OTA: The Big Trees Factor

21086 Views 55 Replies 20 Participants Last post by stampeder, May 23, 2011

stampeder

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2005 (Edited)

tigerbangs said:
Stampeder: get that 4228 and the 1111 up on the roof and quit your stalling!

Oh the irony! Here I am cheering on OTA converts, yet I can't enjoy it myself the way I'd like to! I am chomping at the bit to get those up and running but actually I've now done 2 test placements on the roof and the results were really awful due to the tall trees. I can't seem to find a sweet spot anywhere in the yard after dragging around my CM4228 on its mast, with my LG tuner with a 13" TV in tow. Also 4DTV_HD offered to come by with his spectrum analyzer to see if we can find one but I doubt that we would so I don't want to waste his time. I had to put my ugly little satellite dishes up on a 10' pole in my vegetable garden just to see the BEV sats.

My only choices are

1) put up a 60' tower
2) chainsaw massacre (illegal - the trees are protected, and we love them too)
3) move
4) climb that big tall fir tree and put all the gear up there (not!)

We'll see, but I tell ya its frustating, like having a Jacuzzi with no water connection.

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300ohm

· #8 · Mar 22, 2009

I believe because of the trees.

Trees like fir and pine are like a steel curtain at uhf frequencies.

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300ohm

· #12 · Mar 23, 2009

My world and welcome to it... Douglas fir, red cedar for year round attenuation, maple and birch for summer/autumn signal killing. Its an OTA nightmare here.

Red cedar as in sequoia ? Use the trees to your advantage by making them towers, heh.

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300ohm

· #14 · Mar 23, 2009

that the tops are very slender and not very solid

Yeah, but you have the option of topping the tree (it will still grow) and mounting down further where its thicker and less prone to sway.

I have about a 100 ft sequoia in my yard about 40 feet away from the coax in to the house. Its a good 25 ft higher than any other tree in the immediate area, heh. Ive been seriously considering mounting an antenna up there. I picked up 200 ft of RG6 Quad cheap. Just need a preamp and some decent weather, heh.

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300ohm

· #16 · Mar 23, 2009

Hmm. Ill have to ponder on that, heh.

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300ohm

· #19 · Mar 24, 2009

You get some really nasty ones off the Atlantic, don't you?

Yep, pretty much 70 mph winds at least twice a year. We have been very, very lucky. No huricanes have hit since 1954 ? (so I been told, dont remember, heh). But looking over the history, we are way way overdue. Of course, the cause will be man made global warning, even though a surprise huricane in March of 1898 completely wiped out over 100 tall ships at Lewes on the Delaware coast tip, killing many hundreds. The wreckage was still there when I was a kid in the 50's. Since then its finally been removed, heh.

Hmm. Ill have to ponder on that, heh.

Hmm, a gimbal mount mast may be the solution. I built many a gimbal mount drink holders for my boats. Cant spill that precious beer, no matter how high the wave, heh.

Also, you have to admit, the sequoia is a very good climbing tree, heh.