How many distant channels is everyone getting ota?

[MrProster]

Just curious how many distant channels people here are picking up and where is your location and type of antenna(s) you use. I am in the SE part of Muskego and am able to always get WLS Chicago which is about 74 miles from me. I also get WFLD all the time and WPWR about 75% of the time and WGN maybe 30% of the time. All I'm using is an Eagle Aspen directional 2 bay antenna in my attic about 20 feet off the ground with antenna pointing slightly southeast. Also using the Channel Master Titan 7777 preamp. This spring I plan on hiring a pro to install a rooftop antenna  with a rotor in hopes to snatch Madison, Rockford, Grand Rapids and who knows. I briefly , believe it or not , was getting Green Bay and few times but this was several months ago. Anyway . Looking for  thoughts on various antenna configs. Thanks :wave:

[ArgMeMatey]

My house is a half-mile to a mile from the towers in Shorewood and Milwaukee.  I get everything you'd expect, and nothing you wouldn't, with a small antenna in my attic knee wall space with insulated roof deck.  In other words, although I am close, the signal is not as strong as you might think.  

We had a new roof put on over the winter, and had a CommDeck installed with a 1" raceway to my low-voltage system.  When the weather improves I will move the antenna up to the roof.  I doubt it will increase the channels I get, but right now, when the trees leaf out and it's raining, the signal drops enough on 58 that when cars go by, I lose sync.

http://www.rstcenterprises.com/commdeck/

[MrProster]

Update: Last month up in the attic , I installed an 8 bay antenna on a rotor which is nice to be able to point it in any direction from my easy chair.(saved hundreds of dollars by doing it myself) I am now able to get channels 3,27 and 47 from Madison,like Chicago, also about 75 miles from us. I can also sometime pull in stations from Michigan and Rockford , Ill. Not bad , eh? {cheers}

[ArgMeMatey]

...in the attic , I installed an 8 bay antenna on a rotor ...

I envy you and your attic.  I can barely turn around where I have my antenna, let alone put up an 8-bay.

On the plus side, my reception from the attic has improved. Maybe because there's only one layer of shingles now.  I used to have dropouts when cars went by, and it was worse when it was raining and the trees were leafed out.  So I have not moved the antenna to the roof as planned.

[Tivoman44]

ArgMeMatey, have you tried moving your antenna to your roof?  Being in Shorewood/Milwaukee east side you should have near perfect reception all the time.  You said you have a new roof, unless it's a metal roof, that should be good enough.  Possibly though you have a very old coax cable that is being fed from your Antenna to TV, that has splits in it.  Maybe the antenna on the roof plus a new RG6 coax cable would solve it.  Possibly a preamp.  You wouldn't need an amp that close.  

I grew up in Shorewood and remember how horrible Ch 4, 6, 10 and 12 were with TWC because the OTA signal intereferred w/ the cable signal and caused ghosting and lines across the screen.

I now live in Greenfield and have https://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-C2-ClearStream-Television/dp/B0017O3UHI an antenna like this in my attic pointed North toward the towers.  I have it split 6 ways, newer roof which is 1 layer of GAF asphalt shingles.  signal comes in 99% of the time near perfect signal always.  

MrProster: I envy you.  I wish I could pick up Chicago OTA.  Specifically Chicago CBS and Fox to tap into the Chicago NFL market (for the record not a Bears fan)

[ArgMeMatey]

ArgMeMatey, have you tried moving your antenna to your roof?  Being in Shorewood/Milwaukee east side you should have near perfect reception all the time.  You said you have a new roof, unless it's a metal roof, that should be good enough.  Possibly though you have a very old coax cable that is being fed from your Antenna to TV, that has splits in it.  Maybe the antenna on the roof plus a new RG6 coax cable would solve it.  Possibly a preamp.  You wouldn't need an amp that close.  

I grew up in Shorewood and remember how horrible Ch 4, 6, 10 and 12 were with TWC because the OTA signal interefered w/ the cable signal and caused ghosting and lines across the screen.

No, I haven't moved it, because I haven't had a single dropout since the new roof was installed.   The real test would be a heavy rainstorm with the trees fully leafed (leaved?), but rain has been scarce this summer.  I'll have to go a full year or two before saying I don't need to put it outside.  

My roof is 1x8 spaced decking with 7/16 OSB, synthetic underlayment, moisture barrier on the lowest 6' (so the antenna is "behind" that since it's only 2' off the attic floor), and GAF asphalt shingles as well.  

My coax is relatively new 2200 MHz sweep-tested RG6. Nothing special, just pre-terminated cable I got at a big box.  I have an old Electroline amp and split the signal 3 ways.

I had similar interference in Mpls. when I maintained MATV there.  It takes constant maintenance to keep OTA signal ingress low enough on the distribution system.

[Tivoman44]

I'm willing to bet you are good.  Leaves on trees, rain, snow, wind, etc should not matter.  

It sounds like your cable from antenna to 3 way splitter is fine.  You generally can split an antenna many more times than cable tv/internet signal.  The only drop outs I ever get is from a lot of lightning.

[budda]

I live in Oconomowoc. Have a two bay Bow Tie antenna. Used a reverse pole mount in garage. So it is inside garage. Mounted in the peak. It has a channel master amp on it. I get Milwaukee some Chicago and Madison.  79 channels! Used on the Hopper 3 from Dish with a USB OTA dongle. To be honest most channels are duplicits. But the sub channels are cool. Most dups are 3 ABC, 3 CBS ,3 NBC,  3 CW and so on.