OTA Advice

[cal87]

I need some advice on possibly getting a new OTA. I am going to have someone re-route all of my cables soon, so if I do anything with my OTA, I want it done at the same time.

Here is my situation. I live in Tracy, CA. It is about 70 miles south of Sacramento from which I currently receive my OTA HD broadcasts. The terrain is very flat and I get a good signal with the Winegard bar antenna that DirecTV installed.

What I would like is to receive the San Francisco stations if possible. SF is 60 miles west, Oakland about 45 miles, and San Jose about 60 miles. The problem is that there is a mountain range - about 15 miles west of me, 1000ft elevation at the top.
I met a guy a while back at Best Buy (a customer, not an employee). He said that he was able to receive OTA from SF stations from Tracy. I lost his contact info, so I have not been able to see his setup and verify. I haven't been able to get info from anyone else.

My question is does this sound feasible? What kind of antenna would I need? Is there any difference between some of the more expensive antennas and a cheap one from Radio Shack? Does higher elevation above the roof make a difference? I am in a 2 story house, and there is nothing higher in the area, only the mountain range that I described.

 

[newsposter]

try here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=45

and ask in those local threads...maybe someone lives near you

 

[Ricknau]

Well, I'm not an expert on how the signal does going over a mountain but if the guy seemed believable then it may be possible.

What kind of antenna would I need? Is there any difference between some of the more expensive antennas and a cheap one from Radio Shack?

Yes there can be a difference. But it often doesn't depend on the price. Find out if the stations are UHF or VHF. What you need, at the distances you are talking about, is an antenna with a lot of "gain". And if you only need UHF, no antenna out there has more gain than the Winegard PR-9032. (search similar posts and you'll see that I tout this antenna a lot.) It only costs about $45 in my area. I have a friend who uses it to pull in stations at ~60 miles. (Flat terrain) I use one model down from it (PR-9022) and I get stations at 57 and 62 miles at 100% strength on my STB meter. (again, flat terrain)

http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/pr-9032.pdf

Radio Shack antennas can be OK but I found it hard to get data on them. I was only able to get data on a couple and they had only average specs. You need better than average. If you need VHF also I'm afraid I can't make any recommendations based on experience. Search around and just keep "gain" in mind. Be aware the a small difference in dB can mean a lot in performance. 1dB more is about 25% more gain. An antenna with 3dB more than another delivers twice the signal power.

Does higher elevation above the roof make a difference? I am in a 2 story house, and there is nothing higher in the area, only the mountain range that I described.

Yes it can make a big difference. I'd go for all the height I can reasonably get. And get a rotor unless the stations are very close together in direction.

Also, use ONLY good quality RG-6 cable. It has less signal drop per foot and this can be a big factor in how much signal power makes it to your TV if the cable run is long. You may also benefit from an amp if the run is long.

Good luck.