new antenna or preamp ?
Hi,
This is toxiccello again, from the corner of St-Joseph and St-Laurent. I still cannot pick up vpt ch 32, although I am getting 33 (and 57) with some snow.
I'm using a CM yagi array (4848?) hung from the roof of my living room, and looking through a large, uncoated glass window (12' X 6') on the third floor of a condo. I have line of sight to the Cartier bridge, and a large angle between the bridge and the mountain --about 60 degrees. Some large buildings block progressively my southern view as one's gaze moves towards st-Laurent and the mountain, and there is a large structure close to my condo which blocks the view just east of the Cartier bridge) I tried moving the antenna in a large arc and moving it around my living room, to no avail. My tuner is built in a Sony KD-34XS955. It does not give me any indications of the strength of a signal, but both when I scan and when I put it on channel 32 it gives me naught. It is possible that the moutain is blocking my line of sight to Mt-Mansfield, as one forum member suggested. However, by all my calculations -- basically by studying google earth images -- the axis between my apartment and Mt-Mansfield basically runs parallel to the north-south streets in Montreal, and if this is true I should have a clear shot to Mansfield by aiming my yagi about 10 degrees east of the Cartier bridge. I don't see how I would pick up any signal at all from Mt-Lyons (57) if that were not the case.
I would like advice on options (putting the yagi on the roof is unfortunately not one of them) which to my mind are two:
1) I can try another antenna. Given aesthetic and practical considerations, it has to be a Yagi, as a CM 2828 style will not work in my space and directionality is desirable in order to attenuate local signals from the Mt-Royal tower. According to one of the gain charts posted here , the winegard yagi (9095p?) has up to 2db more gain. Is that possible for such a similar design?
2) I can install the Channel Master preamp 7777?. While it is not available locally, it's pretty easy to find for 50-60 bucks on the web and ebay. (I've found the people at Raybel, where I bought my CM, to be very friendly, but on the technical side it's true, they're sort of out of it when it comes to OTA advice)
If I install a preamp, will I need to attenuate the signals for Radio Canada and CBC? The antenna tower on the mountain is about 50 degrees to the right from my antenna if it align it parallel to St-Laurent. Again, I have not idea of the incoming strength of local signals.
I will be grateful for any and all input.
Merci,
J.