OTA Questions

[Wesro]

Sorry to bother you guys again but I am still trying to figure out my OTA setup situation. I was getting ABC, CBS and FOX from the North of me. When the guy came and installed my Slimline dish right in front of my OTA antenna I am not able to get FOX anymore. The antenna is only about five feet above above the eave of my house so it is not clearing the very top of my roof at all. I measured and the top of the antenna is about 16 feet from the ground.

I am wanting to get a longer pole say around 30 feet. The way the antenna is mounted now is I bought two antenna mounts from Crutchfield and have them stacked on top of each other and drilled into the eave of the house.

The first question is I am an hour from any type of lowes or home depot. So, I need to know exactly what I am going for. I have heard talk of telescoping antenna masts and some folks say that uncut galvanized fence pipe will work. Which is better?

The next question is can I use the old mounts that are drilled into the eave of the house to secure it to the side of the house? I estimate that the mounts would be just about center of the pole from the gound to the top of the pole. I wasn't sure how many mounts I needed.

The last question is what is the best way to gound it? I was thinking of just buying some wire and running it from the antenna around the house to the power box ground rod.

Sorry for all of this but I have never really done OTA. Thanks!

 

[Voyager6]

I think that you only need to get your OTA antenna about 5 - 6 feet above the sat dish for it work properly again. I would add one more mast section to your current set-up.

 

[TRG]

I think that you only need to get your OTA antenna about 5 - 6 feet above the sat dish for it work properly again. I would add one more mast section to your current set-up.

Either that or call the installer back that installed the dish in front of the OTA antenna. He should know better than that.

 

[Don_M]

The last question is what is the best way to gound it? I was thinking of just buying some wire and running it from the antenna around the house to the power box ground rod.

Please read "Grounding outdoor antennas" about three-quarters of the way down this page. It describes the proper methods and materials needed to do this the right way -- as specified by the National Electrical Code.

 

[navychop]

Above 10' of mast you'll want guy wires.

 

[Wesro]

Thanks for the grounding article. It was a very good read.

I ordered a extra five foot mast today so I will extend the antenna to be 10 feet above the eave of the house. That will hopefully get it above the Slimline dish and get my FOX back. I am hoping I could also pull in my NBC but they are about 50 miles away and are only broadcasting at 50kw so I think that would be wishful thinking.

Below is a picture of my current setup. I have a Channel Master 4228 with a pre-amp mounted on a five foot mast. The brackets are screwed into the eave. When I add the extra mast to make it 10 feet from the eave would the current way I have it mounted be secure enough to handle the extra mast?

Also, I filled a few holes in the eave today and as you can tell I didn't match the paint right. Guess I need to stick to my computer business and never get into carpentry.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[boba]

Where is that slimline dish that is supposed to be b;ocking your signal, I don't see it in your picture.

If you mount a 5' pipe on top of what you have now I think you will be picking it up off the ground after the first wind. You are adding a 10' lever with the fulcrum point being those 2 nounting brackets. The 4228 is quite a sail when it comes to catching the wind.

 

[Wesro]

The dish is about five feet away directly in front of the antenna. I couldn't take a picture of both as it was night and I couldn't get the flash to bounce off both the dish and the antenna at the same time. So no go on the extra five feet on the antenna? Then I am out of ideas. Not real sure where to go from here. No one around here has anything close to a 30 foot long piece of pipe. So that is why I was trying to go the extra five foot pipe route.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[boba]

Went back to your other OTA thread and your zipcode is 36027. Using TV fool your broadcasters are less than 40 miles from you and the direction is 30-46 degrees basically a North facing antenna. Using directv the 101 satellite where your Slimline is aimed is at 207 degrees a little West of South. Your TV antenna probably is facing the opposite direction your Directv dish is facing. Try running the cable from your 4228 directly to your tuner remove that pre amp at the bottom of the antenna and remove the power supply so the antenna is connected directly to the tuner nothing in between. The wire mesh is the back side of the antenna and should be the SOUTH side of the antenna.

 

[Wesro]

Your right the antenna and the dish are in opposite directions. I have removed the pre-amp and and the power supply and when I do I get no picture on any digital channels. So I guess the pre-amp is a must.

 

[boba]

You really shouldn't need a preamp I am 60 miles away without one but again I may have stronger broadcasters I haven't compared yours and mine.

 

[Acerbean]

The dish is about five feet away directly in front of the antenna. I couldn't take a picture of both as it was night and I couldn't get the flash to bounce off both the dish and the antenna at the same time. So no go on the extra five feet on the antenna? Then I am out of ideas. Not real sure where to go from here. No one around here has anything close to a 30 foot long piece of pipe. So that is why I was trying to go the extra five foot pipe route.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Go to your hardware store, Lowes, Home Depot, etc and get a 10ft piece of 1.5 or 2 inch steel electrical conduit. Just make sure the antenna can fit onto whichever diameter you buy. Have the 10ft pipe extend below the eave by about 2 feet(the other 8ft above the eave) and use a y or w bracket to attach to the exterior that has the proper length for your eave's overhang. Obviously attach to the eave as well but this option will put you about 8 feet above the eave. You could probably find the conduit in 20 foot lengths also and cut it to 15ft or leave it the full 20ft. I personally used 2 brackets below the eave and one on the eave on my setup which is a 10' long by 2" diameter steel conduit with a CM rotator on top of that and a 4' long by 1" mast on top of the rotator with a 91XG on the 1" mast. It recently withstood the Hurricane Ike remnant that blew through Ohio last month with steady 60mph winds and gusts exceeding 75mph. I was pretty happy my contraption held up without so much as a blip in reception during the 8 hour windstorm to boot. I can't post links yet but go to SolidSignal.com and click the "installation tools" tab, then click the "mounting supplies" tab and hunt for the brackets I mentioned to visualize what I'm talking about. It will work.

Acerbean

 

[Bulbman2]

cm4228

Is a tripod out of the question>
That looks like the simplest solution.

I am using a cm4228 with 7777 preamp--- mounted with a tripod. absolutely great success

John