OTA Antenna Setup - what do you think?

I think you should install the antenna outside.

Are you just concerned with digital channels or do you want analog still also?

You are 16 miles away, so an attic antenna should work provided you don't have a radiant barrier or construction materials that would block an RF signal. But your antennaweb results are mostly red in color code. Did you enter your exact location or just the zip code? For your address location, add 75' to 150' to the antenna height under options to make up for the very conservative settings for digital reception at antennaweb. That should give you more meaningful color codes.

If it is only the digital stations you are interested in, all of them are in the same direction, so a directional antenna such as the CM 3018 or HD7082P should be fine. You do have a few minor analog stations off in other directions, but those look to be independents or duplicates of what you can get out of Milwaukee. You have one station on VHF 8, but I would expect a CM 4221 4 Bay would get that at 16 miles if you are looking for a smaller antenna.

One recommendation with an attic mount is that you do not fix the antenna in one spot until you have moved it around to find a good spot for reception. Attics have dead or null zones due to reflections off of the walls or obstructions. I have a CM 4221 4 Bay in my attic mounted to a flat piece of scrap wood using a $5 attic mounting bracket I got at Lowes. I can slide the flat wood across the floor beams so I was able to move the antenna around until I found a good location for reception and have pretty much left it there since.

Neigbor!

Not sure where in Waukesha you are but you probably have the same terrain to deal with that I do. I'm in zip 53189, by Oakdale and School Dr, single story ranch house. I have a CM 4228 in my attic and had to use a pre-amp to get 18.1 and 24.1 up to decent signal levels. I still don't get 10.x, the only VHF channel, but I'm not worried about it at this time since 36.1 is the HD PBS station.

Being in a 2 story might help you, and your location might give you a few less hills in the way.

afiggatt has some good advice, he's helped me before.

Brian

Since my TV is in the basement rec room it was easy to drill down from the attic into an interior wall and up from the basement, then run a fishtape through. In the 2-story condo I had years ago I was known to drop wires (not power wires) down the cold air return from tha attic down to the basement and then back up into the wall I where wanted the antenna connection. Might be worth a try for you.

Also, when you decide what antenna you want to buy, try calling Skywalker communications in New Berlin. Their price for the cm 4228 was lower than any online places and there was no shipping charge, just tax. They are a distributor but they will sell to anyone who walks in, just be aware they do not accept returns if you are not a dealer or installer.

The CM 4221 can pick up upper VHF 10 to 13 quite well. The CM 4228 has good gain for upper VHF, but does have a notch for VHF 8, so neither bowtie may not be a good choice as you have a digital station on VHF 8. Between the CM 3018 and Winegard HD7082P, the Winegard HD708* series appears to be considered the better line here. A check of the Channel Master versus Winegard spec sheets show the HD7082P to have more gain for upper VHF and UHF.

Attics and 4228's are made for each other and even at only 16 miles I'd go there right off the bat, but YMMV.

I followed the electrical cable leading to the light and fan in my attic to find an already drilled channel for bringing my antenna cable to the main floor. But I was sure to use QS RG6 to avoid electrical interference.

You can get stuff locally by going to Marmax 6802 West Rawson Avenue Franklin, Wisconsin http://www.marmaxdistribution.com/

The 4228 is nearly always better than the 4221 for highband VHF reception (chs 7 thru 13). Neither one is fantastic on chs 7 or 8, though.

Something else. Whichever antenna you get, make sure you will be able to get it through the attic access in your house. The 4228 comes pre-assembled and measures about 40"x40", might be too big if you have an access barely big enough for a person to get through.

I think I have read on one or more of the threads that you can take off the two-part screen and reassemble in the attic, so you might want to check past threads to see whether that is true, and if so, whether you can fit the unit in the attic once the screen has been removed.

Removing/replacing the 2 part reflector screen off the back is very easy and only takes a couple of minutes. It will make the dimensions a few inches smaller.

I have permanently removed my 4228's screens to make the antenna bi-directional, so I can pick up two markets in opposite directions without using the rotor. I thought it would reduce highband VHF performance, but it didn't for me, at least on chs 8, 9, 10 & 13.

All of your current Milwaukee Digital station will stay at thier current assign digital channel after analog shutdown on 2-17-2009. Expect of WVTV 18 will go back to CH 18 from CH 61. So you will only have 1 station in VHF WMVS 10 on ch 8 and all others will be in UHF. Your antenna choice will be ok I think CM 4221 or 4228 will work out good too. Make sure you get CM preamp 7777 or 7778. Just ask any of the people at Skywalker or Marmax both are great people and will assit you and they may have a list of installers if you still feel uncomfortable to do job yourself. When you install it in the attic make sure you leave slack in the coax so you can move it around in the attic to find a sweet spot.

To fish coax from the attic, Using the inside wall where you want the outlet jack go straight up find the top plate of the wall up in the attic and drill a 3/8" hole or 1/2" if you adding a rotor wire and if you already have a Cable outlet you could use that box and get a dual cable outlet cover, if no outlet box you will need a make a hole for the new box at any Home Improvement store get a low voltage box or a single box for old construction work and just follow the instructions to make the hole just make sure it the same heights as the others outlets or go with a double gang if you want to add satllite dish later then just push the coax from the attic and grab the coax from the hole for the box. Or better if you have a friend who is a electricin he may help you out if you give him a case of beer, but make sure he do the job first before he drinks it .

-Willie

Good suggestion. Just like a cellphone in a dead spot, there are also dead spots where TV reception may not work, or only work for certain channels. If so, move the antenna a few feet to a different location.

You may not even need to disassemble it! My opening to attic is 28x21 and, by removing molding around the opening, I was able to get mine up without any disassembly.