lost channels on antenna

[Rickideemus]

Another question. How do you read the signal part of the TV Fool report? Is the greater the number the better the signal?

Yes. The NM column is most pertinent. The power levels go through a little massage depending on whether the signal is analog or digital, and it comes out in NM, which stands for "Noise Margin." The one thing you can add to NM is antenna gain (not amplifier gain). Then you subtract approximations for lost dB in the cable run and any splitting. If you have an amplifier, you run it through one of those amp calculators. You subtract a little more noise for the connections in the set itself. (Maybe another 3 dB? Depends on the set, I'm sure.) Theoretically, after you're done with all that, if the number is greater than zero, you can get a picture!

But as you can see, there are many unknowns, like weather conditions, which way the wind is blowing through your trees, etc. etc. There are even different types of transmitters that might create wave forms more or less stable under different conditions (refraction, reflection, temperature flux ... who knows ... all hush hush ... very proprietary). You are catching everything right down to +19NM and then it stops cold. So that makes perfect sense. And you can see that either the trees are cutting out some signal, or the antenna is lower gain than we'd like. (Hard to find any solid gain figures on that type antenna. Maybe I'll hunt around the net tonight.)

There are people with no obstructions like your trees who get signals with negative NM on the report. Not below minus 10 or so. Not unless you're like the guy who built custom Yagis cut to size for each individual frequency, then combined them with a half dozen A/B switches. :clown:

Rick

 

[Rickideemus]

yeah but when I don't have the amp, the signal is weaker and I get more pixilation on my living room tv than when I have the amp on. Wish my living room set worked as good as the bedroom one.

Makes sense to meeeee. :becky: Stop saying "but"! I had a link somewhere to a site explaining about amplifiers. I'll look for it tonight, unless Steve beats me to it.

R.

 

[rbf18270]

Looks very pretty. :thumb: Looks like you put some work into it, specially for someone who claims he's new to OTA.

I'm not any kind of DIY expert to know where you mighta gone wrong. Hard to see in the picture. It looks like the bottom bowtie is smaller than the top one, and the two spots where the lines cross isn't symmetric. And I think the reflector needs to be right around four inches from the elements. (Is it?) On my 4221HD, just pulling the balun out an inch away from the boom is supposed to add a couple dB. I don't know if that applies to a wooden boom. Dunno if the material used for the boom even makes much difference.

Steve is the DIY guru. I'm sure he'll have much more cogent comments. Maybe the wire mesh should be more like the bar type reflector -- what do I know? Just throwing out dumb ideas to get knocked down.

Rick

I did read up online about how to build it before I did. Watched a lot of videos and read a few things.
The reflector is about 4 inches since I used bolts to hold it off the back. The bowties are all at 7 1/2 inches. Same on all. The lines I first had were also made out of coat hanger material but found that the wire worked better so it's tough to get it symmetric when you are putting screws in.

 

[RF Steve]

I can comment on the home brew. Dimensions can be critical. The most common easiest to find internet plans are of a very poor design to start with. I don't know what plans you used. From the look of the phasing line cross over between the elements it could be enough to kill the whole project hard to tell from a photo. Being a bit off on a measurement here, or there usually won't kill the project. Being a bit off on a measurement here, there, and everywhere can easily kill the whole project. I am not a good builder. My first 4 bay was a nightmare to try and put together and get right. It did work when finished. The second one wasn't much easier to build, but was a much better antenna when finished. A well built 2 bay using the correct dimensions will work better the a poorly built 4 bay using the wrong dimensions. Here are two links to known to be good tested and, computer modeled 4 bay antenna designs.
http://www.dtvusaforum.com/dtv-hdtv...9-kosmic-antennas-superquad-4-bay-bowtie.html
http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/
I can reference to a lot more information on those two antenna designs.
Even when correctly built the next popular youtube design is a poor performer.
UTube 4-Bay Bowtie - NO Reflector
I'm actually quite a fan of the very simple 10"x9.5" mclapp 2 bay.
A great little test antenna.
I now know what plans you used.

 

[RF Steve]

What's wrong with that home brew in the photo? Almost everything. Bow ties too small. Bow tie spacing too close. Phasing line sloppy. Poor choice of reflector material. Elements attached directly to wood degrades performance some. I'm far from a purest, or perfectionist my work can be very sloppy at times. I've built a lot of antennas that didn't work, or worked poorly. Most of what I've built that does work has been built mostly from salvaged recycled parts. I keep my eyes open for discarded junk that might be useable in an antenna project.
I made reference to the mclapp 2 bay as a test antenna. Simple to build. Good UHF performance. Almost as good as rabbit ears on VHF. Compact design. In some areas it's all the antenna one needs.
2 Bay Kit
UHF 2-Bay Bowtie - NO Reflector
Adding a center whisker to it seems to improve VHF performance. I did get that idea from reading post somewhere made by mclapp.
I haven't seen computer modeling or testing to confirm that.
Adding a simple 24"x24" reflector will work on UHF, but will really mess it up on VHF.

 

[Rickideemus]

What's wrong with that home brew in the photo? Almost everything.

Ouch! That's pretty brutal, Stever. :bolt:

rbf, On the amp situation, I thought of this way of explaining it:
You want to install an amplifier as close to the antenna as possible because you want to amplify the cleanest signal possible. You would prefer not to amplify noise added by long cable runs and splitters. Since a TV has its own amplifier, if you could attach a TV directly to an antenna with no cable, theoretically an amplifier would provide no benefit whatsoever, no matter how weak or choppy the reception. In fact, most amplifiers are guaranteed to degrade the signal on undivided cable runs under 30 feet, because they add their own noise to a system.

Some more sources:

Antenna Basics
"Never feed an amplifier output directly into another amplifier. There should always be a long cable between the preamplifier and [any] distribution amplifier. Placing the two amplifiers close together can cause overload and/or oscillation.

...

Many people think that connecting an external amplifier to the antenna will improve the performance of the antenna. This is usually wrong. Receivers always have more gain than is necessary. (The receiver has an Automatic Gain Control circuit, AGC, which will reduce strong signals. The AGC makes all stations the same strength at the demodulator. When you add a preamplifier, the TV receiver lowers its own gain, usually by an equivalent amount.)

Normally the signal to noise ratio will be set by the receiver’s first transistor. But if an external amplifier is added, the first transistor in that amplifier determines the S/N ratio. (Since the external amp will greatly magnify its own noise as well as the signal, the receiver’s noise becomes insignificant.) Since there is no reason to think the external amp’s first transistor is quieter than the receiver’s first transistor, there is generally no benefit to the S/N ratio from an external amplifier.

But an external amplifier will compensate for signal loss in the cable [and any splitters -- Rickideemus] if the amplifier is mounted at the antenna. Without this amplifier, a weak signal, just above the noise level at the antenna, could sink below the noise level due to loss in the cable, and be useless at the receiver."

Preamplifier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"A preamplifier (preamp) is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main instrument without significantly degrading the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The noise performance of a preamplifier is critical; according to Friis's formula, when the gain of the preamplifier is high, the SNR of the final signal is determined by the SNR of the input signal and the noise figure of the preamplifier."

Low-noise amplifier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Low-noise amplifier (LNA) is an electronic amplifier used to amplify possibly very weak signals (for example, captured by an antenna). It is usually located very close to the detection device to reduce losses in the feedline... An LNA is a key component which is placed at the front-end of a radio receiver circuit. Per Friis' formula, the overall noise figure (NF) of the receiver's front-end is dominated by the first few stages (or even the first stage only)... Using an LNA, the effect of noise from subsequent stages of the receive chain is reduced by the gain of the LNA, while the noise of the LNA itself is injected directly into the received signal. Thus, it is necessary for an LNA to boost the desired signal power while adding as little noise and distortion as possible, so that the retrieval of this signal is possible in the later stages in the system. A good LNA has a low NF (e.g. 1 dB), a large enough gain (e.g. 20 dB) and should have large enough intermodulation and compression point (IP3 and P1dB). Further criteria are operating bandwidth, gain flatness, stability and input and output voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)."

Winegard - Which Preamplifier is Right for me?
"The most important thing to know about preamplifiers is that they do not pull in signal or extend the range of TV antenna. If we do not have a good strong enough signal at the antenna a preamplifier will not help. The function of a preamplifier is to amplify the TV signal received by the antenna and strengthen the signal so that you can over come your cable loss, splitter loss, etc that is between the antenna and your TV set. The gain of the preamplifier determines the amount of loss that you can over come."

Antennacraft Pre-Amplifiers
"More amplification is not always better. The sole purpose of an amplifier is to offset signal loss due to long cable runs (over 75'), splitters, multiple TVs or other factors."

Rick

 

[rbf18270]

thanks for the info on amps Rick

 

[Rickideemus]

You're welcome. Hey. I started looking into the OMNI UVOX antenna you found on eBay. I even found a guy who posted here complaining about it. It's post #120 from Jimbo in this thread: http://www.dtvusaforum.com/dtv-hdtv...-can-i-use-my-old-direct-tv-dish-antenna.html

It's buried deep in the thread, so I'll repeat it here:

Here is where I'm located: https://www.google.com/#q=north+huntingdon+pa If you go 1 mile west of the red dot on the map that's my ~ location. Your antenna is a little similar to one I purchased on ebay that's called a Omni UVOX Omnidirectional Outdoor UHF VHF Long Range Omni Directional TV Antenna, and I have it mounted on my roof top on top of a 10' fiberglass mast that I use to use for a cb antenna back in the day when they were popular. Anyway, it does not bring in all the TV stations towers in Pittsburgh about 25 miles away. Those that do come in have some pixeling effects. I even bought a used Winegard amp model DA 1127 40-100MHz to help boost the signal from the RG6 cable in my attic down to my TV with not much luck. FYI, I don't have to have an Antennacraft brand antenna if you can recommend something better? I want to put it in the attic because I've been up on my roof so much over the past two months because of windy conditions I can't seem to find a sweet spot for the Omni UVOXI. At times, I feel maybe I might as well pitch a tent and stay up on the roof top to watch TV, but now winter is coming on and with the snow we get in western PA I'd probably slide right off. Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

So the only post on this site is negative. OTOH, I see it got some rave reviews on eBay, with only one complaint. It has its own website: Omnidirectional TV Antenna . Here are my concerns:

- First, it's not really an omnidirectional antenna. Aiming will make a difference.
- He claims maximum gain of 10.6 dBi on UHF, which is just "OK," but that tells us nothing about how much gain varies at different frequencies. Could be a huge factor.
- His personal success -- the "evidence" he provides on performance -- is very hard to interpret, because he lives in a mountainous region. Signals bounce around in unexpected ways in the mountains. He claims to get one station that's at NM = -19, in the TVFR I pulled up for that zip, but he completely leaves some very strong stations off his list -- which definitely means he did NOT get those stations. Maybe his exact address is behind a mountain peak or something. Like I say -- hard to interpret.
- I'm just sure if it was that easy to design a high gain multi-directional VHF/FM/UHF antenna, a major manufacturer would do it. It looks very easy and cheap to build, and it's attractive enough for appeal as an indoor antenna, IMO.
- In fact, it looks so easy to build, I think it's overpriced!
- He has a 30 day warranty, but I assume you'd be out shipping both ways on a return.

I'm hoping some of the real experts here will look at the pictures to see if it makes any sense. Maybe someone here has tried something similar? Certainly might be an interesting DIY project for someone. If it doesn't work, just pull it apart and you have two 13" UHF loops. The two loops are folded together criss-cross at 90 degrees with no reflector and a regular 300 - 75 ohm balun. Can't be that simple ... :eyes:

Rick

 

[KrissB]

I will say, if your area is anything like mine, I wish you the best of luck! :\ I've probably spent $100+ on random parts, thinking "Maybe... This will help?" I've spent many nights writing out Math problems, thinking up dipole lengths, separation points between dipoles, Reflector distance if I use one (oddly my area would seem better without a reflector, however when I use one on smaller antenna's I get insane results). As you will find out, catching a TV/OTA signal is not really a science, or much luck even! Hopefully it's just my area, or my dumb-luck! But I have to think it's just crazy idea's mixed with a lot of science and crap load of luck!!! Even then, when you are happy, the humidity comes and takes out 2/3 of your equation, and then you realize all that is left, is your crazy thoughts! lol Just don't answer yourself is what I say, then I catch myself saying "ok!"

As far as your WA-2608, I think it's not what we wanted it to be, a lot of dreaming was done when they printed the info for those antenna's I think. However, they have to do something right to work! I feel they have a few models out there to try to fill in the missing spots when a customer complains after receiving the antenna. Every area is different. My suggestions may not work for you, even though they are the only things that work for me! Many here could say I would need an Omni-Directional antenna only if they worked well enough! However I'm using a very directional antenna, but I get very strange results at times!. I have seen huge improvements when I upgraded a few projects to 1/4" copper tubing, however you will need to coat such a project to protect it from the weather!

Although I just explained why not to take anyone's advice as each situation is different! I would suggest an adjustable DB-8 one that you can take the reflectors off, and put them back on if needed, and foldable, to go from 180 degrees or further when open to 100 degree's when open (or even more if such a silly design is out there!" That would give you a lot of toying power. I would use an Ultra low noise amp (whatever the proper name is for that) I have a lot of luck with my RCA 1650R Ant Amplifier. I also recently purchased a Radio Shack 1-in/4-out * Bidirectional Cable TV Amplifier that seems to do well (I had bought it because the guy there said he had a lot of luck with it, I thought oh... OK... Yea because you got to make a sale... But I thought you know, what the hell. I figured I'd have to return it...). I don't suggest buying anything from Radio Shack to build or setup an antenna... Unless you have an American Express with no limit on your credit line (completely unfair for me to say about Radio Shack) you can get things much cheaper else where and reading this box, it's just like the other things you find online "Made in China" but 3x the $$$!!! Research what you see, even google it, and add bad review, or even just review, look for bad things, and try to realize if it's the item or maybe just coincidence that a few people got bad results!

My disease started when I took 1/2 my clothes of their coat hangers and maliciously destroyed everyone of them to better my TV viewing experience! It then became an obsession when I found my 1 sweet spot in my window! Now my neighbors think I'm crazy, hanging all these odd things in my front "and clearly visable" window! What they don't know is I watch NFL (among other sports), and now Nascar... With no Cable bill, no NFL sports package, no SPEED package... AND, it's in True HD, 1080p sometimes I have to suffer with 720p!

I too have a Vizio, and your post made me wonder how well my Vizio may perform! It holds a signal better than my LG so far! I am shocked I thought that would be a whole other nightmare!!! lol Well Dumbluck has finally paid off for me!!! YES!!!

Good night, I hope to help if you need!
KrissB

 

[rbf18270]

Very interesting post Kriss.
It is really weird that my 250 dollar Vizio led tv has a really good tuner compared to my 1500 Samsung LCD. Drives me nuts but like I said I have been really happy with my Iview 3500 external tuner. Love that I can record shows to an external hard drive in HD also.
I did try a LAVA HD-8008 omnidirectional antenna a few months back and ended up putting my WA-2608 back up. The LAVA was ok but I still got more channels with the cheaper WA-2608. Really wish the LAVA one worked.

 

[rbf18270]

Well it happened again! I lost the same channels. Not sure what is going on. How do I find out if the tower is out?

 

[rbf18270]

thought on this thing
TV Antenna Digital Outdoor HDTV VHF UHF 1080p 200MILE 3TV Splitter No Assembly | eBay

 

[KrissB]

thought on this thing
TV Antenna Digital Outdoor HDTV VHF UHF 1080p 200MILE 3TV Splitter No Assembly | eBay

That looks like the RCA Cheapy antenna you can pick up at Radio Shack, but someone added 200 mile range on the title! lol The bigger the better for range (I would say you might catch 5% signal from 200 miles if you have direct line of sight, or a nice big lake like I have to bounce off of! I know that's the only reason I'm getting 70 mile range off my homebrew antenna. If money is tight, try to suffer through a bit, and save up for a pole (if your house is 2 story, then that would be perfect if you are into tinkering with it on the roof! Otherwise suffer through a lot and save up for professional help! Don't risk your butt to save a few $$$!

Get a nicer antenna but honestly, you have to be honest with yourself 1st! What channels do you require of what you have got, and what you see that you would like! I spent about a week snooping around a scratch and dent store only because I seen their big behemoth of an antenna on the roof, and I asked if I could check out the tv's hooked to the antenna, that's all they use, so it was no problem! I got to see what I was missing, and then I was able to feel better about my options, and making them solid to complete my project! As for you, if you wish to buy an antenna then the same rule may apply! However, Craigslist might give you a quick purchase of a bigger antenna to check out for cheap. Tell them you just want to do some tinkering with it, to test what you can get, who knows maybe they will offer a hand installing it, or hopefully know someone that can!

I just hooked up our Tube TV with an Digital Stream DTX9900 that is super basic (picked it up from the Goodwill, unopened box for $10 @ 50% off, so $5... lol) I wasn't too impressed with it until I hit some weird EPG button, I was expecting a fiery glow, and a loud kaboom!!! But I was pleasantly surprised when the Guide popped up showing me what was coming on next for the next 12 hours or more!

Our other Digital to Analog box was really poor, the TV looked really bad so we almost gave up on the Tube TV in the kids' bedroom, so now we are happy, currently running 3 TV's on my poor get-up! The Converter box doesn't have a very good tuner as far as the Vizio however, also it is not NTSC capable either, nor is my Vizio apparently! My LG does however pick up analog stations (I wonder if I just need to turn off the converter box and tune in the analog stations? Never really thought about Analog stations on the Vizio though til just now! Hmmph!

I'm out, best of Luck,
KrissB

P.S. That antenna doesn't look bad, and the comments left may be for that antenna, but I think it's a pretty common entry-level rooftop antenna that you can find a similar design anywhere locally for near the same cost if not even cheaper I'd bet! I'd browse Craigslist, look for a big beast, and test it on the ground, if it gets something, test it in the tree? I'd just shoot for rooftop tho, or drill a big hole in the biggest branch and run a pole thru it, mount the antenna, clear the path above, and start adding lengths of pole until you get it to an unsafe or desired position (remember to test it with each length!) I got crazy ideas so don't follow them blindly!!! As I can't be responsible with the crazy idea's I offer, as I conclude again, they are crazy idea's!!!

 

[Rickideemus]

It is really weird that my 250 dollar Vizio led tv has a really good tuner compared to my 1500 Samsung LCD.

Not so strange. Remember, most people have no interest in OTA TV. A lot of tuners are made with cable and satellite in mind. OTA is almost an afterthought. The rendering code costs almost nothing, but the right gain control is hardware, so that's adds a few bucks.

I did try a LAVA HD-8008 omnidirectional antenna a few months back and ended up putting my WA-2608 back up. The LAVA was ok but I still got more channels with the cheaper WA-2608. Really wish the LAVA one worked.

I'm not looking up "HD-8008" but a true omnidirectional antenna is limited to 5 dBi maximum in any direction. In fact, the best Winegard omni is down around 4 for most stations. That's one way to know that folded loop thingie isn't truly "omni." That, and just looking at it.

Well it happened again! I lost the same channels. Not sure what is going on. How do I find out if the tower is out?

Call the station. But didn't I say to expect this? Those stations are down around the lower end for your NM range. I have several stations that pop in and out on a daily basis. This isn't like cable, where you have a "right" to expect the lineup you paid for.

thought on this thing
TV Antenna Digital Outdoor HDTV VHF UHF 1080p 200MILE 3TV Splitter No Assembly | eBay

I thought you wanted something small! That's a nine footer, ya know. You really shouldn't need anything so huge. You have a few high VHF, but you don't even have any single digit stations. Size is good to a point... up to maybe 3 feet or so. You can actually calculate what size is required based on the VHF frequency. It does look like a nice price for people who need that type/size antenna for RF 2 and up.

Only thing we can do is try to get some higher gain going for you, to make the weaker stations a little more reliable. I already made my recommendation, which was similar to Steve's. You can try that, or you can stick with what ya got, or you can try something much more experimental, or you can chat with Kriss for another month or two. It's your nickel. layball:

Rick

 

[rbf18270]

Thanks Kriss and Rick.

 

[omniuvox]

Why not? The UVOX has been proven to perform better and surely last lot longer than those Chinese antennas and can compete with any other non-amplified commercial omnidirectional TV antenna on the market. The UVOX antenna may be returned if you are not satisfied with performance within 30 days since delivery date and includes 1 year limited warranty, which means they will repair or replace it against any defects in materials or workmanship within a period of 1 year from delivery date. Please read the feedback on Omnidirectional TV Antenna or webtradingenterprises on eBay You won't be disappointed.

 

[omniuvox]

You're welcome. Hey. I started looking into the OMNI UVOX antenna you found on eBay. I even found a guy who posted here complaining about it. It's post #120 from Jimbo in this thread: http://www.dtvusaforum.com/dtv-hdtv...-can-i-use-my-old-direct-tv-dish-antenna.html

It's buried deep in the thread, so I'll repeat it here:


So the only post on this site is negative. OTOH, I see it got some rave reviews on eBay, with only one complaint. It has its own website: Omnidirectional TV Antenna . Here are my concerns:

- First, it's not really an omnidirectional antenna. Aiming will make a difference.
- He claims maximum gain of 10.6 dBi on UHF, which is just "OK," but that tells us nothing about how much gain varies at different frequencies. Could be a huge factor.
- His personal success -- the "evidence" he provides on performance -- is very hard to interpret, because he lives in a mountainous region. Signals bounce around in unexpected ways in the mountains. He claims to get one station that's at NM = -19, in the TVFR I pulled up for that zip, but he completely leaves some very strong stations off his list -- which definitely means he did NOT get those stations. Maybe his exact address is behind a mountain peak or something. Like I say -- hard to interpret.
- I'm just sure if it was that easy to design a high gain multi-directional VHF/FM/UHF antenna, a major manufacturer would do it. It looks very easy and cheap to build, and it's attractive enough for appeal as an indoor antenna, IMO.
- In fact, it looks so easy to build, I think it's overpriced!
- He has a 30 day warranty, but I assume you'd be out shipping both ways on a return.

I'm hoping some of the real experts here will look at the pictures to see if it makes any sense. Maybe someone here has tried something similar? Certainly might be an interesting DIY project for someone. If it doesn't work, just pull it apart and you have two 13" UHF loops. The two loops are folded together criss-cross at 90 degrees with no reflector and a regular 300 - 75 ohm balun. Can't be that simple ... :eyes:

Rick

- Due to the horizontal polarization of the TV signal and other factors, ALL so called omnidirectional TV antennas will show some directionality.
- Gain will vary with the frequency regardless of the antenna type.
- It is not that hard; those absent stations are either too far away or the signal are blocked by the mountain.
- REALLY! They don't own all the ideas. The Omni UVOX is a Patent Pending product.
- It seems that you know nothing about the cost of materials, manufacture, labor, shipping, handling, packing, transportation, auction listing fees/cost, banking fees, etc.
- Buyer must pay for return shipping.

So far, the Omni UVOX has not received any negative feedback. However, please keep in mind that antennas are not gold coins, what is suitable for my location, might not be for yours.

Best regards.

 

[Rickideemus]

please keep in mind that antennas are not gold coins, what is suitable for my location, might not be for yours.

omniuvox, this is a two month old thread! Hopefully the OP has resolved his reception problems by now.

I could go through your points one by one, but suffice it to say, based on what we know about your design, I couldn't recommend it to the OP. I don't believe there's enough innovation in your antenna to support a patent, and there's no way to get around the cost savings manufacturers get by using Chinese factories and labor.

If you have some objective data to share on your antenna, such as a gain chart and a polar pattern chart, we're anxious to see it! We can't interpret your personal results without a TV Fool Report with your exact coordinates and antenna height.

Rick

 

[omniuvox]

Reception report for the Omni UVOX antenna

Rickideemus, lets not speculate, patents are not granted based solely on innovation. Although the UVOX has an amazingly "simple" design, it's able to resonates on such a wide band of frequencies and has a long range capacity considering it is an omni-multi directional antenna. The Omni UVOX innovates in efficiency, effectively bringing in stations that would require a higher gain, directional antenna. Simplicity is great!

Our antennas are not a mass produced item, they are completely handmade from start to finish, even the serial # is handwritten, that's one of the reasons that explains its current price. Chinese won't beat our quality.

My own UVOX is raised 40' from ground and its elements are aligned with the magnetic coordinates, with its feedpoint aiming at 135° degrees. Feedline is a 50' quadshielded RG-6 coaxial cable. At its current orientation we're able to receive the following virtual channels/station: 51 (WTVE from 119°, 42.8 miles, local transmitter is off), 24, 8 (NBC, 41.6 mi, 239°), 6, 43, 3 (CBS), 17, 10 (NBC), 65, 35, 29, 27, 61, 16, 56, 49, 48, 57 (intermittent). We also pick up 2 additional channels, 23 (NJTV/WNJS from New Jersey) and 33 from Phily which are not shown on the TVF report. Other stations like 21 (CBS), 44 (PBS) and 60 (Ind) are picked up when antenna is properly oriented.

This is our TVF report: TV Fool

The gain chart available are simulated patterns acquired from the 4NEC2 software.

 

[omniuvox]

I must clarify that the channels mentioned on my last post above, with the antenna installed at the same height and orientation as indicated, are the same with or without a signal amplifier except for channels 23 (NJTV), 33 (Phily), 49, 56 and 57 which are NOT decoded without it.