ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
You could be right, presently I’m aimed at 278 which is west, I’m thinking about aiming at the towers at 173 which is south
Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna with Mast
- Thread starter ChuckO
- Start date
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I’m not overly thrilled with the chimney mount, I’m going to look into a different mountI used something similar for DTV (and later, Dish Network) and it worked well for me. Of course, the more you use it, the better you get at using it. What really made a difference for satellite antenna aiming for me was a lensatic compass like this:
View attachment 108147
There may be something better or more appropriate for your needs out there, but this is what I used for finding potential obstructions. I remember one time in particular at Patrick's Point I swear I was shooting over the tops of the trees but any little breeze would cause me to lose signal.
View attachment 108149
Also, you could buy an antenna tripod (mine is a Radio Shack but probably NLA) and a decent length of pipe from a fencing store and change your antenna location to try to find a better spot.
Wilmer Cogburn
TVWBB Super Fan
My iPhone compass app would go nuts when it was within 10-15' or so of the antenna and produce bogus results.
Ultimately I used it on the ground, aimed the iPhone, saw a target on the horizon, and aimed the antenna there by eye while on the roof.
Ultimately I used it on the ground, aimed the iPhone, saw a target on the horizon, and aimed the antenna there by eye while on the roof.
Brett-EDH
TVWBB Olympian
exactly. i aim when no antenna is nearby and then i tack down a blue masking tape strip in the direction i need to aim towards. then install the antenna and align it's face with the masking tape's direction. and then do any fine tuning while running live to the tv to confirm picture visual quality.
Keith Jenkins
TVWBB Fan
ChuckO, please forgive me for asking if you already have the amp bypassed, but since you don't have power to the amp, have you been connected through the amp, or is your antenna lead to your single test TV connected directly to the antenna? For locating signals without power to the amp, I would start with a lead directly between the antenna and a single TV, no splitters, no amps, etc. Once you can get power to the amp, you can try reception with the amp in-line, but no splitters until you know how much signal you're getting. The signal loss through an un-powered amp can be pretty high.
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I bypassed the amp entirely, the cable was straight from the antenna directly to the TV. I picked up the cables I needed, connected the amp to the antenna, connected the power module (the thing that looks like a splitter and has a low/high gain switch) I'm still aimed at 278 degrees (west) and I get nothing. Tried both high & low gain.....Nothing. There's two towers between 170 & 175, so I'll aim the antenna at 173 and see if I can get them. If not, my last resort is aiming at 214. If that doesn't work, I need to second guess my set up. Maybe if I go higher (add another 10' to the pole) try a different antenna location (not overly thrilled the the chimney strap set up) or.......Hopefully ya'll have some other suggestions.
Maybe a setup like this one about a mile from my house
Attachments
Keith Jenkins
TVWBB Fan
Chuck,
I looked at a few of those DTV reception mapping sites that i know take the surrounding terrain into account, and entered your location information.
The first one is the official FCC DTV reception maps site, which states:
"These predictions are based on a terrain-sensitive propagation model resembling but not identical to the propagation model used when calculating service and interference contours for licensed broadcast television stations. Actual signal strength may vary based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, building construction, neighboring buildings and trees, weather, and specific reception hardware. Your signal strength may be significantly lower in extremely hilly areas."
That site uses a default 30ft antenna mounting height, and came up with only three stations that are in possible reception range (KRCR, an ABC affiliate, KIXE, a PBS affiliate, and KNVN, an NBC affiliate):
The other site is TVFool.com, which while uses data that is somewhat stale, seemed to agree with the FCC site.
I was able to specify an antenna height on the TVFool site, so initially I tried what I thought would be a more realistic 10 ft height - you can see those results here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=b0fed827d332e0
With antennas, higher is very often better, so I tried some hypothetical what-if heights to see if I could get at least some of the stations to have a path of "line of sight" (LOS) rather than "single edge diffraction" (1Edge). At a 95 ft(!) antenna height, I was able to get the top three listed stations to be LOS. See those results here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=b0fe8e4cfaa7fc . Not sure you'd want to attempt to mount an antenna on a tower that high though.
I looked at a few of those DTV reception mapping sites that i know take the surrounding terrain into account, and entered your location information.
The first one is the official FCC DTV reception maps site, which states:
"These predictions are based on a terrain-sensitive propagation model resembling but not identical to the propagation model used when calculating service and interference contours for licensed broadcast television stations. Actual signal strength may vary based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, building construction, neighboring buildings and trees, weather, and specific reception hardware. Your signal strength may be significantly lower in extremely hilly areas."
That site uses a default 30ft antenna mounting height, and came up with only three stations that are in possible reception range (KRCR, an ABC affiliate, KIXE, a PBS affiliate, and KNVN, an NBC affiliate):
The other site is TVFool.com, which while uses data that is somewhat stale, seemed to agree with the FCC site.
I was able to specify an antenna height on the TVFool site, so initially I tried what I thought would be a more realistic 10 ft height - you can see those results here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=b0fed827d332e0
With antennas, higher is very often better, so I tried some hypothetical what-if heights to see if I could get at least some of the stations to have a path of "line of sight" (LOS) rather than "single edge diffraction" (1Edge). At a 95 ft(!) antenna height, I was able to get the top three listed stations to be LOS. See those results here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=b0fe8e4cfaa7fc . Not sure you'd want to attempt to mount an antenna on a tower that high though.
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Good info Keith, thanks! I'm coming to the conclusion that OTA TV might not be in my cards.
I'm going to move my antenna to the side of the house where I can best aim for 274 degrees using this mount, I'm not a fan of the chimney mount
Universal Antenna Mount
The Universal TV Antenna Mount is a unique mounting solution enabling consumers and professionals to easily install different types of outdoor antennas.
www.channelmaster.com
I'm going to some additional "stackable" poles similar to this which I bought for free with my amazon points
That should put my antenna about 45' in the air. If that doesn't work, I'm probably going to abandon the project. I'll be $500+ into it, and that's my usual enough is enough dollar figure for projects trending toward failure. I'll package everything up and give it to my son, he's down in Discovery Bay and he has many towers available to aim at. He would probably get a kick out of it
It's not dead and stinking yet, but it does stink, LOL
Keith Jenkins
TVWBB Fan
Yeah, I was disappointed when I uncovered that OTA may not work for you, but I felt that I had to let you know before you got too much farther into the project.Good info Keith, thanks! I'm coming to the conclusion that OTA TV might not be in my cards.
I'm going to move my antenna to the side of the house where I can best aim for 274 degrees using this mount, I'm not a fan of the chimney mount
Universal Antenna Mount
The Universal TV Antenna Mount is a unique mounting solution enabling consumers and professionals to easily install different types of outdoor antennas.
I'm going to some additional "stackable" poles similar to this which I bought for free with my amazon points
That should put my antenna about 45' in the air. If that doesn't work, I'm probably going to abandon the project. I'll be $500+ into it, and that's my usual enough is enough dollar figure for projects trending toward failure. I'll package everything up and give it to my son, he's down in Discovery Bay and he has many towers available to aim at. He would probably get a kick out of it
It's not dead and stinking yet, but it does stink, LOL
Maybe getting some more height would help with the two strongest stations on those lists, but one can't say for sure.
While the antenna model you have has worked well for me, I don't have the terrain challenges that you have at your location.
My late father had a place in the Allegheny mountains of western Pennsylvania years ago, and he tried several things to get OTA, but had to settle for only two or three stations in the end.
That result was from a large antenna on a tall tower, and was years before DTV was a thing.
Believe it or not, but one thing he actually found that sort of worked was to have the antenna near the ground, but pointed in the direction of one of the stronger stations and up slope of the mountain in between his place and the transmitting antenna.
I think in that case, Dad's antenna was picking up a ground wave that had diffracted (bent) over the top of the mountain and traveled down the side opposite of the station's antenna. But that was only for one station, and reception was inconsistent.
John Saldana
TVWBB Fan
Mounted my new antenna with rotator on my AC unit on the roof, big improvement over my old one, on the TV's channel search it would scan over 70 channels, with this new antenna I'm getting over 100, getting channels didn't realize were out there, very happy with this setup.
Brett-EDH
TVWBB Olympian
you in Fresno or Stockton? what are you aple to see in the valley?
John Saldana
TVWBB Fan
I'm in Porterville midway between Fresno and Bakersfield. zip. 93257
Antennas Direct | TV Transmitter Locator and Mapping Tool
Find your nearest digital TV transmitter with Antennas Direct's mapping tool. It's a quick and easy way to find digital television transmitters (DTVs) nearest to your location.
Keith Jenkins
TVWBB Fan
Looks good John. It looks like you have quite a few stations available:I'm in Porterville midway between Fresno and Bakersfield. zip. 93257
Antennas Direct | TV Transmitter Locator and Mapping Tool
Find your nearest digital TV transmitter with Antennas Direct's mapping tool. It's a quick and easy way to find digital television transmitters (DTVs) nearest to your location.www.antennasdirect.com
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Nice set up John, I imagine you might be able to pick up the towers at Twin Cities Road @ Highway 5 (north of you) When we were kids, we used to climb those towers. The Sheriff got tired of telling us to not climb them, so he said "try not to hit too many rungs when you fall, we don't want a big mess for all to see."
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I gave up and the setup needs a good home, see the for sale post here
