Good news, bad news day... :)

[IDRick]

Finally got around to installing my DIY mclapp 4-bay up in the attic. I had been using the two bay with a Winegard AP8700 pre amp. Was a good news, bad news day.

Good news:

Nice improvement in signal strength with the 4 bay, ~ 3dB
Picked up two new LP stations, (1 analog + 1 digital)

Bad news,

The new digital station has a reasonable margin to dropout (25 dB) but suffers from multipath. After repositioning the antenna several times in the attic, I was able to minimize the issue but not fully correct it. All the connections are tight. New CM balun.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Obviously moving the antenna out to the roof is an option but not until spring.

Have a Happy New Year!

Rick

 

[Trip]

Which LP stations did you add?

- Trip

 

[IDRick]

Hi Tripp,

I picked up ch 47 (DT) and ch 41 (analog). I tried to generate a report for you but there's too many errors for ch 47 with the multipath.

Have a Happy New Year!

Rick

 

[Trip]

No worries. It probably looks just like the rest of the other 3ABN stations.

Happy New Year to you as well!

- Trip

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Hey IDRick!

Got any pics of the install?

Man's eternal battle with multipath!

May I suggest that you get another piece of wire fencing or aluminum foil, or something similar, and try different locations around the antenna to try to block the offending multipathic signal?

 

[IDRick]

Hi EV,

No pictures yet as I still playing with location and using a temporary mount. Aluminum foil could potentially be used to block multipath but it's very difficult to know where to even start hanging foil... In my case, I'm receiving three stations from 270 degrees, two from 207 degrees, and two from 199 degrees. Only one station has an issue with multipath, ch 47 from 207 degrees, 50 miles away, LOS. Signal from the four southern stations passes through a stand of evergreen trees. Moving the antenna east reduces some of the multipath issues but forces the signal to travel through more of the evergreen stand. I'm thinking that I'll probably need to drop this channel from my list and be satisfied with others. I expected that I would lose ch47 when I went with an attic install but was pleasantly surprised when it came in after adding a pre amp.

Best,

Rick

 

[Piggie]

Rick what else do you have to try in place of the McClapp?

 

[IDRick]

Right now, I only have a mclapp 4-bay and a mclapp 2-bay. I had an EZ HD but gave it away to someone that lost his satellite service and needed to switch to OTA only. The EZ-HD has 6 to 8 dB lower gain than the mclapp 4-bay but a similar beamwidth. The center working space of my attic is small (4-1/2 ft tall and 5 ft wide). I doubt I could fit a Winegard 7694 antenna in there and achieve the appropriate aim.

Our broadcast towers are 70 degrees apart, making it difficult to use high gain, narrow beam antenna. Here's my tvfool if you want to take a look: TV Fool

Thanks,

Rick