New member and new setup installed!

[arcticcatmatt]

Hello all!

I have been a cable subscriber for years but they just ticked me off over a service issue so I had it shut off. My girlfriend complained so I set out to get something going. My zip code is 13736. Looks like everything is the same degree and 21 miles away. Antennaweb said I needed at least a blue rated antenna.

I got a free one from my sister that was of unknown color or age and slightly broken (4 missing limbs). I put it 20 feet in the air off my fence and 150 feet of coaxial. I have a converter box as I have an analog TV. I got ONE channel and 2 VERY snowy ones and this was after I bought a bought a booster.

I researched and researched. I ended up selecting a Terk HDTVo based in hundreds of positive reviews. I got it installed 5 feet over my metal roof tonight and ran the cable (approx 40? feet) and hooked it to the included inline booster, then into my converter, then from that to my TV. I now get 8 perfect channels! I rotated the antenna until I had the most signal strength on the box.. 55-62 on the channel I was testing. That sounds pretty good! They are 21 miles away. I am slightly worried because it is pointed right at the neighbors huge maple tree that has no leaves on it. I wonder what will happen when there are leaves on it

I have other sets in the house but no converter for them so I didn't do a splitter. The other tv's are now dead.

I still have the booster I got at the store. Should I use that too? Is it possible to use two boosters? (the antenna came with what they call a pre amp).

Oh, I also made the home made antenna from a video I found online. That was a coat hanger job that attaches to a 2x4. I only got 1-2 clear channels with that haha but I was impress since it cost me 5 bucks. I will give that to a very poor friend of mine.

Pictures coming tomorrow!

I wonder if I will get more channels here in a few months!

[arcticcatmatt]

Picture as promised! Now to figure how how to ground it and what to ground? The pipe goes into the dirt... don't know if that is enough.

[hdtvlabs]

Cool, thanks for the picture!

I know what tigerbangs thinks of HDTVo (LOL )
But IMHO HDTVo is a great value for its size. Log-periodic antennas are an excellent performance-vs-size trade-off.
Not a deep-fringe solution, but when you need a compact mid-range antenna that actually works, HDTVo is worth giving a try.

[arcticcatmatt]

I returned the 18db signal amplifier I had. I don't need it with the pre-amp that came with the HDTVo.

I am getting a grounding block tomorrow. Where should I install that? Just before it enters the house? What about grounding the pole, is it grounded because I have it in the dirt?