Antenna Question

[Tom Snyder]

So it's come to this... I almost feel like posting this one anonymously...

According to the coverage map (and Fox's corporate engineer) I should be able to pick up 6 digital with a rooftop antenna. Tom Sielicki posted in another thread that with a Yagi, he's able to pick up 6 digital in Germantown. I'm a little further Northwest, but with my trusty indoor RS Double Bowtie, and the leaves off the trees, I can get a "solid" signal of 27. So I'm, thinking that maybem, just maybe, something outside will lock a signal for me.

The spousal unit has said NO! to a rooftop... HOWEVER... we have some people coming over for this Sunday's Packers/Bucs game and if it's going to be Widescreen 480p, I have her permission to put one up temporarily if it's only up for the game, something I remember my dad doing when I was kid and we needed to do this to watch blacked-out home games on Chicago stations. In his case it was a pair of rabbit ears on a length of conduit.

OK, so I'm just nuts, but for all the obvious reasons, I'm willing to try just about anything.

So here's the question (and I can't belive I'm publicly admitting to even thinking about this)... If I take my Radio Shack Bow tie, and   hoist it up about 10 feet higher than the crown of my house on a length of conduit, will it be able to grab enough signal to do the trick?

If that won't do it, here's my fallback position.. does anyone here have a recomendation for a low windload, directional antenna that I could hoist t5emporarily that could possibly pick up 6, and would only need to be used on selected Sunday afternoons through January? Even better does anyone have a used one they're not using that they'd be willing to loan me for a test, which I would be willing to buy from them if it worked?

Argghh.. what geek loser Fox has turned me into. :O

P.S. Of course if the game isn't widescreen, it's a moot point, and I've publicly humiliated myself for nothing.  

[ReesR]

If you promise not to use it on any channel higher than 33 then I'll let you use my old bi-directional uhf antenna which I took down.  It works for the lower end of the uhf spectrum.  It is just taking up space in my garage now.  You might get both milwaukee and Madison at the same time with it.  

Rees

[Tom Snyder]

Thanks for the offer... How big is this puppy? I'm trying to get away from a big reinforced structure... that's why my first choice is just getting a Bowtie outside and up a little higher.

I guess the big question is, if I can get a 27 inside, will having it outside make enough of a difference?

[Pat]

My understanding is that a roof structure absorbs/reflects about half of the available signal.

[veyj]

What a thoughtful and caring wife.  My wife would never be willing to sit on the roof and hold a piece of conduit for 3 plus hours in the cold (Ah Honey?  Can you turn it clockwise. No back. Wait. right there. Good job.  No no no, back to where you had it before. Right there. I've got a solid 30. AHHHHHHHH).  I have to hand it to ya Tom, you found yourself a keeper.  

[John Dhein]

I have an antenna you can use.  I live about 1 mile from you.  email me if you're interested.

[Tom Snyder]

She's a keeper but for other reasons!  

One of which is that she's as big a Packer fan as I am. She'll let me send my 13 year old son up on the roof before she'll miss a single play of a Packer game.  

[ReesR]

You asked "How big is this puppy?"  It's about 6 feet long and about a foot wide.  Not sure but I think it folds too.

Rees

[Tom Snyder]

Chapter 2

Radio Shack Double Bow Tie is now on a twenty foot mast outside and aimed directly at the 6 transmitter.

Signal strengths are EXACTLY the same as they were before, except now I get nothing on 33, nada, zip zilch.

Is this line loss? Will a signal amplifer help?

P.S. Now that I have my antenna back in the house, I'm actually getting a signal strength of 34! Still not enough to lock it in, but still better than it was before! Sheesh! I love this stuff!

[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 11-21-2002).]