Mounting Yagi between two OTA antennas

[number40Fan]

I have two OTA antennas mounted about 4 or 5 feet apart facing north. I wanting to mount a Wilson 301111 between the two pointing east. Will I have any issues with the other two causing interference?

 

[number40Fan]

Well, no issues. Picking up a tower that is about 32 miles away, as the crow flies.

Now, maybe someone can help with this. I have a BCD396XT that I have hooked up to the yagi. Is there any better way to make sure I have the best signal possible other than the signal strength meter in the top right hand corner of the screen?

 

[SkiBob]

I don't trust the bars on the 396xt It works for some systems and others it doesn't. I would suggest physically finding the tower you want to listen to and point the yagi in that direction. If you don't know where the best tower is, it will take trial and error, but you will eventually find the sweet spot.

The alternative is using a special tool with a meter on it and I can't begin to tell you about that. It's out of my league and way too serious for my level of interest.

Have fun discovering.

 

[mmckenna]

There are a number of pieces of test gear you could use, but none of them are cheap. Easiest thing to do, as Bob said above, is to try moving it around until you get the strongest/clearest signal. As long as you are getting a good clean signal, call it done.

 

[number40Fan]

Thanks for the responses. I am hearing everything clear where the antenna is pointing now, so I'll leave it there for now.

 

[davenlr]

If you google "yagi radiation pattern" you will see most have almost no reception off the side (90 degrees), so you could point the antenna broadside from your target, find the weakest signal, then rotate the antenna 90 degrees from that point, and you should be pointed right at it.

 

[number40Fan]

I think my biggest issue is that I was thinking the tower that I am trying to pick up was slightly north of due west of me, when it is actually slightly south of due west of me. If it wasn't for the frost that we got last night, I would jump back on the roof and readjust to point slightly south, but it is working fine right now.