Yet More Advice Requested

[jimbart]

Dumping Cable about to spend money on an antenna and I am looking for reassurance.

Location: Chapin SC, 29036
According to http://www.antennaweb.org
Stations VHF/UHF with range 16 to 33.1 miles. Most stations between 97 to 100 degree compass heading. Exception one station 113 degrees 20mi, and one 217 degrees at 57 mi (Augusta). I am not expecting on getting the Augusta stations but who knows?
Yellow color code, lt. green, red and the last one is violet.

This is going to be an attic installation due to HOA headaches.
Two story home, very tall trees a block or two away and other one/two story homes being built around me.
I am feeding this through my cable box installation, 6 cable hook ups through out house, currently 3 tvs. Two with converter boxes. One older big screen HDTV going through a Tivo box (need HD tuner for the big tv).

Antennas I am leaning towards: Antennas Direct DB8 Multidirectional (UHF), and CLEARSTREAM5 HDtv (VHF) C5 includes a low loss UHF/VHF signal combiner.
I believe I have one splitter in the attic now and I was going to use this to send the signal back to the cable box connection point on the outside of my house. I was going to choose an amplifier to help get through all of that cable and splitters. I have power in the attic.

QUESTION: Does this set up seem reasonable? I am trying to overcome the roof material, asphalt shingles over plywood. Also this style of antenna appears to fit my attic more easily than the long boom style antennas. Anything else I should consider? Is this over kill?. Any advice?

Thanks in advance, Jim

[tigerbangs]

First of all, your HOA cannot prevent you from installing an antenna on your roof: The FCC ruled almost 1`5 years ago that all HOA restrictions prohibiting antennas to be null and void due to safety considerations. Since your TV stations come from a variety of directions, the selection that you have chosen is not the right choice. You can accomplish your reception goals by using a combination VHF-UHF antenna mounted on the roof and using a rotator much more effectively than what you have proposed. I would use a Winegard HD-7696P plus a Channel Master 9521a rotator mounted at the highest point of the roof. Antenna installations are usually compromised to roof and attic construction and materials.


http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

http://www.winegard.com
http://www.channelmaster.com

[jimbart]

First thanks for the reply.

If I limit myself to the stations 97 to 100 degrees compass heading will that work out with my set up?

I know the FCC banned HOA's from limiting antennas but I am trying to avoid a headache and I wanted to see if this works.

Thanks, Jim

[jimbart]

I appreciate your suggestions and I am going to actually start spending money shortly so let's see if I have a clue here.

As much as I would love to put up some sort of huge antenna I am trying to keep things as unobtrusive as possible. The antenna geek in me loves your suggestions but I want to keep this low key for now.

The Scoop:
According to Antennaweb.org and TVfool.com I have 8 channels 19.1 through 63.1 so I appear to be in high VHF and UHF broadcast range. Seven of these are 97 to 100 degrees magnetic, and one is 113 degrees magnetic.
ALL stations are 20 to 34 miles distant.
TVfool has me in mostly in green range with two stations yellow. Antennaweb.org has me mostly yellow, one lt. green, and one red.

I am leaning towards the TERK HDTVs with built in pre-amp. I am going to mount it outside under my eaves and run it to a splitter to feed the rest of the house. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=HDTVS

Here is what I need to know.
1. Does this antennas appear to fit my situation?

I need to run this through a lot of cable in my house, like 6 cable jacks, 100' of cable, several splitters.

2.Should I add another pre-amp or does this antenna appear OK?

3. Other VHF/UHF antenna's?

4. Anything I am forgetting?

Jim

[tigerbangs]

Absolutely NOT the way that I would go! Avoid amplified gimmick antennas like the Terks. You need an antenna that has substantial gain of its own, NOT amplifier gain! Use a Winegard HD-7694p or an Antennacraft HBU-33 aimed at 100 degrees. Run the coax cable to a central distribution point inside the house, attic or basement, then add a distribution amplifier like a Winegard HDA-200, then make the splits using low-loss splitters to each room where you want TV.