I have looked for reviews for the Lacrosse antenna available from Antennas Direct, but I have not seen many that are conclusive. I was wondering if anyone knew the difference between using the pre-amp from Lacrosse or getting the CM 7777 pre-amp.

For the curious, I live at 19406-1528 and below is the listing of channels from antennaweb. Based on reviews I might go with a CM 4221 4bay mounted in my loft (aka finished attic) facing out a window in the direction of Philadelphia. I have a HOA and I was told by my neighbor that getting a normal antenna mounted outside will be a problem.

I am using a silver sensor at the moment and I can only receive ABC (64), FOX (42), and CBS (26) without problems. I live near the bottom of a sloping landscape (meaning its pretty much uphill from where I live if you go in the direction of Philadelphia).

The really odd part is the MNT (54), yellow range, does not come in at all unless I do some odd re-orientation of the antenna. CW (32) and PBS (34) have no sound. If play around with the antenna I might get sound with CW, but I screw up the signal for the other channels. NBC (67), red range, comes in pretty well, but signal drops off intermittently.

From what I have read I believe that I have a fading problem. If I am way off-base in picking the Lacrosse, please do tell me so. Based on a PDF rating from Terrestrial Digital, the Lacrosse seems to be equivalent to the Winegard Square Shooter.


yellow - uhf WPVI-DT 6.1 ABC PHILADELPHIA PA 130° 9.2 64
yellow - uhf WPHL-DT 17.1 MNT PHILADELPHIA PA 130° 9.5 54
yellow - uhf WYBE-DT 34.1 PBS PHILADELPHIA PA 130° 9.5 34
yellow - uhf WTXF-DT 29.1 FOX PHILADELPHIA PA 123° 8.9 42
yellow - uhf KYW-DT 3.1 CBS PHILADELPHIA PA 130° 9.2 26
red - uhf WPSG-DT 57.1 CW PHILADELPHIA PA 130° 9.5 32
red - uhf WHYY-DT 12.1 PBS WILMINGTON DE 130° 9.4 55
red - uhf WCAU-DT 10.1 NBC PHILADELPHIA PA 129° 9.5 67

Your HOA can't stop you putting up an outside antenna, if the HOA regulations say you can't have an outside antenna they are not enforceable. See the FCC fact sheet: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

texasbrit thanks for the info. I'll spring that if I need to. :)

Some more information about tower output and height from 2150. I compared this info with the FCC database and it looks the same (reminder to those who compare, the FCC specs are in meters not feet). The ABC station does not have a "Relative Field polar plot" which is why, I'm guessing, that its not on the 2150 website. The plus and minus markers in the list show stations whose polar field my home falls under. The information seems to correspond directly with the stations that I receive, except for PBS. What I obviously don't understand is how the polar plot, antenna output and height affect my reception.


yellow - uhf WPVI-DT 6.1 ABC PHL +? 130° 9.2 64 74Kw 1089ft
yellow - uhf WPHL-DT 17.1 MNT PHL - 131° 9.5 54 500Kw 1161ft
yellow - uhf WYBE-DT 34.1 PBS PHL + 131° 9.5 34 500Kw 1125ft
yellow - uhf WTXF-DT 29.1 FOX PHL + 124° 8.9 42 305Kw 528ft
yellow - uhf KYW-DT 3.1 CBS PHL + 131° 9.2 26 770Kw 1230ft
red - uhf WPSG-DT 57.1 CW PHL - 131° 9.5 32 250Kw 1312ft
red - uhf WHYY-DT 12.1 PBS WIL - 131° 9.4 55 87Kw 850ft
red - uhf WCAU-DT 10.1 NBC PHL + 131° 9.5 67 560Kw 1237ft


I have half a mind to cross post this information in the PhildelpPhiladelphia but I'll wait.

In any case I'm going to take the chance and buy the LacrosseA. If it works, it goes up on the roof, if it doesn't, it sucks to be me and I'll try the CM 4221 4bay.

update:

I bought the LacrosseA and without the amp I can pull in all the singals I want. To the point that noise is cause more dropouts than loss of signal. I can even split the unamplified signal. The antenna is not omnidirectional (which antennas direct indicates). Aiming it in the right direction improves my signal greatly. The antenna is lighter than it looks and larger than you think it will be. The included amp and jmount make up for some of the extra cost of this antenna. Granted this amp is no CM 7777, but it does its job.

The odd part, I am still have problems pulling in the audio for CW (32) and WYBE (34). I talked with a guy at work who runs his own with amature radio broadcasts out of his van. He felt that if the sending towers are in the the exact same direction (130 degrees) and at similar heights, the lowest FOX @ 800ft and highest CW @1300ft, that obstructions were not my concern. His guess was a local disruption in signal on the same frequency. Does anyone have any ideas?

Update:

FYI, there was no noise in the reception. My Linux HTPC setup is having issues with playback. I should have posted this a while ago, but forgot to do so.