Re: OTA reception questions

w wrote:
> One important thing that I found was to get information about the DTV
> broadcast Stations. I've discovered that some are at full power, some
> at half and some are at the FCC minimum.
> I found that I could pull in a station that was 90 miles away, but
> had a slight problem pulling one in that was only 30 miles away due
> to it broadcasting a low power signal.
> r/ ww
>

It can also be your type of antenna and it's orientation.

> Mark Atanovich wrote:
>> Howdy,
>> I've just upgraded to a HD set top box and have installed an OTA
>> antenna to pull in local HD broadcasts and improve FM reception
>> (roof mounted Channel master 3016 connected via diplexer on
>> satellite dish cable...total run from OTA antenna to stb is
>> something just short of 100') .  Things work fairly well, but I'm
>> having difficulty bringing in the "blue" stations, as defined by the
>> info supplied at antennaweb.org.  One blue station only registers 15
>> on the stb meter and the other two don't register at all.
>> Questions:
>>
>> 1.  How much stock should I put in the antennaweb recommendations?
>> They claim to take local terrain into account, but I'm somewhat
>> skeptical (I'm in the Scottsdale, Az area with Mummy Mt. between me
>> and the broadcast towers).
>>
>> 2. Antennaweb recommends a preamp in addition to the medium
>> directional antenna; I have not yet installed the preamp.  Will the
>> preamp make a large enough differerence that the stations that don't
>> currently register at all to give a stable, high quality picture?
>>
>> 3. I'm not interested in VHF signals and FM reception is just fine.
>> Do UHF preamps provide unity gain for non-UHF frequencies or filter
>> them out?  What out UHF/VHF preamps with FM traps?
>>
>> 5. Should I ditch the 3016 and FM reception and go straight to
>> something hardcore like a Channel Master 4248?  Any other "cult"
>> favorites for those in my situation?
>>
>> Thanks in advance