[shooshinejonnie]

Hello all,

I have been browsing around here for the last week trying to upgrade my antenna situation.

Currently I have a Lava HD-2605 that is 70 feet in a tree. It picks up one station consistently and have picked up all enough to register on my digital channels. They are not consistent even non-existent. Hence it brings me here. I built this GH from thread 95898. There are so many versions I have no idea which one it is. I built it because it was simple and 300ohm had plans drawn out. I don't get anything on it. I also have it about 10' off of the ground. I have not put it in my tree and if I do it would have at least 75' RG6.

Current setup. Lava HD-2605. 140' rg6 with 2 straight line connectors. Coming into house. Wall jack into surge protector. Out to rotor and power supply for lava back to wall jack. Up the wall to wall jack to TV. Satellite worked great but don't feel like paying for it and I didn't have HD.

So my question is: What should I have built or will this still work? I am unable to post TVfool. I am 63 miles from hampton and 67 miles from richmond stations. I have picked up stations from Hampton and Ricmond. The channel I get consistently is CBS 3.1. With PBS 15.1,2,3 every now and again if the weather is right. One night I had every channel I could receive locally from hampton and even had the pbs from NC down the list a bit. HELP!

I just don't know which way to go. Thank you for all the info that has been given and will be given. Help a brother in no-man's-land out.

Know I'm long winded here.

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section.

 

[300ohm]

Did you build the mesh model or the colinear rod SBGH model ?

I don't get anything on it.

You should have at least gotten 1 channel on it, the way I figure, unless something was wrong with the build. Post a picture of it.

I am unable to post TVfool.

Does it look something like this for Warsaw Virginia ?
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=8d171261cb21da

140' rg6 with 2 straight line connectors. Coming into house.

With the GH or any other antenna, youll need a high gain quality preamp, like a CM7777 to cover the losses from the long coax and connectors.
The Lava HD-2605 has an inbuilt preamp, but its probably high noise.

 

[shooshinejonnie]

Thanks 300ohm. It must get tiresome to answer questions like these.

I built the mesh version. I am assuming I need at least a DB but wanted to try one first. I have to find a better place to buy supplies cause I'm already $35 into this thing with everything and had the mesh.

My tvfool is campbell rd Lancaster VA 22503

Will post pics as soon as I can.

 

[300ohm]

Even at 70 feet, you only have one moderately strong station that is LOS, the others are 1 edge and 2 edge.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=8d17c8349aa2c4

I would try different heights, 40, 50 or 60 ft can be better than 70 ft sometimes, but it will take some experimentation to find the hot spots.

At 10 to 15 ft off the ground, you should be getting at least 3 stations with your SBGH mesh model. But again, experiment with height because a couple of feet up or down can make a difference. And post a picture of your build so we can see if anything drastic is wrong with it.
Also, have you tried a different balun on it ? Broken baluns and shorted coax are common reasons why a GH wont perform like it should.

 

[shooshinejonnie]

I am in a small dip with the stations being on the downhill side. I do have mature trees all around me. The height of current antenna is just below the top of the tree line. I just asked the guy at the tv shop locally and he said they don't recommend any ota antennas as he can't guarantee they are going to work.

I put on a brand new balun.

*Edit* If you need higher res pics I can take some more.