TV Antenna for 19135 Philadelphia

[ENIGMACODE]

Hi again Gang

I'm helping a friend install a rooftop antenna. He lives about 10 miles NE of me in Philly. It's possible he may also benefit from the same antenna:

AntennaCraft 5884 Color King VHF UHF FM TV Antenna (5884) from Solid Signal.

And here's his TV Fool Report:http://www.locationstudio.net/George.jpg. Suggestions?

Thanks again
Mike

 

[dkreichen1968]

I'm going to say that it sounds like a good plan. The Antennacraft 5884 pointed at 290 degrees magnetic.

 

[Fringe Reception]

Welcome back, Mike!

I see that digustingly beautiful antenna survey is based at only 5 feet above ground level and I am jealous. Yes, the AntennaCraft should be a good choice but per photos you posted here before, how about talking one of your neighbors out of one of their unused antennas and save the cost of buying a new one?

Jim

 

[ENIGMACODE]

Hi again Jim - Good to see you!

"how about talking one of your neighbors out of one of their unused antennas and save the cost of buying a new one?" Would love to, these friends could really use the help. But for $30, they're gonna pick up a new one. They've already got 2 downleads of RG6, probably a splitter up there where a Dish used to be. So they're good with that. They just need to see if there's any bracket hardware. If not, I recommended a chimney strap. Jim, I sure wish you lived in a better TV reception area. The downside is the fact that we're both in residential neighborhoods: one worst than the other.

Just curious, when you compare George's area, with mine, it looks as though I might have a few more channels in the Green area. Do I have more tunable channels? I'll loan George my hand compass when he directs his antenna.

http://www.locationstudio.net/Mike.jpg < My area

http://www.locationstudio.net/George.jpg < George's area

Thanx Jim

 

[Fringe Reception]

... Just curious, when you compare George's area, with mine, it looks as though I might have a few more channels in the Green area. Do I have more tunable channels? I'll loan George my hand compass when he directs his antenna.

http://www.locationstudio.net/Mike.jpg < My area

http://www.locationstudio.net/George.jpg < George's area

Thanx Jim

Mike,

The TVFOOL antenna survey is completely theoretical and it doesn't take into consideration the actual terrain, trees or the giant steel-roofed warehouse across the street or blocks away.

A couple years ago I read a report where a solar panel farm (miles away) was (apparently) the reason OTA failed for one viewer ... because the panels were continually being rotated toward the sun and at somepoint, they apparently became a reflector and created multipath toward that particular viewer.

Consequently, TVFOOL reports are far from perfect and in real terms, they present little more than potential signal strength levels (rf field strength) as if the world was as smooth as a bowling ball. Nevertheless, it is a valuable tool. In my location, their north, west and south numbers are pretty good but everything shown to my east is absolutely worthless and that's where the majority of the channels in my region are located.

Back to the basics: try an antenna, scan. Move the antenna and rescan - over and over again. In my case, I have tried at least a dozen different antennas and finally, I built three of my own to make OTA work here.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Great Advice!

WOW, you guys are too good to be true!
This is all such great advice.
I wonder since we are very close to a massive bridge to our east if it will be a problem?
We will try all of the above. Thank you ALL so much for your time and support!
Su

 

[dkreichen1968]

WOW, you guys are too good to be true!
This is all such great advice.
I wonder since we are very close to a massive bridge to our east if it will be a problem?
We will try all of the above. Thank you ALL so much for your time and support!
Su

I wouldn't cross that bridge till I got to it (okay that wasn't meant as a pun, but it came out that way). Could a bridge act as a reflector and cause multipath interference? Yes, but I wouldn't worry about that now. If it proves to be a problem you may have to find antennas with higher Front to Back ratios to kill off the unwanted reflections.

P.S. There is also a trick that people have used in high multipath enviroments where they build a Fariday cage around the antenna so it only sees signals from one direction.

 

[Fringe Reception]

... There is also a trick that people have used in high multipath enviroments where they build a Fariday cage around the antenna so it only sees signals from one direction.

I suspect Dan is referring to this strangely named website and be sure to check page two. Key in text the normal way

I live LOS (in the distance) to an enormous grain elevator and I worried I might have reflected signals from it (multipath) but I don't. I even tested by purposely aiming at the structure to see if there were signals echoing from it that I could take advantage of ... none.

So, don't worry about the bridge for now ... as Dan said, you may not have to cross it. (clever)

Jim

 

[scandiskwindows9x]

The bridge only is people passing by or also cars? Isn't for take lightly this point due the cars may cause dynamic multipath and made unstable the signal received .

Best regards
Francisco

Sent from my LG-P500h using Tapatalk 2