I want to pickup OTA UHF signals, but unfortunately, some signals are not strong enough with the unknown antenna installed in the attic by the previous owner. The signals I'd like to pick up are primarily in two directions. There is a cluster of antennas at about 15 miles away at 184-185 degrees, an antenna 48 miles away at 23 degrees, and an antenna 5 miles away at 5 degrees. I'd like to stick with rotorless attic mounts if possible.

Can I pick up the station 48 miles away without overdriving my tuner with the station 5 miles away?

How feasable is it to combine two UHF antennas to get these stations in near-opposite directions?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Please list detailed info

transmit channels by direction and with mileage.

Please post your zip code as well. It would also be useful to post a description of the antenna in attic and exactly which stations do you get with it.

But to answer your primary question, yes it is possible to pick up stations 48 miles away by aiming an antenna at or near it while picking up the closer stations. Your station at 5 miles is not that far off in azimuth from the more distant stations and the stations at 15 miles are close to the opposite directions which might be able to picked up in the backlobe of the antenna. But avoid using a powerful pre-amp or don't use a pre-amp at all. But this depends on the power and signal strength of the stations at 5 & 48 miles and your terrain.

Antennaweb seems kinda flakey, with channels appearing or dropping if I move around the area. This is the best case scenario.

Channel Compass Miles Frequency
31 184° 14.6 31
31.1 184° 14.6 30
19 184° 14.5 19
19.1 184° 14.5 14
8 5° 5.2 8
8.1 5° 5.2 41
25 185° 14.7 25
13 23° 48.7 13
23 172° 18.6 23
62 272° 11.3 62
13.1 23° 48.7 39
25.1 185° 14.7 17

Oh, and our current attic antenna isn't easily accessible, or at least I won't be able to get to it today. As I understand it, to make it more multi-directional, the PO had trimmed some shielding or reflectors off or something. I didn't catch the details.

We're located in a wide valley for the most part, but the analog counterpart for most of these stations are obtainable from the same locations. I would assume the digital signals should be obtainable as well.

We're located in a wide valley for the most part, but the analog counterpart for most of these stations are obtainable from the same locations. I would assume the digital signals should be obtainable as well.
Depends on whether the digital stations are at full power or not. Also are they are UHF or VHF? Again, please provide your zip code and/or your full antennaweb list for the digital stations with call letters. Go back to antennaweb.org and enter an antenna height of 50' or 100' for your address to get a more complete list of the local digital stations.

I cut the previous one down to make sure it was still readable. Here is the full antennaweb response.

DTV Antenna
Type Call Sign Channel Network City State Live
Date Compass
Orientation Miles
From Frequency
Assignment
yellow - uhf
WHLA 31 PBS LA CROSSE WI 184° 14.6 31
* yellow - uhf
WHLA-DT 31.1 PBS LA CROSSE WI 184° 14.6 30
yellow - uhf
WXOW 19 ABC LA CROSSE WI 184° 14.5 19
* yellow - uhf
WXOW-DT 19.1 ABC LA CROSSE WI 184° 14.5 14
yellow - vhf
WKBT 8 CBS LA CROSSE WI 5° 5.2 8
* yellow - uhf
WKBT-DT 8.1 CBS LA CROSSE WI 5° 5.2 41
yellow - uhf
WLAX 25 FOX LA CROSSE WI 185° 14.7 25
blue - vhf
WEAU 13 NBC EAU CLAIRE WI 23° 48.7 13
blue - uhf
KQEG-CA 23 IND LA CRESCENT MN 172° 18.6 23
blue - uhf
K62EV 62 NBC WINONA MN 272° 11.3 62
* violet - uhf
WEAU-DT 13.1 NBC EAU CLAIRE WI 23° 48.7 39
* violet - uhf
WLAX-DT 25.1 FOX LA CROSSE WI 185° 14.7 17

For your digital channels on the UHF side you might be able to get away with a single large non-directional UHF antenna such as the CM 4228 with a UHF amp (that works for my sister in the opposite dirction from Eau Claire to LaCrosse for her to get WKBT digital and Fox). Since she has Dish also she currently isn't needing to worry about the analog channels wrom LaCrosse though.

If the Trempaleau range is between your location and EC you could maybe combine a Yagi pointed toward EC and a smaller non-directional antenna for the LC stations.

As for balancing the signal strength some combiners/amps provide attenuator settings per input however I've never had to use one so maybe others can continue on that idea).

We're located in a wide valley for the most part, but the analog counterpart for most of these stations are obtainable from the same locations. I would assume the digital signals should be obtainable as well.



Scimon, Just post your zip code that all Aliggatt needs. He is very good at getting info about the station transmit power and terrian. Also just because you can get analog don't not mean you can get digital also. If they are on the same tower the most likely the digital is below the analog antenna and may not have same coverage as analog due to reduced power and lower antenna height until they go full power and in 2009 they can remove the analog antenna and move up the digital antenna up and get little more coverages.

I pinged afiggatt offline with my zip. I can't thank him and everyone else enough. He also recommended the CM 4228 pointed towards (or a little north of) Eau Claire. That is along the same line as what I was thinking initially, except I had been looking at the DB8 at antennasdirect. I can find a lot more info on the CM 4228 though, so that is probably a safer choice. I'm slightly concerned about fitting this into our attic. Positioning it may be more difficult yet as rafters will probably prohibit rotation of this antenna.

I'm also a little concerned that the back lobe may not be deep enough for the UHF signals 15 miles away in La Crosse. The diagrams I came across at the hdtvprimer site show an impressive backlobe for the upper VHF range, but not nearly as much for the UHF signals. That is why I thought maybe combining two smaller antennas aimed in opposite directions would be an option, although I understand this may be easier said than done.

Afiggatt also pointed out something that I had neglected to consider. which is the fact that some of these stations will be broadcasting their digital signals on the frequency they are currently using for analog. That is going to force me to consider retaining something capable of VHF signals. I also should have asked if any of the additional sub-channels will need to be considered. For instance, antennaweb shows 8.1 and 19.1, but I know for a fact that there are additional channels which do not appear. For instance, I know there are also channels 8.2, 19.2, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4 and 31.5. I don't have any idea what frequencies these other channels are mapped from. Do these need to be taken into consideration as well?

Thanks again for all the help!

II'm also a little concerned that the back lobe may not be deep enough for the UHF signals 15 miles away in La Crosse. The diagrams I came across at the hdtvprimer site show an impressive backlobe for the upper VHF range, but not nearly as much for the UHF signals. That is why I thought maybe combining two smaller antennas aimed in opposite directions would be an option, although I understand this may be easier said than done.
I get a upper VHF (12) and two UHF stations, one of them over 50 miles away from the backside of my CM 4221 4 Bay. The long range UHF station is a bit of a fluke as it is located up at a high elevation, but it does come in. Before you start thinking about 2 antennas, give the CM 4228 or even the CM 4221 a shot.

I also should have asked if any of the additional sub-channels will need to be considered. For instance, antennaweb shows 8.1 and 19.1, but I know for a fact that there are additional channels which do not appear. For instance, I know there are also channels 8.2, 19.2, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4 and 31.5. I don't have any idea what frequencies these other channels are mapped from.
8.1 and 8.2 are sub-channels for 1 station, in your case WKBT-DT CBS 8 broadcasting on UHF 41. ATSC digital broadcasting provides for up to 6 sub-channels to be part of a single broadcast channel (depending on how much over-compression of the HD and SD sub-channels they want to try to get away with). You have only 5 digital stations showing up on antennaweb, although I suspect you may get the ABC station in Eau Claire.

Hey Sicmon, Glad that aliggatt helped you out. For attic mount CM 4228 or 4221 would be good choice. I have a 4228 and it well built unit and it heavy but cheaper and better than DB-8. Just don't make the mount permanent right away you may need to move around to find the sweet spot. Just don't give up on the 1st try if it fails.

For instance, I know there are also channels 8.2, 19.2, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4 and 31.5. I don't have any idea what frequencies these other channels are mapped from. Do these need to be taken into consideration as well?

the answer is yes. they need to be taken into account and you already know that!

so what does that mean...ghosting and reflection can happen when you just connect two antennas together involving multiple channels at varying signal levels.

the antennas may work but the combinations may not. the channels in one direction are much stronger than in the other direction.

Before you start thinking about 2 antennas, give the CM 4228. Leaning more towards the cm 4228. The cm4221 is typically a 20-35 mile antenna and may not be adeqate for Eau Claire .

For your digital channels on the UHF side you might be able to get away with a single large non-directional UHF antenna such as the CM 4228 with a UHF amp (that works for my sister in the opposite dirction from Eau Claire to LaCrosse for her to get WKBT digital and Fox). Since she has Dish also she currently isn't needing to worry about the analog channels wrom LaCrosse though.

If the Trempaleau range is between your location and EC you could maybe combine a Yagi pointed toward EC and a smaller non-directional antenna for the LC stations.

you may need more than just a sweetspot. this process is not always cut and dry and depend on countless variables.