Anonymous wrote:
My low channels and high channels are coming in week (I especially would
like to improve channel 49). I like in a small city of 130,000
population. We have Toronto aprox 40 miles north and Buffalo 40 miles
south of us. I would to find a way to improve my TV signal. One of
the
things I would like to try is put a preamp on the antenna, but not sure
what
dB rating to use so I don't over amplify my signal (I don't want to
improve
some channels at the expense of other good channels). Any ideas?

TV preamps are mainly intended to overcome feedline losses. They typically
have rather high noise figure (6 dB or more). I doubt that a preamp alone
will improve your reception significantly.

What type of antenna are you using now and how high is it? Is your house on
a hill or in a valley? What is the terrain between you and the stations? TV
signals are basically line-of-sight. Antenna height is a huge factor in good
reception.

The Radio Shack antennas that have a log-periodic VHF section and a
corner-reflector UHF section are pretty good. The bigger the antenna, the
better it will work. Don't trust the "range" figures in their catalog. Get
the antenna up at least 25-30 feet (a chimney mount works well). Use RG-6
coaxial cable to feed the antenna.

You can probably get a good idea of what you need by looking at your
neighbors' roofs!

Since you're trying to receive signals from two different directions, you
will need a rotator. There's no way around that (unless you want to install
two separate antennas).

Then, there's always cable TV. ;-

Art Harris N2AH