(quoted from post at 06:23:09 02/28/11) www.antennaweb.org is an online antenna selector. It uses your address into to find;
which stations are available to you; the direction and distance to each station's broadcast tower; and gives some antenna recommends based on distances.
Antennaweb tends to be ultra-conservative with their estimates. It's not a bad site, but IMHO, there are better ones. TV FOOL
http://tvfool.com/ and RabbitEars
http://www.rabbitears.info/search.php are better sites for estimating available signals. TV FOOL ocassionally gets an older FCC permit thrown in or something, and a station shows up with the wrong RF channel or different broadcasting location.
An 8 bay Channel Master antenna 25 feet off the ground with a 28dB Winegard antenna mounted amplifier work well for me at 75 miles from a 1300 foot and two 1200 foot towers. They have been trouble free since they went up in 2003.
I bet you have the "old" model 4228. It was the Cadillac of 8-bays. The new, "HD" model has some issues (see link below). The phasing issues can be corrected, but why should a person have to fix a new antenna?
Proof that an "older" antenna can be better than a "new" one in this case, and some other neat antenna comparisons:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/TemporaryPage.html
I want to replace my TV antenna . move it to a tower , that it off the roof .. tower is 48 feet tall .. going from back side of house { walkout } it should be around 20 feet above the peek ...
QUESTION : is there a antenna better than another ?? also I want to run the better tv wire in the house ... any suggestion on wire type ??
Antenna will run 2-3 TV's
I don't have any idea ... so your HELP is GREATLY APPREATE ...
THANKS ... Mark
48 feet + a coulple of feet above the top of the tower is a great start. A distribution amplifier is usually the way to go when splitting the signal, provided that you don't over amplify a strong local signal. Distribution amps are available with various gain levels, as are pre-amplifiers. Be careful using both a pre-amp and a distribution amp. Occasionally you can introduce more "noise" and cause more problems in some situations. Use terminators on any unused terminals on all splitters and amps. Use RG-6 or RG-6 quad shield cable.
There are still Lo-VHF, Hi-VHF, and UHF channels broadcasting. Use TV FOOL or RabbitEars (links above) to find your stations. You need to know the RF channels not the virtual channels to find out what type of antenna you need.
The FCC is currently (and quietly) trying to eliminate another 120+ mHz from UHF television for the prez's National Broadband plan. They got a good start with their $200+ million dollar broadband map that, based on some other internet forums, isn't even accurate.
Article:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380525,00.asp
Map:
http://www.broadbandmap.gov/technology
They are trying to make this look voluntary, but it seems to be a surrender now or be shot later situation. LPTV could possibly be forced from the air in many areas. Even if you don't have VHF channels today, the odds are quite good that within 5 years you will have some if Congress approves voluntary spectrum auctions. None of this is set in stone, but the rock is there and there are men with chisels at the ready.
The above, sadly, is also something to consider when pruchasing an antenna if you plan on it lasting longer than 5 years.
AG