[WillyG]

I live in a two story townhouse, and am planning to set up antenna to pick up the San Francisco broadcasts and the Superbowl, from about 35 miles away. Antennaweb.org says I would need a yellow or green without trees, and red with trees. As such, I purchased a Wineguard Square Shooter (medium directional - red) and a Winegard 8780 preamp.


After more closely examining my install location, there aren't generally that many trees around, except for the cluster of three redwoods directly in the line between my roof and the towers. I may be able to place the antenna such that it might have be able to "aim" just around the edge of these trees, but I'm not counting on it. Will these trees pose a serious problem? To further clarify, the antenna will be mounted on the roof of my 2 story townhouse and all the other houses in the neighborhood are one story. The only problem is a small cluster of tall redwoods (3 trees) right in my line of sight (close to my installation).


Any suggestions?

 

[NightHawk]

It depends on how far away they are. If they are least 100 feet or so they should not pose a serious problem. If they are just a few feet away they can impact the signal severely.

 

[WillyG]

They are about 20-30 feet away.

 

[Ken Erickson]

Best solution - try what you got. It just may work for you.

 

[arxaw]

The trees may not be your worst problem. Read this thread .

 

[Rick_R]

I had a tree 15' from my Winegard 8200 directly in front of it. It was a conniffer. I just about killed myself and cut it down to 5' below the antenna. This had no decernable effect.


Just my experience.


Rick R

 

[kpoon]

i have trees in my line of sight. i think they're pines. my towers are about 20 miles away. i use a radio shack vu-90xr. it's a medium multidirectional (green). i get 87-100% signal on the 3 major networks. can't hurt to try the winegard since you already bought it. good luck.

 

[WillyG]

I seem to have problems with a big dead spot, or something. The existing mid sized VHF/UHF aerial on my roof could only bring in 4 digital stations, even with my preamp, and none were any I cared about.


So, I put up the SquareShooter and tried aiming it various directions. Best I could do was 5 digitals, really no better than the existing aerial. The preamp had no effect. I then picked up a Silver Sensor and from the loft, it didn't do any better than the other two. I thought I was screwed.


I moved the receiver downstairs to the TV (away from the loft near the antennas where I was aligning the dish) and brought the Silver Sensor down too. Hooking them up, and pointing the Silver Sensor toward San Francisco, I got all the digital and HD stations I expected. What gives!? Strength is about 70% for most stations at 35 miles away.


Common sense would seem to dictate that the roof, or higher in the house would be a better location. The roof and loft are basically on a third floor, and I couldn't get anything, but the ground floor near the wall furthese from the towers, I get everything. I'm baffled, but happy.


Now I just need to figure out how to get NBC which is on a VHF frequency coming from the opposite direction. I'm thinking rabbit ears and a Channel Master combiner.

 

[Interested]

Do you have a chainsaw? LOL!

 

[btwyx]

Quote:

Originally posted by WillyG I live in a two story townhouse, and am planning to set up antenna to pick up the San Francisco broadcasts and the Superbowl, from about 35 miles away. Antennaweb.org says I would need a yellow or green without trees, and red with trees. As such, I purchased a Wineguard Square Shooter (medium directional - red) and a Winegard 8780 preamp. After more closely examining my install location, there aren't generally that many trees around, except for the cluster of three redwoods directly in the line between my roof and the towers. I may be able to place the antenna such that it might have be able to "aim" just around the edge of these trees, but I'm not counting on it. Will these trees pose a serious problem? To further clarify, the antenna will be mounted on the roof of my 2 story townhouse and all the other houses in the neighborhood are one story. The only problem is a small cluster of tall redwoods (3 trees) right in my line of sight (close to my installation). Any suggestions?

I was going to ask almost exactly the same question, except the 3 redwoods are right by the side of my house. (You don't live on Easy St do you?)


So how's the reception? Your follow up is a little confusing, you get better reception on the ground floorr than on the roof?

 

[WillyG]

I live pretty close to Easy St... just off Phyllis Ave.


Reception is good. I've got the Winegard SquareShooter mounted up on the roof using the included dish style bracket with a preamp (waiting for the special model now) and I get 90-100% signal for all digital UHF stations from Sutro. The confusion came about because I didn't realize that digital broadcasting was shut down at Sutro Mon-Sat during the day.


The antenna actually is positions so that it seems to point just at the edge of the cluster of trees (which are at the edge of the house, but about 20 ft from the mounting location).


The only station that I don't get with my current set up is NBC at channel 12. It comes from the opposite direction and I just don't pull it in. I'm planning to redirect the old aerial on the roof toward Loma Prieta to get NBC and use a VHF/UHF combiner. I haven't got this set up yet as I found that I can get the NBC HD feed reboadcast by Telemundo on PSP 48-2.

 

[btwyx]

Quote:

Originally posted by WillyG I didn't realize that digital broadcasting was shut down at Sutro Mon-Sat during the day.

Is that every day? That would be good to know.
Quote:

The only station that I don't get with my current set up is NBC at channel 12.

How about KTEH (Channel 54?) its at right angles to the rest.


Thanks for the update.

 

[tremor_f]

All DTV signals on Sutro are shut down 8-5, Monday-Saturday, to enable work on the earthquake retrofit. This is expected to continue through July 2004.


The transmitter on Loma Prieta (KNTV) is on all the time. They've applied for permission to relocate their VHF 12 DTV transmitter to San Bruno, which would put them within the beamwidth for most people aiming at Sutro.


The transmitters on Mt. Allison in Fremont (including the 48-2 HD NBC feed) are also on all of the time. The 48-2 rebroadcast would probably be shut down if KNTV were to move VHF 12 to San Bruno.


Updates on this and many other fun SF Bay Area HD topics can be found on the HDTV-In-SFBay Yahoo Groups list. Google for HDTV-In-SFBay and it'll take you right to the group page.


-T.