OTA Mounts, Towers, Rigging Hardware

[stampeder]

How high would you like to go with it? That J mast will support your 4-bay Winegard down close by the roof. A tripod works fine for putting it up in the 10 foot range, as you can see in the Pimp My Gear thread photos, but if you need to go higher you're looking at a tower. At that point you are then choosing between a guy-wired or a self supporting tower. Its all up to you, so let us know which way you're leaning. What's your location so we can help assess a good height?

[gg22]

Thanks for reply.
I like it to be just a little higher than the roof, to clear houses across the street. My location is pretty high - about 190 (ft ot m?) above the sea level - Richmond Hill, ON North of Hw 7 and Dufferin.

[plutoz]

with these tripods do you actually need to secure into the surface they are sitting on or are they stable enough free-standing?

i don't like the idea of fastening anything to my roof shingles

[HDTV101]

Originally Posted by jbracing24

How critical to keep the cable in one piece, can I run to the centre of the house for future splitting to a future DT television upstairs and then complete the run to the HT room with a new cable?.

When ever planning to wire a home for any kind on TV or Video distribution always have a center point and run all wiring from this point to all areas of the home that will need to connect to the system. This way no matter what you want to do later you can make the changes quick and simple at the Distribution Center.

Here is my Satellite, Cable TV, and Security Camera "Distribution Center".


From here I have control over all the video wiring of my entire home! I can make feed changes at any time by just changing the jumpers around.


Also included in my Distribution Center is the input from 5 Security Cameras that are placed outside around my home.


The security cameras area modulated onto 6 UHF channels and inserted into the home video system and all cameras are available to all TV's through out my home. The 6th channel is from the sequencer that gives me an automatic look from all cameras at one time!

[probak118]

HDTV101,

Your right, that's the only way to do it ! Just one question where is the shelf with the bottle of Tylanol ?? I get a headache just looking at all your cables !!! LOL

[Twilight Cowboy]

HDTV101 - Thanks for posting your picture. My wife could not believe that someone else had more wires running than I installed.

[stampeder]

Terrific photos and installation, HDTV101. Well done!

[gordee78]

I've just gone through the exercise of determining the proper bearing given my specific location and though I'd share with everyone else how to do this -- and in the progress figured out that I'm a good 20 degrees off of where I should be pointing!

(An excel spreadsheet helps for this)

1) Go to google earth, and download the free explorer. Find your home on the map, and take down you exact latitude and longitude coordinates.

2) Go to http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html and search for the city you'd like to aim for. In Ontario that city is typically the CN tower, buffalo and/or rochester. Take down the bearings of a few of the stations' antennas you are shooting for.

3) Use the tool at http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/LatLong.html to find out the exact bearing you should be aiming for. This bearing produced for people in Ontario (and BC as well) should be EAST of North.

(Almost there!)

4) Use the Natural Resources Canada declination calculator to find the difference between magnetic north and true north in your area: http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/geomag/field/mdcalc_e.php
In Toronto it is 10.4 degrees west of north. Meaning the needle will point 10.4 degrees west of north when you are facing true north. In Toronto this means you will ADD the 10.4 degrees declination to any bearing you get from step 3.

5) Grab/borrow a (decent) compass. Align your antenna to compromise between all the stations you are looking to receive from. Be sure to factor in declination (difference between magnetic and true north).
If you do not have any serious geographical or man-made obstacles you should be in business! Enjoy!

Gordon

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by gordee78

I've just gone through the exercise of determining the proper bearing given my specific location and though I'd share with everyone else how to do this -- and in the progress figured out that I'm a good 20 degrees off of where I should be pointing!

That's great info, and locations of all Canadian TV transmission antennas can be found at:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblan...a_TV_Stations/

while U.S. ones can be found at:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html

[stampeder]

Just one thing though to rain a bit on the parade: don't forget to consider the terrain between your receiving antenna and the broadcast antennas. Numbers are terrific to have, but bear in mind the difficulties posed by elevation changes and/or obstructions, such as between Vancouver and Seattle, or below the Niagara Escarpment from Buffalo.

[intrac]

One thing to remeber, the inclination/declination really doesn't have much affect if the stations are in a N.W - S.E. direction, and at most the effect is only 1 or 2 degrees -- not really enough to affect the signal.

Also, if you know your lat/long, a good site to give you all the stations in your area and the distance/direction is:

http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

[gordee78]

Originally Posted by intrac

One thing to remeber, the inclination/declination really doesn't have much affect if the stations are in a N.W - S.E. direction, and at most the effect is only 1 or 2 degrees -- not really enough to affect the signal.

Just want to clarify here: What's declination got to do with affect on the signal? If someone has a compass and does not take into account the effects of declination then they would be off more than 10 degrees in Toronto! Wherever the compass holder is (regardless of where the stations are) they should take into account that their needle will be pointing at magnetic north ... and all the topographic maps and lat/long coordinates and bearings will be based on TRUE north measurements.

[open6l]

Anyone have pics or suggestions on how to secure the mast holding a cm4228 and a rotator? Over the past 2 weeks (2 days in particular with high winds) I have noticed that my 10' mast has bent to the right. Unfortunately this has become a problem as while I am still able to pull in CTV/CITY with the rotator - I have lost significant signal strength on the US feeds (averaging 60-70%). I've noticed that due to the bend the antenna is now tilted downwards a tad... Its currently mounted to the chimney but I'm thinking either the pole needs replacing or I need to reconsider the mount altogether. I don't have a current pic of the problem but I do have the original setup (a few months back) when it was really working out.. Now I'm not so sure anymore... any suggestions?

old pics
http://photobucket.com/albums/b233/open6l/

[open6l]

Actually my mistake - I do have a few shots in there.. the bend is actually a bit worse now and that white discoloration is some old duct tape that was on the pole - its not due to the bend...

[tricky]

Originally Posted by open6l

actually my mistake - I do have a few shots in there.. the bend is actually a bit worse now and that white discoloration is some old duct tape that was on the pole - its not due to the bend...

A taller tower and a shorter pole.