Over a year ago, I put a Radio Shack U-75R antenna in the attic of my two story house with surprisingly excellent results. I get a crystal clear picture on many digital stations and will often watch a network program in HD OTA rather than through my cable system. When I recently switched out an old analog TV for a new LCD, I decided that I would like to have that hooked up to an antenna as well. Since this TV is on the main level and access to running the cable was not going to be easy, I decided I would put the antenna on the outside of the house. My set up is far from ideal. My next door neighbor's house is very close and because our street curves, the front of our houses are closer than the back. The antenna farm for the main networks faces toward the front of the house. There is no direct blockage from the houses, but there are trees. And although I have the antenna only 5' off the ground, I didn't think the conditions would have been worse than picking up a signal in an attic. Anyway, many stations come in crystal clear, but FOX and ABC will at times have pixelation. I have tried to be as precise as I can given that the main antenna farm is located around 136 degrees. I tried using a compass to direct the boom of the antenna, but the reception outside is not as good as the attic one. Before the attic install, I thought I'd have a problem with these two stations because I believe they may be broadcast on VHF and the antenna is a UHF, but as mentioned, there is no problem with the attic. The sets are different with the Sony getting the clearer picture than the LG. The antenna farm is <15 miles away and the antenna is rated for at least 3x that range. Any thoughts/suggestions?

As you say, Fox and ABC are on VHF, and that's a UHF antenna. Furthermore, antennas tend to have problems when mounted too close to the ground. How close "too close" is depends on the wavelength, but 5' is almost certainly "too close" for VHF. Best bet: Raise your antenna, and get an antenna which is designed to do VHF.

I believe the reason the U75R receives VHF is that there's some reception not from the UHF elements, but from the metal boom. If that's the case, the best VHF reception should be with the antenna turned sideways to the tower. Of course that will probably result in poor UHF reception, but you're close enough that you may be able to find an aim direction which gets you both.

Thank you nybbler for the suggestion. Last night I adjusted the aim of the boom moving it 15-20 degrees or so off of the direct angle. Both FOX and ABC came in clearly as do CBS, NBC and PBS along with several other stations of less interest. That solution appears to be the answer. Perhaps at some point I'll add another 5' pole on top of the existing one, but for now I think I'm all set.