[ArthurDent]

OK, I've seen some posts in the past. Don't see any in the recent past about what is/are a good unit(s) for difficult reception areas. Am  figuring outdoor installation, probably motorized. Thoughts, experience, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I'll forego the rant on Comcast as they aren't worth my time. 

[Phil A]

antennaweb.org is one good resource

[Phil A]

I get TV where I currently live from 2 markets.  I put the antenna in myself in the attic and it has a preamplier on it as well.  I already had someone put an antenna in the garage attic of the place I'll be moving to in less than 6 months.  Most of the TV providers are not great.  That's why they call it Crumbcast.  They annoyed me this week after my modem lost signal for a few minutes (at their end) and my internet went out and they were no helpful and wanted to charge me for their lack of service.  I hung up and resolved it myself.  I have not had cable or satellite ever.  With everything available today on the internet and as speeds increase, it won't help any of the providers.  Media companies (cable, magazine, etc) always charge their best customers the most money and people who have the service have to call them from time to time to get their best deal, otherwise the bill keeps going up.  A kid at work told me he was call as his cable bill was $170/month (for TV and internet).  That's insanity over $2k/yr.

[ArthurDent]

Thanks Phil. I had picked the antennaweb.org out of one of the old posts I perused. Haven't checked it yet, but it's at top of the list. I told Comcast to take a hike on the Expanded Basic 3 years ago when they went to requiring a box. Been running the cable straight into my TV basically without issue since. They've raised the Limited Basic twice in 6 months from $16.85 to $17.85, and now I get a notice come Nov 5th they are encrypting Limited service. Screw em. My cable internet will go up which will offset most of the savings of dropping the TV, in fact the $10 or so discount was the only reason I kept the TV before. Got to have the high speed Inet for work since I have to move 5-15 meg CAD files fairly often. But I can survive with less TV, and the only reason they are doing it is to target advertising. Proprietary Public TV, sounds like an oxymoron to me. Appreciate the info. And I won't even go into my internet conversations with them. 

[dmatt]

Arthur,

Per antennaweb.org I am about 55-60 mile from the San Diego towers but with a direct line of sight.  I use a Wineguard 7968P with a winegard preamp and have no reception problems.  The Wineguard HD8200U is supposed to be a stronger antenna than mine.  Of course these antennas have 14 foot booms so you could probably pick up space station transmissions if you knew which way to point it.

Solid signal carries Wineguard and has a low price but parts express has free shipping over $100.

[ArthurDent]

Thanks dmatt. I'm in the Seattle-Tacoma area so line of sight isn't generally too clear. I'm hoping the antenna will do the job. It did many years ago in the deep dark analog past, the '80s before cable was an option. I'm roughly familiar with Wineguard as my 5th wheel has one of their dish antennas. Appreciate the recommendation. 

[WGH]

A clear line of site is fairly important. My antenna was originally on the North gable end with the neighbors tree between the antenna and the tower just 17 miles away on top of Mt. Bigelow. Reception was weak on some stations and I got some pixelation on windy days. Moving the antenna to the South gable end misses the tree and reception is always strong and clear.

Wayne