The newegg info for the DB4 says it is capable of 15-55 miles away, but I'm wondering why it doesn't say 1-55 miles away. I noticed the DB2 says it's capable of "up to 30 miles away". After checking antennaweb, I got the following information about my location:

Channel Network Compass.Heading Miles Frequency.Assignment
4.1 NBC 43° 5.2 45
2.1 FOX 52° 3.7 58
62.1 CBS 76° 5.0 44
50.1 CW 338° 4.9 14
7.1 ABC 20° 3.4 41
56.1 PBS 77° 5.0 43
20.1 MNT 77° 5.0 21
39.1 IND 72° 21.3 39
11.1 CBS 194° 52.1 11
31.1 ION 273° 41.1 31

My question is, will the DB4 pull down the 1-15 mile range as well as the 15-55? Are there any disadvantages to the DB4 compared to the DB2? Your thoughts and opinions will be appreciated. Your facts and logic will be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Is there something specific I need to do to tune to the frequency assignments or do I just need to figure out which compass heading the antenna should point? Further, given all of those compass headings listed, which angle should I point my antenna (with respect to magnetic north)? Please let me know how you came to your answer.

Using a high gain antenna too close to a transmitter can cause overload in your receiver. It's a bit counter intuitive, but too much gain can cause poor reception.

You have an unfortunate situation with several channels really close and a few far away. In your situation, I'd probably try a simple non-amplified indoor rabbit ear/UHF loop combo, and give up on the distant stations. You may be able to get IND on 31.1 if it's line of sight, but you probably won't get 11.1 or 31.1 (11.1 is no big loss though because you have CBS on 62.1 close by).

Others may have other suggestions.

Is your antenna to be mounted in an attic or outside? Depending on roof composition it can decrease your signal. How big or many splitters if any are you planning on installing from the antenna? This too will affect the signal strength to your TV tuner.
I live approximately 20 mi from the antenna farm and an outside DB2 picks up the local stations fine. Since my local stations are not at full power and some are switching frequencies from UHF to upper VHF I have a concern the DB2 may not pull in the upper VHF with a strong enough signal. UHF stations will be fine. I don't have an easy way to connect the antenna to a NTSC TV to check how it works with the current analog signals.

On the other hand I have a DB4 in my attic which does rather well with both analog (indicates 100%) and digital (indicates 70 to 90%) signal strength from a MYHD 130 tuner card. I anticipate it will be fine after the final DTV transition.

Your situation isn't identical to mine. Unfortunately there are more variables than you mentioned in determining if the DB2 or DB4 will work for you. But hopefully I have given you some additional info to consider.

My question is, will the DB4 pull down the 1-15 mile range as well as the 15-55? Are there any disadvantages to the DB4 compared to the DB2? Your thoughts and opinions will be appreciated. Your facts and logic will be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


Most of us here don't use Antennaweb.org as we are not happy with it's results.

For a much better idea of your possible reception (nothing is absolute), go to

http://tvfool.com click the big Start Here, put in your address or lat/log and how high your antenna will be mounted.

Then on the page that is displayed, click the circle that say Digital Only Post Transition.

It makes an image you can either copy and paste here, attach here as a file or link to the image.

Then we can see much better your situation.

Also as pkeegan asks how many sets and splitters will you be feeding.

And also though you don't say your location there is probably a local thread here where you can ask those close to you their results.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241
is a list of local threads on the forum. You can receive general answers here but the locals may already have solutions for your area. I hang in the Gainesville FL thread and we have already pinned down specific antenna systems for some of our areas just from people buying and trying. What worked and what didn't.

I am installing the antenna on the roof. However, I can't do it right now because of the snowy weather in Michigan. I've heard installing anything on a cold roof can cause leaks despite using tar to seal things.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv341/stinkmeanor/Radar-Digital2.png