lots of tree's

[snoopi]

Hi guys, long time reader first time poster :typing: LOL

ok moving to a new place this week and since no sat available (not the way I want it anyway) going to invest in a good antenna and digital converter. Its been about 12 years since I even used an antenna.

Problems: Im in a corner.....meaning that on two sides of me I am blocked by high maple trees and pine trees. on the third side I have another house and in front of me I have about 100' of open space and then large trees again. There is currently no tv tower and my house (actually a trailer home) is only about 15' at its highest point. And Im out in the country, flat land, no hills or valleys.

Location: Im about 40 minutes north west of Ottawa Ontario Canada.

Questions: what would be the best antenna and is it really worth investing in a digital box as Canadian TV doesnt go digital for two more years (my TV is not set up with digital tuner built in). I can put up a tower if I have to, but with all the trees (the smallest being at least 50') not sure a tower will make a difference.

any input is appreciated.

[Terryl]

Well a good antenna will help, it all depends on what direction the TV transmitters are from you.

You can get a 50 to 60 foot tall TV tower and with a good antenna plus a rotor you should get a great signal, with TV you can use an in-line amplifier to boost the signal if the run to the house is a long one, using the best coax (as with satellite) will help also.

Take a look at the proposed band planfor your area to see if you need a VHF/UHF antenna or just a UHF antenna for the digital stations.

If you can put the antenna as far back from the trees as possible you should have a signal as trees wont affect the TV signal as bad as a satellite dish.

[snoopi]

thanks for the tips.

I will definatly need vhf and uhf.

The trees are about 10' from me in both directions (south and west) and the signals mostly come from the south/s-west/s-east (not to worried about thoses as they will be french).

I guess I need to see if I can find an antenna shop in my area.

[Terryl]

I would look on line for some good deep fringe antennas, you can get a good VHF only with very high gain and a UHF with the same, then a mast mounted hi gain summing amplifier to put them together.

I would go for something like this for the UHF.

http://www.solidsignal.tv/prod_display.asp?PROD=TD-91XG

And this for the VHF.

http://www.winegarddirect.com/viewitem.asp?d=Winegard-HD-5030-Prostar-1000-VHFFM-Antenna-(HD5030)&p=HD-5030

And then this VHF/UHF summing amp.

http://www.solidsignal.tv/prod_display.asp?PROD=ANC7777&xzoom=Large#xview

This setup will cover the entire TV band with the highest gain for each band and the trees shouldn’t be a problem if you mount it on to peak of your roof, you put the UHF antenna on a 5 foot mast and the VHF mounted 4 feet below the UHF, so the best set up would be a 20 foot mast off the peak of the roof with the 5 footer stuck on top, you could add a rotor if you want to.