Antenna upgrade for improving reception

geoffleach

Zipcode 95245 (large area).
Location 38:17:05:95 N 120:35:43:33 W; height 685 meters.
High point in the direction of broadcast 700m.
Broadcast towers' base at 90m, more-or-less.
Existing antenna is RadioShack VU190XR (13 yrs old), fixed, 8 meters off ground.
Receiver Sony Bravia KDL-V32XBR2.

AntennaWeb data:
KQVR-DT 13.1 CBS 251 49.0
KXTV-DT 10.1 ABC 252 49.0
KCRA-DT 3.1 NBC 254 49.0
KQCA-DT 58.1 MNT 252 47.0
KVIE-DT 6.1 PBS 254 48.7
KTXL-DT 40.1 FOX 254 48.7
KMAX-DT 31.1 CW 253 48.7

Analog reception good to fair.

Reception on 3.1, 6.1 13.1, 31.1 and 58.1 is superb. 10.1 and 40.1 cut in and out. I'd like to fix that. Would tigerbangs perscription for fringe-area reception be overkill?

Tower Guy

For now, a UHF only antenna will get all the DTV channels. You could add the VHF later, assuming that at last one of the stations will go back to VHF in 2009.

geoffleach

An excellent point - why get a new antenna if the source is going to vanish? What about the rotator? Are my sources sufficiently close to make that irrelevant?

jim5506

Looks like they are all within 2-3 degrees, you should be Ok without a rotator.

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Programming: Dish HD Absolute with 0.01 Cinemax
Displays: Sony VPH-D50Q - 7 ft on the wall; Hitachi 57R59
Receivers: DishNetwork ViP722k; DishNetwork ViP211K; DishNetwork ViP211; DishNetwork 301; 2 - TiVo Series 2's; Accurian 6000; Samsung SIR-T351; Panasonic ShowStopper 2000; ATI HDTV Wonder
Dish 1000 on 110,119,129; Dish 500 on 61.5; DPP44
Sony 80GB PS3; Toshiba HD-DVD

tigerbangs

Any 13 year old antenna that has been mounted outdoors has been severely compromised and should be replaced. If the antenna has been in your attic, you have deprived yourself of a large amount usable TV signal bu having then antenna mounted inside. If you still need all channel reception, consider a top-of-the-line all-channel antenna like a Channel Master Crossfire 3671 or a Winegard HD8200 with all new RG-6 coax cable and a good preamplifier like a Channel Master Titan 7777. If you only need UHF reception where you are, either the Channel Master 4228 or an AntennasDirect XG-91 and the same preamplifier would be good choices.

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Real men don't use indoor antennas; neither do real women!