[Kyle_in_rure]

We have a vacation home in rural Arkansas, and are too cheap to pay for a satellite TV service. There is one PBS station that is about 20 miles away, this is all we can receive now. I would like to try and receive Little Rock network stations, which are all 58 miles away from the house. I was planning on buying a large directional antenna, and mounting it about 25 feet off the ground on our porch roof (the rest of the roof is too steep) I could also mount it on the other side of the house closest to the stations (that way the roof would not block it), but this would add probably a hundred feet of cable. According to TV Fool, I should be able to receive these stations, but AntennaWeb isn't as optimistic. The problem is, there are a lot of trees/hills in our area, and I'm just not sure it's worth a try. Any advice?

[Stratmando]

I got pretty good at weak signals.
Not sure how big the Hills/Mountains, but a 30 foot pole guyed out, more or less depending on what's practical,
Then a Good UHF/VHF antenna with a preamp that mounts on antenna and a power supply that sends voltage up to the preamp and down to the power supply, and out to TV's.
Go to TV menu and select Air, NOT Cable so you can receive the UHF.
Can help further if you choose, what height can you get?
Twinlead with standoffs has less loss with no preamp, with a preamp, use coax, you can afford the loss.
After a Hurricane, The Cable and can easily be taken out, I like redundancy.
You also could get a band seperator for FM as well, A rotator will maximize signal for sure.

[Kyle_in_rure]

I'm planning on mounting it on a ten foot pole, attached to a tripod on the roof, which would be about 35 ft off the ground, I'm afraid the rest of the house may block the antenna signal from this side, but I'm not prepared to go another 30 feet up the steep roof pitch to try to install it. I can do it on the other side where the house won't block, but that will add another hundred feet of cable. It's only one TV. The reason I ask why bother is I'm afraid Ill go through all the effort but still just get the PBS station twenty miles away, because that can be picked up with rabbit ears. I thought coax always had less loss than twin-lead?

[Stratmando]

Twin-lead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the second paragraph also says it has less loss, but I did failed to mention
Suceptable to interference, twisting the twinlead helps

Also needs to be stood off concrete and ground, not just the mast.
I used to install UHF Antennas and would watch the signal climb on the meter as I lifted off the roof, Standoffs were the solution.

[Kyle_in_rure]

Thanks, I'll see what happens I guess.

[Stratmando]

Wose that will happen is you will get better signal.

[Kyle_in_rure]

I've decided to put it on the side of the house with the least obstructions, but this will leave me with 150-200 feet of cable, whereas it would be 100 ft on the other side of the house, would moving the antenna be worth the loss that the longer cable would give me?

[Stratmando]

Clearer the shot the better, and the Loss should be maybe 3 to 5db(guessing, and it depends on Frequency, Higher the Frequency the Greater the Loss), RG 6 will reduce loss compared to RG 59, I think you could afford the loss with the coax and Amp.

[Kyle_in_rure]

Ok, thanks for the help.

[peet caliman]

For a vacation home, I might rather spend that money on a media recorder and bring that media with me. I do that with my PVR, it holds many hours of TV and only cost $200. You can also buy DVD movies in bulk now for cheap, and just leave a collection there. Also, obviously a multi-band radio is always good to have. Also never forget that lightning can be a serious issue when dealing with tall antennas, so consider that.

[Kyle_in_rure]

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to say that I was successful, and (surprisingly) received over 15 channels.

[Stratmando]

Good Deal, I am for Redundancy, and you got more, Don't know if you have a Rotor, or direction control, if you do it will help all the more, Did you end up with UHF/VHF/FM? With a Preamp? Coax?

[Kyle_in_rure]

I used an Antennacraft HD1850 antenna; VHF/UHF/FM. With a Winegard Preamplifier, and I got away with about 130 ft of coaxial cable. (wasn't as far as I thought). It's about 22 ft off the ground. I Didn't really need a rotor because all the channels were in the same direction, one was about 90 degrees opposite the others, but it was only 20 miles away, the signal was so strong (90+ %) that I didn't need a rotor. There is only one channel that is very weak during the day, but stronger at night. Otherwise I have no complaints.