Bought Wrong Antenna, Need Advice

[Jellyby]

Last winter I confused HDTV with digital tv and bought a UHF only antenna so when the industry made the switch I lost two channels. The antenna is a Radio Shack U-75R, 40 inch boom, 17 element, allegedly good for up to 75 miles.

Would it make any sense to connect a UHF/VHF antenna to it with a coupler? They would be pointed in the same direction. Would that boost the UHF signal as well as add VHF? Or would it make more sense to replace it with a different antenna? (I was leaning towards the HD 7695P).

We live only 16 miles from the main towers. However, there is a 995 ft. hill only a quarter mile away from us that blocks much of the signal, as well as tall trees in our backyard and the neighbors. I found only narrow pockets of reception on our upstairs deck and above the deck roof, none with a strong signal. I found a place on top of a shed beside our house and placed the antenna there, about 8 ft. above the ground. If I move it 3 feet to either side it loses the signal. Most days we get decent reception, but on some days we lose channels. There is about 30 feet of coax.

None of the channels use VHF low. Channels 2 and 6 are UHF and only 8 and 12 use VHF. All main channels are in the yellow, green and red bands.

[KNP 2516]

UHF is line of sight - like a beam of light.

Compare it to a light vs sound,if you point a light, it shines in one direction. It does not go up one hill and down the next. If you point it up, it does not shine down - into a hole - valley.

VHF is like sound, if you yell the noise goes in all directions and it does go through walls and around corners and up over one hill and down the next.

Anything 4 or more stories tall, trees, leaves in trees, buildings, hills, mountains all will block UHF signals.

There is no magical antenna that will receive a signal when none is present.

Your new antenna would work against the old - new antenna you bought and would not help it.

Your best bet is to have one antenna pointed in the proper direction and use quad shield RG 6 wire.

The HD 7695P is a very good antenna, but - due to the fact that you wish to receive as many signals as possible and since at least two of the signals are VHF, I would recommend a Winegard 8200U antenna.

You are going to need all the help you can get - to pull in those poor signals.

[winegard]

Good afternoon Jellyby -

I would suggest that you go for a large VHF hi band and UHF antenna such as the HD7697P and a HDP-269 preamplifier. I would also suggest that you try and to find a good signal spot by moving the antenna up/down and around to find the best signal.

[Jellyby]

The HD 7697P is a little too large. Something in the HD 769 series though. Is there any danger of overloading the tuner when using a pre amp?

[winegard]

You'll be fine with that pre-amp. I would definitely recommend buying an antenna as large as you are willing then and mounting it as high as possible.

Also, keep in mind how funny this new digital signal can be. It works similar to how your cell phone operates in that you may have dropped calls and no signals in one location and move the cell phone (or antenna in this case) 10 feet to the right and be perfect.