This Old House installs roof antenna

Now they probably put up an antenna that was overkill, but by installing a 4 way and only using two outputs, they have effectively cut the boom length in half. They could have probably save a buck on the splitter and about $60 by going to a 7696P. But then again, this was paid political announcement and not necessarily the opinion of those that disagree.

I think that presentation (though I didn't see it personally) is going to be a real boon to the industry !!!
That's a very popular show, millions of people watch it...wow !
Thanks for posting this Tim.

Originally Posted by Don_M

I finally got the chance to watch this ATOH segment last night on the DVD recorder (thanks to travel plus a laggard PBS affiliate). I'll try not to repeat observations of others:

• The antenna sure looks like a Winegard HD-7698P, with its black insulators, alternating reflector design and balun-box appearance. The 7698 is the only model in the series that has a dual boom plus four capacitance hats, just like the installed antenna:

The antenna didn't look quite 14 feet long -- the length of a 7698's boom -- as they were raising it, though.

• The contractor used white-jacketed RG-6 outdoors, which will suffer more UV degradation over time than black coax would have. White's fine indoors, of course.

• I wonder about the building-code implications of grounding the antenna so close to a gas meter and underground gas lines. I have a hard time believing any jurisdiction ever would have allowed installation of the electrical service entrance (and associated ground) that close to the gas service entrance, so the contractor may have driven the grounding stake there. I saw no yellow flags in the lawn, so if he did drive the stake, did he just guess, get lucky and miss piercing the underground gas line? If not, that would mean he piggy-backed the grounding wire onto the existing gas-system ground, which I'm pretty sure would also be a no-no. It looked like it would have been nearly as easy to route the ground line down the other side of the chimney and bury the rod there, several feet away from the meter. There was also no discussion of bonding the antenna ground to the house ground per NEC requirements.

• The scrap block is a good idea for mast strength and stability plus shingle protection. But as EV suggested, it looked like soft pine, which without treatment won't last out in the elements as long as the mast will. A quick coating of oil-based primer would have helped.

nice antenna, i have never seen those types of antennas here, just the normals, i think if had that antenna in here would pull some channels or improve my reception, sometimes the channel 9 gets pixellated when reach this channel.

my mast is just 4,9 feets large and s installed in the kitchen roof

always i have been confused of how to ground the antenna i read the post in here but i get more confused than clarify my doubt of how to

This reminds me, last week I went up to Mt. Herman to go hiking and I saw that one of my neighbors had a Winegard HD-7698P mounted on his roof. It was mounted on the south side of the roof pointed north toward Denver with the nose of the antenna resting on the peak of the roof. I almost stopped to ask how it performed. I'm guessing he's getting the Denver full power stations plus Colorado Springs, but I'd think it would work better if he would get it above the roof.

I saw this peticular Ask This Old House episode, & enjoyed seeing an antenna installation. Now I see where I went wrong with the chimney mount straps when I installed an antenna on top of my old house in 1999. At least that guy didn't need an all channel antenna like people do in some markets, like Philadelphia & the southern part of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo MI markets.

As for when This Old House & Ask This Old House air in the Chicago market, here's the schedule based on channel:

WTTW 11 (11.1): This Old House: either just 5:30pm or 5:30pm & 6:00pm Saturdays
Ask This Old House: either 6pm or 5:30pm & 6:00pm Saturday It depends on how WTTW wants to show This Old House & Ask This Old House & shown in HD on 11.1

WTTW Prime 11.2: This Old House Hour: Wednesday 8:00pm, Thursday 3:00am & 8:00am, Saturday 7am shown in SD

Create WTTW 11.3: Ask This Old House: Sunday & Wednesday 9:30am, 3:30pm, 9:30pm, & 3:30am (technically Monday morning & Thursday morning)
This Old House: Monday & Friday 9:30am, 3:30pm, 9:30pm, & 3:30am (technically Tuesday morning & Saturday morning) both shown in SD

WYCC (20.1): This Old House Saturday 12:30pm
Ask This Old House: Sunday 12:30pm Shown in HD for both programs

WYIN (56.1): Ask This Old House Tuesday 11:30am & some Saturdays at 10:00am
This Old House: Tuesday 7:00pm, Wednesday 11:30am, & some Saturdays at 9:30am Both programs shown in HD