in East Tacoma, WA (98404) up on McKinley hill (278 ft elevation), but just south a few blocks of and down from the taller (by 62 feet in elevation) Strawberry Hill, which it seems would be between me and the Seattle stations. My coordinates are Lat: 47.13'37".75 N Long: 122.24'47.49" W.

I'm still up high, so I wonder how much of an issue Strawberry Hill would be, although it does have some sort of radio tower, maybe 100 feet tall.

I'm in a neighborhood in the city, but away from downtown, so no buildings over three stories and a 100-150 foot Douglas Fir here and there.

I'll be running two TV sets that each have a Tivax STB-T8.

I'm assuming I'll mount it on the roof, unless you think I could get away with it in the attic.

HDTV Labs recommends the Winegard HD7698P, but I noticed on the antenna reviews page on HDTV Labs that it only scores out at a 4.1 from 18 reviews. The RCA ANT3036X scores out at a 4.7 from 10 reviews. That's the highest rating for a U/V combo antenna with more than 5 reviews. The RCA would only save me $32, so it's not a big deal to go with the Winegard. I just want to make sure I get the best one.

Sooooo, surprise surprise: what would be the best antenna for my scenario and can it go in the attic?

Thanks for your time,

Andy C.

[tigerbangs]

Forget what you read about what the selector ca;;s for: Seattle-Tacoma has a unique reception problem because KCPQ, he FOX station, has a transmitter that is in a very different location that the other stations in town, and you need a special solution if you want to see it reliably. Based on what I can se of your TVFool.com scan, a Winegard HD-7698P, while an excellent antenna,m is really too much antenna for your needs: your signal strengths indicate that we can get away with a considerably smaller antenna with complete success. As for KCPQ: their transmitter is considerably off-axis of the other Sea-Tac stations, and we will need a small additional antenna to see it properly.

Here's how I would handle it: Use a Winegard HD-7696P combination VHF-high-band plus UHF antenna mounted ON YOUR ROOF, aimed at 350 degrees, as measured by your compass. For KCPQ, add a Winegard YA-6713 VHF high-band yagi aimed at 300 degrees. be sure that the two antenna are separated by at least 4' on the same mast, and mount the smaller antenna on top to balance the load. Join the two antennas using Channel Master channel 13 JoinTenna (Available on Amazon.com), then run your single RG-6u coaxial cable to a central point in your house where you can mount an amplifier splitter, like the Channel Master CM3412. From that point, run the cables to your TV sets. Be sure to use all the mounting and grounding precautions listed in the installation guide that I linked to you below, and you should enjoy excellent reception of all of the major Sea-Tac stations.

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

[carandc]

Thanks a ton. Glad I asked. For what it's worth, KCPQ is about the only thing we can get decently using our indoors Wal-Mart set-top bunny ears antenna. With that in mind, would the Yagi 6713 still be needed or would the 7696P pick it up? Let me know, in the mean time I'll get started on your recommendations.

Appreciate it,

Andy C.

[tigerbangs]

The YA-6713 is pretty cheap, and I would use it just to make things right: Holmes on homes rules!

[carandc]

Okay, so I set it up today. I've got a ten foot mast with the Winegard HD-7696P on the bottom of the mast, about 3 feet from the roof and aimed at 350, with the Yagi 6713 on the top of the mast and aimed at 300. I joined them with the jointenna channel 13 and then ran the cable to the channelmaster and then to the external converter box. Problem is, I can't pick up even a weak signal for KIRO and some other stations (28, 20) that I am apparently supposed to get. To boot, Channel 13 (KCPQ) has some hiccups even with the Yagi ten feet off the roof and pointed to the station less than 30 miles away. I do happen to be pointing the 7696P through a pretty thick stand of trees, but I'm getting KOMO and KING clear as a bell and KIRO looks to be the same distance and everything as those two. Any suggestions?

[tigerbangs]

You didn't mention how far apart you have the two antennas mounted on the mast: they need to be a minimum of 4' apart: if they are less than that, you will experience multipath distortion. KCPQ should be your best station, so I have to wonder if you accidentally aimed the YA-6713 180 degrees from the signal (backwards). It' also easy to mis-connect the the JoinTenna if you aren't paying attention; be sure that the YA-6713 is connected to the channel 13 input and the HD-7696P is connected to the all-channel or broadband input. Reversing it would actually reduce your channel 13 signal rather than improve it.

Also, go back and be sure that you have the connections correct on the Channel Master splitter-amplifier: connecting an input to an output can also cause the problems that you are experiencing.

As for KIRO: barring a mis-aiming or antenna spacing error, KIRO itself may be experiencing temporary transmitter issues: a quick call to the station's engineer can confirm this.

[carandc]

Thanks for the response. With KCPQ - I figured out what was wrong. While I couldn't get channel 13-1 very well, KCPQ is also available on channel 22-2. It's the exact same broadcast and I get the 22-2 clear as a bell. So I think I'm good there. And yeah, I checked the jointenna and the channelmaster and they're good to go.

And I actually spaced the two antennas 5 feet apart since the deflector arms of the bigger antenna seemed to creep into the 4 foot range.

I'll check with KIRO and see if they're having transmitter issues.

Thanks again,

Andy C.

[tigerbangs]

I would also suggest trying to manually enter the KIRO frequency into your remote control, as the tuner may have glitched when you scanned for signals. Try entering 39.1 into your remote control keypad, and see if you can force the TV set to tune KIRO in that manner.