[aviman33]

Can I use (2) DB2 antennas and wire them as a DB4 but point them in opposite directions? All my stations are between 9 and 30 mile away and they are clustered with one group of stations being located at 300 degrees and the other group at 180 degrees.


Jon

 

[alaskaman1666]



Quote:
Originally Posted by aviman33 /forum/post/0


Can I use (2) DB2 antennas and wire them as a DB4 but point them in opposite directions? All my stations are between 9 and 30 mile away and they are clustered with one group of stations being located at 300 degrees and the other group at 180 degrees.


Jon

BAD FRONT TO BACK RATIO (MULTIPATH)

 

[afiggatt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by aviman33 /forum/post/0


Can I use (2) DB2 antennas and wire them as a DB4 but point them in opposite directions? All my stations are between 9 and 30 mile away and they are clustered with one group of stations being located at 300 degrees and the other group at 180 degrees.

You probably could if you vertically stack them on the same mast. But you may also be able to get both set of stations with a single DB4 or CM 4221 4 Bay aimed at the more distant set of stations. The bowties have good pickup in the backside. I have a CM 4221 aimed at Baltimore (43 miles) with DC (~16 miles) 50 degrees away from the Baltimore on the front side, but I also get several stations at 29 miles and further in the opposite direction.


Are all of your digital stations on UHF and will all of them stay on UHF after the analog shutdown in 2009? If you post your zip code, we can look up where you stations are and what antenna setup should offer a good chance of working.

 

[aviman33]

I think I'll build it oriented in one direction and point it at the weakest signal as you suggested. Most all of my signals are between 9 and 30 miles, do you think that would require an amplifier? Zip is 17033.


Jon.

 

[afiggatt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by aviman33 /forum/post/0


I think I'll build it oriented in one direction and point it at the weakest signal as you suggested. Most all of my signals are between 9 and 30 miles, do you think that would require an amplifier? Zip is 17033.

You have a complicated situation. For starters, you have WHP-DT CBS 21 broadcasting on VHF 4 and WHTM-DT ABC 27 on VHF 10. The DB-2, DB-4 or CM 4221 are not going to work for the CBS station on low VHF 4. However, WHP-DT will be switching it's digital signal to UHF 21 after the analog shutdown in 2009 while WHTM-DT ABC station will stay on VHF 10.


Since you live in hilly country, I plugged in an antenna height of 600' under the antennaweb.org options to get a more complete list of digital stations. I removed the color codes in the list, as you need to enter your exact location into antennaweb (using a height of 100' or so) or tvfool.com to get a better feel for what stations you can get.


uhf WGCB-DT 30.1 IND RED LION PA 184° 25.8 30

uhf WLYH-DT 15.1 CW LANCASTER PA 106° 9.5 23

vhf WHP-DT 21.1 CBS HARRISBURG PA 303° 12.8 4

vhf WHTM-DT 27.1 ABC HARRISBURG PA 291° 16.3 10

uhf WITF-DT 33.3 PBS HARRISBURG PA 303° 12.7 36

uhf WGAL-DT 8.1 NBC LANCASTER PA 186° 16.7 58

uhf WPMT-DT 43.1 FOX YORK PA 183° 17.3 47


The bottom line is that you have two digital VHF stations. Your stations are grouped in 3 different directions: 106, 183-186, 291- 303 degrees. Tricky. Are you looking at an rooftop or attic mount?

 

[aviman33]

Was hoping for an attic mount, don't think my wife would go for a roof mount. I was expecting it to easier since I can puck up 15.1 and 21.1 with a 9" bare piece of coax.


Jon

 

[afiggatt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by aviman33 /forum/post/0


Was hoping for an attic mount, don't think my wife would go for a roof mount. I was expecting it to easier since I can puck up 15.1 and 21.1 with a 9" bare piece of coax.

If you are getting the CBS station at ~ 12 miles with a 9" piece of wire, that indicates that you should be able get it with a basic rabbit ear antenna. Since the WHTM-DT CBS 21 station is moving back to UHF 21 in Feb, 2009, you will only need an antenna for low VHF until then. One possible solution is to put a CM 4221 4 Bay for UHF and a simple rabbit ear antenna for VHF in the attic and a VHF/UHF combiner. You will have to try out different aims for the CM 4221 to see if you find a direction and location in the attic where you can get all the digital UHF stations at one time.


But you may be better off with an omni-directional antenna. Perhaps someone who has some experience with the better omni-directional antennas with VHF & UHF coverage can post their suggestion?