# Antenna Options



## Tristateviewer (May 11, 2008)

I am a DirecTV satellite customer that resides in the state of Connecticut. The area of Connecticut that I live in is about 80 miles north of New York City and falls under the Hartford-New Haven DMA. I receive my CT local SD and HD channels from DirecTV along with my off-air antenna Connecticut locals in HD.

I also have an HDTV rooftop antenna which is about 50' above ground. I have installed this antenna so that I could receive NYC high def signals. Since I am in the bottom of a valley area surrounded by mountains, it is very difficult for me to receive any signals out of NYC. I do receive one Long Island Station, WLNY from Riverhead, Long Island off my antenna with about a 50% signal strength. I have applied for waivers to receive the network affiliates out of NYC but because I am provided with CT locals, that is an impossibility. I would like to place my antenna on a tower but with town restrictions, that prevents me from installing an antenna tower. I could raise my antenna on my roof with proper support but I'm wondering how high I would have to raise the antenna to break the mountain barriers surrounding me from the line of sight NY signals. I don't care to relocate.

What other options do I have available regarding my antenna to receive these NYC signals?


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

My suggestion would be to boogie on over to avsforum and see if you can find an OTA subforum for your neck of the woods. There you may be able to find someone close by who has already plowed the ground ahead of you. If nothing else, you may find someone with topo maps who can tell you whether it's doable or not. There's a thread for Seattle and it's incredibly popular in part because one of the denizens loves to tinker with topographics and another if a professional antenna installer, mostly for high end installations. I'm one of those who has benefited from their expertise.

Good luck!

John


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## Kansas Zephyr (Jun 30, 2007)

Surf to tvfool.com.

You can input various antenna heights to see the projected impact on signal reception.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

You don't mention what brand/model antenna, or if you are using an amp... If Tvfool shows you can get a signal of any kind, using a high gain antenna (two stacked yagi's) feeding a low noise channel master amp, and using RG11 coax down to the amps power supply, would increase your possibilities. The type yagi depends in whether you are trying for VHF hi and UHF, or just UHF.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

can't use a yagi for NYC, since stations will be both VHF and UHF.


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## Tower Guy (Jul 27, 2005)

Tristateviewer said:


> I am a DirecTV satellite customer that resides in the state of Connecticut.
> 
> What options do I have available regarding my antenna to receive these NYC signals?


80 miles is not easy, especially in hilly areas. Yet, each situation is unique. Go to tvfool.com, enter your address, and try various tower heights. To get specific help, post your exact location or the tvfool results.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Yagi's are a design, not frequency dependant. You can get VHF, UHF or combo V/U yagi's.

Other common designs used for TV are log periodic, and bow tie. Log's use several driven elements, usually one set for each channel, electrically connected to the feedline. Smaller elements in front generate some gain. Yagi's typically use one, two, or three driven elements, with a parasitic reflector, and several parasitic directors in front of the driven element.

While its difficult to stack log periodics, since the stacking distance would only favor one or two channels, Yagi's are generally cut for single channels, or a small group of channels in the VHF band, and for UHF they favor the low end of the band, then add several directors cut for the highest channel to compensate. Assuming the OP needs to pick up VHF-HI, two stacked 7-13 yagis would work well. For UHF, either one long yagi or 8 bay bow tie would probably work better. Tie them together between the receiver and the amps power suppply with a V/U combiner. Use a separate amp and feedline for each band. This is the method used by most rural cable companies.

If you have a grade B signal, you might be able to get away with a single VHF/UHF log periodic.


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