My girlfriend got rid of DirecTV and wants to go OtA.  According to TV Fool, all the broadcast towers for the local channels (CBS, NBC, etc.) are at a bearing of 40° to 46° and a range of 15.9 to 25.5 miles.  I picked up a Terk omnidirectional indoor antenna that says it's good to a range of 60 miles and we're only getting a couple channels.  I tried extending the antenna up to the attic on the corner of the house closest to the towers and that didn't help.  So tomorrow it's getting returned.

My thought at this point is a larger UHF/VHF directional.  Maybe an outdoor model but at the very least it's going in the attic.  Any experienced recommendations from the hive on a good brand or model?

Info coming. Give me a few...

ETA Yeah those are close enough together that a yagi will cut the mustard. I used to be able to say go to radio shack and ask for a UV-60, but the world has moved on.

Instead, I found you a uhf yagi that is roughly the same gain, and the company selling it has been around since at least the 80's. MCM Electronics UHF Yagi

Hope this is useful!  They do have larger models if you dot trust the mileage ratings. Omni antennas are less than ideal for stations in one direct I n, like yours are.

http://store.gomohu.com/leaf-50-indoor-amplified-hdtv-antenna.html

not directional. but worth trying.

~25 miles should easily be covered in the antenna's range.

Thanks for the info SpanishInquisition.  I have a question based on your answer.  Two of the stations' HD broadcasts are VHF.  All the rest are UHF.  Those two towers are at 15.9 and 17.8 miles respectively and TV Fool is showing Effective ERP are 34.500 kW and 77.967 kW.  I am a 'tard when it comes to this stuff.  Will that yagi antenna get the VHF broadcasts?



Thanks 501st, I've read good things about the Leaf but given what I'm reading on Reddit about people within just a few miles of NBC's tower having difficulty picking up the signal and the poor reception from the Terk Trinity that I bought I'm reluctant to spend money on another omnidirectional.  With all the broadcast towers bearing within 6° of each other I'd rather try to nail it down with a directional antenna.

Ok, the vhf makes the antenna requirements go up a little and a corner reflector yagi for UHF only won't do.

Google for CM-5016 or CM-201B.   The 201B will have more gain on UHF due to the corner reflector, also better back side rejection, though that's not a big factor from the tvfool  report you describe.

Cheers


PS seems you can buy direct from channelmaster.Com these days.

I'm looking at Channel Master's site and can't seem to find the CM-201B.  There's a CM-2018 . . . is that it?

Here's the CM-5016 which they've named the catchy Masterpiece 45.  And here's the CM-2018 that Marketing named the Digital Advantage 60.  Do these need to be mounted outside or would in the attic work?  And does it make a difference that one of the VHF channels is listed as VHF Lo and the CM-2018 ". . . is optimized for high VHF and UHF signals"?

To make it easier here's the TV Fool report.  All we care about are the local major networks:  NBC, CBS, Fox, etc.  Those that are over 50 miles away are for other markets.

2018, yeah. My bad.

VHF Low- CHannels 2-6.  VHF High- 7-13.

OK, antenna design.  The shorter pieces of antenna are for UHF, longer elements are for VHF.  

Basically, one of the antennas I cited has a single element for VHF sticking off to the sides. That's a VHF dipole antenna and offers little in the way of gain. That's pretty much the minimal effort you can do and have something that you can truly call an antenna.
The other one, you'll see 3 elements that are sized for VHF behind the UHF corner reflector. That one will have increased gain over the two element design in the direction it's aimed, but at the cost of signals from the side or behind.

If 5 is an important one to you, I'd probably go with the 2018...

UNLESS!!!!

You'll need to consider the boom length of these and determine if you can place them in your attic and have them point the tiny element end towards those targets to the NorthEast.

If you can't make that work, it'll need to go outside.  Pro-tip: Heavy duty chain link top rail is less expensive than  antenna mast sections of the same length, and will work with these smaller antennas.  :)

Yea, NBC is important.  They carry most of the Notre Dame games.  

So let me try to dumb this down to my level.  Here's that CM-2018.  Do I have the parts you're describing labeled right?  And if so, I should be able to fit it in the attic without any difficulty.  Total length is just shy of 4½'.  The northeast end of the house is over the two car garage so the attic space up there is empty.  Plenty of room to mount that thing to the ridge beam and rotate it 360° if I wanted.

Pretry much, yeah. The VHF section on the illustration is a yagi, which has gain. The first CM antenna I cited only has a single element back yhere, which is a dipole...unless the MCM people cut them out of the illustration. LOL.

And...your aim is true, good sir!


Oh, and 8/10 for effective MS Paint work!  

Thank you sir!  Your input is much appreciated and the antenna is ordered.  I'll let you know how it works when it gets here.  

Gladly. Please do give us a report once you've got it hooked up!  Hopefully, you gaid a little abstract knowledge in the deal, too.  :)

Antenna is in!  Now uh . . . it's clear the two boom pieces fit one inside the other with a bolt through the two of them to hold 'em together.  But there are two thin sheet metal U shaped pieces coming off the rear of the UHF section of the boom and the rear boom has two straight, thin metal braces coming off the front.  Both have open holes at the end as if a screw was supposed to go through them.  Maybe they're supposed to connect?  But the diagrams in the directions look like they were photocopied 50 times, handled by someone with ink all over their fingers, and then shrunk down 150% for the instruction manual.  If I need to I can try to post up some photos.  Any advice?

ETA images:

Never mind, I just didn't have enough booze in me.  I figured it out.  

Make an X and wang 'em down.

Pulled the DirecTV dish down and mounted the antenna to its pole.  The U bolt the antenna came with was just a little small for the pole diameter but I got it halfway on there and locked down before football started. I'm going to run to Lowes tomorrow and get something to fit and lock it down right.  Picture is good and we got all the channels.  Thanks again SI!  

I'm always glad to hear a success story!

Cheers!

reviving an old thread because I'm doing this...

How did you ground the antenna?

Ground the mast, not the antenna.

I did a bit of googling and there's folks who go all out, grounding the mast and the coax and everything.  It's almost got me thinking about just putting one in the attic and avoiding all of that.  I have an RCA yagi but I'm having second thoughts about using it.

RE: "going all out", If lightning is going to cross 3000 feet of sky to get to your shit, what chance does it really have if lightning's really in the mood?

Right, so they are doing a lot more than just grounding the mast like you suggested.  They seem to think that's not enough and that the coax coming into your home also needs to be grounded.

... I think you missed my point.