A bit difficult to tell from the photo, but perhaps the bracket clamping the mounting rail can be reassembled in a different way?

If there are not existing holes in the bracket to permit this, it looks like simply drilling some additional holes for the fasteners might do the trick.

Edit... I'm referring to the bronze coloured "clamp" or bracket that holds the square aluminum tube "backbone" of the antenna structure in place.

Yes! Dissassemble that brass mounting bracket and you'll notice that there are 2 sets of threaded holes for the mounting bracket screws. One set is for mounting the boom onto a horizontal pole/mast and the other is for mounting on a vertical pole/mast. If your J-pole is too close to the roof, then simply slide that brass mounting bracket up the boom of the antenna until you have the desired mounting height on the boom.

Tip: Try to keep your cables behind the relectors, away from the bowtie elements.

Tip: Another tip is to make sure the antenna is aimed at the horizon or slightly above the horizon. If the front of the antenna is pointing downward, you'll lose the line of sight needed for good digital reception.

Horizontal mounting is good if you are surrounded with local channels and you want locals only and/or to avoid receiving cochannel interferences from distance tropo channels.

so we have lived in this house for over ten years and finally found out about dtv and hdtv and all this ota stuff!

cool thing is that there is (that i can see from a quick look in the attic) one 15-20 ft (assuming uhf) antenna , 3 feet above it is some wierd looking tubular thing, and then theres a bunch of smaller antennas..

probably about 6 antennas up there total, but none of them look similar so i dont think any of them are stacked or anything...(like the only way i saw you could combine antennas was if you were getting two antennas in phase for higher gain/or totally different stations and channels so you dont have to worry about phasing)

the worst part is they are all hooked up somehow through these channel master boxes...


its all twin lead wiring, and theres so many channel master boxes and im assuming they just split/combine signals...?

basically i found two twin lead wires so i hooked up a 4:1 (300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter) and connected to my tv (it has ntsc for sure and the box says digital and analog so im assuming thats atsc too!?)

but only the two most local channels show up and there really fuzzy!

so where should i start to get these antennas hooked up (they should be all connected up there) - which seems odd because i didnt think you could combine antennas or else you get phase cancellation and noise basically...

i should also add that its a huge attic but really hard to get around in, so if there was a way to figure out if he has pre amps or what up there without going up that would be awsome

TVFool Link: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d9fbe263abec11a

Photos:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050120.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P80501134534.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050113.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050112.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050111.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050110.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050109.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/enoying/P8050108.jpg

the long side of this attic faces pretty much west so..

i forgot to mention that there is two twin lead wires hanging (uhf/vhf?) so assuming the guy who set these up new what he was doing (was an electrical engineer or something) then i just need to figure out how to get these twin lead wires to my tv...

should they be combined? should i not use 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter?

thanks again!

Gees, are you kidding me!! You have a 4-bay bowtie laying on the insulation...essentially not even being used (unless your trying to pick up some moon rays), and is wired to?

What I would almost do is face one bowtie in the direction of the CN tower channels (20/40/44/64/65/66), then face the other bowtie inbetween all those channels to the south east...maybe even aim it towards 38/39, or even toward 32/43 etc. Channels 18/15/35 are all out of the Hammer so you should be able to pick them up regardless. Channel 26 is religious...so unless that matters, who really cares.

Combine these two antennas. Since they are the same, as long as you have some distance (25" min.) and use the same length of cable to combine, then you should be good. The Yagi or the folded Di-pole could be used for VHF and combined with the UHF drop into a pre-amp (if needed)...I think I see a Spartan (or something similar) in one of the pictures...under the big ol' Yagi. I'd almost point that Yagi towards Toronto and see if it will pick up analog 9 clearly...that could indicate if you will have difficulties after Aug 2011, when analog is supposed to drop and CTV will move from 40 back to 9 with their digital. But I'm no expert on Yagis (heh...I'm no expert on antennas period) so hopefully others can fill you in on what that one is tuned for.

Now if your only using this for one TV, then set a single bowtie on a rotator (not sure if there is one already in the attic), and see what you can get with just the one bowtie on its own.

You are one lucky b@$t@rd, that's for sure...and I mean that in the utmost...envious respect :) .

About those antennas you found, sirhc: the biggest antenna (the gold one) is a VHF-LO yagi (channels 2 - 6), so it will be useless to you after the DTV transition but DIY antenna builders use them for parts so don't scrap it!
the top "turnstile" antenna is an omnidirectional FM Radio antenna, and it might even get the HD Radio FM (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=34783) stations from the U.S. too
the 4-bay bowtie reflector antennas will be great for UHF stations, aimed the way Marbles_00 suggests

You can learn a lot about the different types of antennas in the OTA FAQ:

sirhc,

Your location is Carlisle can be a tough one for OTA reception with all that high ground blocking line of sight (LOS) reception from Toronto and Buffalo. Your best hope for the future is the pair of CM4221 antennas that you have. They are the 4 bay bowtie antennas, one of which is shown laying flat on the insulation (and doing absolutely nothing I might add).

All of the combiners shown in your pictures were used to combine the FM, UHF and VHF signals into one (or two) lead(s). Twin lead has gone the way of the dodo so I would be inclined to setup the two CM4221 antennas with new baluns (300 to 75 ohm tranformers) and run some new co-axial cable. At your location a pre-amplifier would be worthwhile and it looks like you have at least one of them. Any chance of getting the antennas set up on the roof? Attic installations loose a lot of signal signal strength.

There is lots of great information on this forum along with numerous knowledgeable and helpfull people - you shouldn't have any trouble putting that equipment to good use.

Those 4bays don't seem to be orientated for anything. One is lying flat and the other is leaned in a horizontal position. Are they actually connected to anything? I can see that someone has stapled the original instruction sheets to the studs. It's like an antenna museum with antique twin lead joiners and all ! Take a real close look up there,... the installer may still be in that attic :p

thanks for all the replys..

this attic has absolutely no metal in it, its all wood! and im not sure if its possible to get some of those antennas out as they must have been installed when this house was built!

- would i really need to worry about getting them on the roof?

also being in carlisle (up on the escarpment!) i thought that it would help alot with hamilton and toronto ? i mean there are trees around but no super tall forests or anything!


so people keep mentioning (the two) uhf antennas (one lying on the plywood ontop of the insulation) where is the other one? im assuming the one thats mounted in the rafters?

how do i know they are the same? i get the feeling there are many antennas that look identical...


also since someone said it looked like there was a pre amp, (hopefully i can find the power supply as the basement has been finished since we moved in) so could i try out that ganging to point each uhf ant. at say hamilton and the other at toronto with the amp inside the attic?



it shouldnt be to much a hassle to mount the antennas on the roof but im assuming the guy knew what he was doing if he had all this and since there is no metal in the roof...(remember he was using twin lead)

it would also save the money for a mounting bracket!

cheers

edit*

i cant seem to find anything on what the front of these antennas are.. so for vhf yagi, big side or small side is the front?
also for the 4 bays, is that like 4 antennas in one? can i point each bay in a different direction? also whats the front of those? the grid is the back and each x should be perpindicular to the direction of the signal???

one more thing, marbles 00 said point the big yagi to 9... isnt 9 vhf hi and yagis for vhf low?

sirhc, for the Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo OTA DTV stations you need to concentrate on just the two 4-bay bowtie reflector UHF antennas and forget about all that other stuff up there.

The elements of the VHF-LO antenna are foldable right at the central boom, so when you fold them all in you will have a long, wide bundle to get out of the attic - the reverse of how they got it in the first time. ;) If you want to use the FM turnstile antenna for radio listening then it will do great, but even if you don't want to use it the easiest thing to do is leave it up there then unless it gets in the way of reaching the best locations for mounting the two 4-bay UHF antennas. As I say, if you take the VHF-LO and/or the FM Radio antennas out, let us know because someone will want them for parts.

You could also try the VHF-Lo antenna for some fringe VHF reception. Not that it will be the best, but I know RF7 WNGS might be a good target for that monster.

A more ideal target would be to aim it northward for Barrie and get CKVR (A Channel Barrie) on 3. I wish I had something like that right now...

But again there will essentially be no VHF-Lo channels to recieve past this time next year so you better just scrap it for the parts.

do i connect the 300-75 baluns right to the antennas where the twin lead wiring is connected?

i understand the basic physics of keeping the coax the same length to keep everything in phase, i just dont understand if i should connect the baluns to the antennas or keep a few inches (the same length of course) of twin lead which connects to the baluns...?

You could also try the VHF-Lo antenna for some fringe VHF reception. Not that it will be the best, but I know RF7 WNGS might be a good target for that monster.Channel 7 is in the VHF-HI band (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=837957&postcount=19) (174 to 180MHz) so a VHF-LO antenna (54 to 88MHz) is not suited for it. :)

You need to disconnect all the twinlead and say good bye to it, but someone here might want it. The same goes for the screw-terminal boxes that you photographed.

Now, starting fresh, you need to clear a path up there so that one of the 4-bays points at the Toronto stations. Connect a balun directly to the terminals. From there just follow the detailed instructions in Post #16 of the OTA FAQ (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=675713&postcount=16) on how to combine a second 4-bay pointed at Buffalo and you'll probably be fine.

Since we are concentrating on helping you get those two 4-bay antennas up and running, I will aid in answering your questions about them.

also for the 4 bays, is that like 4 antennas in one? can i point each bay in a different direction? also whats the front of those? the grid is the back and each x should be perpindicular to the direction of the signal???
It's one antenna using paired curved wires called "elements" to pick up signals. These elements wires are also known as "whiskers"...as, well, when installed, you can get the idea of what they appear to look like. These element wires are joined together with two "phase" wires. To aid in picking up signals, these antennas use a mesh behind them that act as a "reflector". The reflector also cuts down on signals affecting the element wires from different directions. So basically you want to face those 4 curved wire pairs towards the set of desired channels you want to attempt to pickup.

And I apologize about the misinformation on the Yagi...I did say that Yagi's aren't my specialty. :) . I think everyone else here gave you some valuable info on getting them connected, but if you want, I've done an attic install myself, you can see how I've got my setup on my weblinks - goto "List of DIY Projects", then click on my Gray-Hoverman link. Down the page are pics of my install. Also if you goto my Stealth Hawk link, I have a pic of my two UHF antennas (Hoverman's) combined through a reversed splitter into a Channel Master 7777 preamp, and the "Hawk" coupled at the preamp to the VHF input. Hope that helps visually on how to make your connections.

Also you mention that you don't have alot of metal in the attic. Though that matters, also what matters is the thickness of the plywood (and how much moisture it is holding), also you will loose signal because of the asphalt shingles. It won't help if there are more than one layer of shingles either. I think what may help me, is the fact that I only have one layer of shingles on my roof (just redid 2 years ago), but I've been getting really good reception all things considered.

I would first try one antenna in a direction, then try the second antenna separately. This will give you an indication of what you will be able to pickup with just the antenna. The preamp should only come into play if your cable run from the antenna location to your TV(s) are more than 60' (on average). If your testing your setup with a short cable from the antenna to a portable or laptop with a usb tuner and your not picking up channels...well a preamp most likely won't help. Also realize that when you combine the two antennas, you will loose some signal strength, which means some of the weaker channels may drop away. Just keep that in mind.

sirhc,

As I mentioned previously, the uhf antennas are Channel Master 4221 (I have a pair of them in my collection) and I can email pdf copies of the original instruction sheets to you if you require them - just send me a pm with your email address. I suspect that you may already have a copy stapled to one of the beams in the attic. The triangular "bow tie" elements are the front of the antenna and should be facing the target transmitter, the mesh screen is the rear, and the balun (300 - 75 ohm transformer) should be connected directly to the two threaded studs located between the upper and lower pair of elements. No twin lead required.

If you check post #281 in the "Pimp My Gear" thread your will find a picture that another member posted of a CM4221 and pre-amp attic installation.

Try putting your location into tvfool.com

Welcome animosity.

Please don't buy that antenna. Instead, read the first post in this thread:
OTA Clone, Coat Hanger, and Junk Antennas (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=106108)

I suggest you look for options in this thread:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=23984

or preferably contact the OTA forum sponsor: Save and Replay (http://www.saveandreplay.com/)

thinking about going OTA. not sure what antenna to start with?

don't watch much t.v and will be happy with the major networks.

live in Oakville on the top of the hill near the mall, yard faces south. my t.v is DTV and is a Samsung, if that plays into it?? any help would be appreciated. thanks,

live in Oakville on the top of the hill near the mall, yard faces south. my t.v is DTV and is a Samsung, if that plays into it?? any help would be appreciated. thanks,
A quick look at a map indicates that you may need one of...

multiple (3?) antennas hooked up to a multiplexer or ABC switch, or
a rotator for your antenna

Here's why...

Hamilton is to your southwest
Toronto is to your northeast
Buffalo is to your southeast

If you can get Hamilton (CHCH and CITS) with an indoor antenna, that might simplify things a bit. I suggest starting with an indoor antenna, and see if that does the trick for you. You might find that you get enough channels through a window. Booby trap, metal screens are opaque to TV.

thinking about going OTA. not sure what antenna to start with?

don't watch much t.v and will be happy with the major networks.

live in Oakville on the top of the hill near the mall, yard faces south. my t.v is DTV and is a Samsung, if that plays into it?? any help would be appreciated. thanks,
Hi Hockeyhuss,

I'd start off with 1 if you don't watch too much TV like I do. I have a Channel MAster 4221HD (bought in Hamilton) in the attic aimed moreso to Buffalo. I pickup all Buffalo stations reliably except for ION which I only get during summer. Toronto stations are coming in strong. I purchased a preamp to help out with amplifying the weak signal in my attic and things are good.

Hope this helps