TV Antenna, is higher always better?

Factual Questions
1

I installed this TV antenna https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4J5YGB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 a few weeks ago. I live in a two story house and have the antenna mounted above my porch roof, due to being able to climb out of a second story window to mount it. The reception is mostly good, but the signal does cut out sometimes for a few seconds. Sometimes it will do this every few minuets. I am using the included signal booster, and have tried its two settings, and keep it on the better of the two.

I am wondering if buying a mast and mounting so it is above the peak of the roof would help. I am guessing it would be better, but I kind of want a second opinion before I climb up a latter and mount it.

Thanks

2

Yes, higher is better, unless there is some weird obstacle (like a “mushroom” water tower) that would get in the way if you raised it.

3

One cause of a higher antenna being worse is that you might pick up even farther stations along that line of sight that would interfere with the closer ones.

But the way the FCC “staggers” TV channel assignments in a region so the same channel isn’t used twice in nearby markets when possible reduces the chances of this happening unless you go really high with a strongly directional antenna.

Speaking of which, going with larger, more powerful TV antennas can be a problem when you have a splay of broadcast antennas in your area. You increase the chances of getting only the channels in one specific direction.

4

Sometimes a car passing in the street can add a reflected signal, confounding the usual reception pattern.

5

Have you tried listening to different music, like a waltz or gavotte?

6

You may want to try a different signal amplifier than what you have. My experience is that they are definitely not all equal. Direction matters as well - even omnidirectional antennas will have an ideal orientation to where you are and where the signal is coming from. There are a number of websites that like antennaweb that do a pretty good job of telling you what you can expect to receive based on your address and antenna type.

7

Also, the cutouts could be atmospheric conditions or even an airplane flying overhead or nearby tree swaying in the wind. Try to mount it on a clear flat portion of the roof (not between angled roof gables) if that is an option.

8

TV signals are UHF and VHF which are mostly line of sight. That means that usually higher is better.

However your main problem is likely this antenna doesn’t have that much gain. It is nice looking but there are much better antennas.

Here are two web sites with analysis tools that evaluate your location and the TV channels that various antennas will pick up.

If your local stations are all UHF, you could probably mount something like this in your attic and it would do much better. This assumes your attic space is accessible and you don’t have metallic insulation. Otherwise mounting it in the same location as your current “AnTop” antenna would probably work: http://a.co/0EGiq9Y

The above Channel Master 4221 is a classic 4-bay “bow tie” antenna which has been used for many decades. It has very high gain for the size. It’s not covered in stylish fiberglass or plastic but TV signals don’t care about that.

For UHF the line losses are high so you often need a mast mounted preamp for best results. Something like this: http://a.co/5YBA9Tq

9

Many TVs have signal strength functions somewhere in the settings menu which will give you a good way to compare antenna positioning. Also, depending on your environment, you may need to read up on multipath issues (which can sometimes be cured by rotating the antenna along the line of sight axis.)

10

Higher is generally better, yes.

But if your problems are intermittent as you described, it’s more likely due to momentary interference – a passing car, a plane flying overhead, nearby noisy electrical equipment, etc. So the things people have suggested about working to reduce interference and improve gain & filtering are most likely to improve the situation.

11

It could also be a cable or cable connection/termination problem. Not likely if it is a new install, but worth checking.

12

In general, yes, higher is always better, though a specific location can be better or worse for fringe signals in very finicky ways.

The other thing I’ll add here is that this seems to be an all-purpose VHF/UHF antenna, and if your stations are UHF only, you may be better off with something like this Channel Master 4221 (you can also Google the more sensitive 4228) that I’ve had great success with. They also sell two different low-noise amplifiers with different gain, depending on station distance. Antenna quality makes a huge difference. I found that a signal amplifier makes relatively little difference to what stations you can receive or how reliably – antenna gain is everything – but they’re important if you have a long cable run, and especially if you’re splitting it.

I haven’t had cable TV for years, and my CM 4221 is one of my cord-cutting treasures.