Andy,
As Gary points out, the attic mount causes severe signal loss. In my case, the antenna in the attic was not pointing through roof tiles, it was pointed through an exterior stucco wall. Stucco has a layer of wire mesh that's stapled to the framing for the stucco to adhere. Translation, you'll have severe signal loss whether your attic antenna points through wall or roofing. Even if you get it to work occasionally, you will never be happy with the results. At 55+ miles from Mt. Wilson, you would be at "the fringe" for receiving UHF even on flat terrain!
You can also order Radio Shack stuff online if you don't want to drive all over the place, but it probably complicates the merchandise return process.
The pre-amp characteristics include gain and noise figure. You can have a high gain amp with high Noise Figure (lower NF is better) meaning that the amp is degrading the signal/noise ratio. You get a signal boost with a disproportionate increase in noise.
Gary, I mounted my DAT-75 at last. I got an across the board boost in numbers, perhaps 5 units on the Dish 6000 receiver scale. A clipped photo, the only one I took...
All channels give a satisfactory picture except KCBS, which still presents mostly 0, spiking sporadically to 35, 40, maybe even an occasional 55. A signal spike every few seconds. Once in a long while, it will actually lock and I'll get a frame or 2. This is the only station with this symptom. I'm beginning to suspect multipath cancellation. From the lat-lons of the transmitters, I know that KCBS is a bit further north than the others, at least as seen from my location. Maybe there's an interfering ridge or ?? that only affects their signal along my line of sight.
Fortunately KCBS-HD is on my Dish satellite service, the only network station that Dish presently offers. But I'm paying an extra $1.50 per month for just KCBS-DT, in addition to $5.99 for analog locals, already including analog KCBS.
Gary
As Gary points out, the attic mount causes severe signal loss. In my case, the antenna in the attic was not pointing through roof tiles, it was pointed through an exterior stucco wall. Stucco has a layer of wire mesh that's stapled to the framing for the stucco to adhere. Translation, you'll have severe signal loss whether your attic antenna points through wall or roofing. Even if you get it to work occasionally, you will never be happy with the results. At 55+ miles from Mt. Wilson, you would be at "the fringe" for receiving UHF even on flat terrain!
You can also order Radio Shack stuff online if you don't want to drive all over the place, but it probably complicates the merchandise return process.
The pre-amp characteristics include gain and noise figure. You can have a high gain amp with high Noise Figure (lower NF is better) meaning that the amp is degrading the signal/noise ratio. You get a signal boost with a disproportionate increase in noise.
Gary, I mounted my DAT-75 at last. I got an across the board boost in numbers, perhaps 5 units on the Dish 6000 receiver scale. A clipped photo, the only one I took...
All channels give a satisfactory picture except KCBS, which still presents mostly 0, spiking sporadically to 35, 40, maybe even an occasional 55. A signal spike every few seconds. Once in a long while, it will actually lock and I'll get a frame or 2. This is the only station with this symptom. I'm beginning to suspect multipath cancellation. From the lat-lons of the transmitters, I know that KCBS is a bit further north than the others, at least as seen from my location. Maybe there's an interfering ridge or ?? that only affects their signal along my line of sight.
Fortunately KCBS-HD is on my Dish satellite service, the only network station that Dish presently offers. But I'm paying an extra $1.50 per month for just KCBS-DT, in addition to $5.99 for analog locals, already including analog KCBS.
Gary
Maybe investing in such an item would be cheaper than an installer....
