Signal Assistance tvfool/rabbitears included

[Evan71]

We moved into a new to us house about a year ago. I installed a channel master cm-3418 distribution amp, Winegard lna-200 pre-amp, and a clearstream c4-v-cjm antenna.
I can get NBC, CBS, and FOX pretty well but I am having a hard time getting PBS and ABC consistently. If I adjust to get them I lose something else.
I have the antenna in the attic. House was built in the '70s and has wood framing and asphalt shingles. We do have some mature trees in the vicinity. I have done my best to try to avoid them. We do a combination of watch live tv and record. I have a pc setup with a tuner card as well as a couple of hdhomerun extends.
Here is the info from tvfool/rabbitears.
TV Fool
https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php?request=result&study_id=73951
If you could give me some recommendations that would be awesome! Do I need another or a different antenna? Different amplifier setup?

 

[Carl H]

I think you have enough amplification and the LAN-200 is good enough. I note the stations you are having problems (PBS and ABC) are High VHF (channels 8 and 10 RF, here I have assumed your trying to get the PBS station from Hutchinson on VHF 8 and not the PBS UHF 17 from Wichita).

The antenna you are using has only 2.5 dBi gain at Hi VHF (Its far better at UHF) and this is likely marginal at the ~30 mile ranges for that low a gain from an attic mounted antenna especially with your surrounding foilage. I would test the antenna outdoors on the roof to see if you can get what you want w/o a new antenna. Failing that a higher gain antenna (e.g a dedicated VHF Hi band antenna w combiner) should improve things. If you can find a model with around 6-9 dB gain at Hi VHF with a wide enough beamwidth (>=45 degrees) and aim it between the two stations you should be able to aim it such that you get usable signal from both stations (note they ~ 45 degrees apart) It might even work in the attic. In addition the tuner in the PC card might be a limitation.

Examples might be the RCA ANT751R about $40 or the $55 Winegard HD7694P. These treat Hi VHF and UHF with comparable to lower gain at UHF that what you have but likely adequate in your situation/ Both have much higher gain in Hi VHF. (You could also consider running two antennas VHF UHF with optimal direction for each band) A limiting factor in your situation is the difference in azimuth between the ABC and PBS towers so a higher gain VHF Yagi is may not help with both stations w/o a rotator.

Hope this helps

 

[Jim Navotney]

The C4V antenna is a weak performer on vhf and uhf compared to the Winegard 7694 so i would replace it with the Winegard pointed southeast.
You need to nix one of those amplifiers since they are fighting each other.
Since the Winegard LNA-200 has the lowest noise figure and best overload immunity, it would be the only one i would use then replace the CM3018 with a passive splitter.