Yeah, things change here daily, what was allowed isn’t what wasn’t is, it’s like watching a hockey game with the lights out.
I want to thank you for all your help (and patience). I think I have a much better idea about all of this, and what the different components are, and what they do. I repositioned the antenna and have a decent signal on most stations now (and a few new stations that register 3 dots).
First thing I’m going to try is the preamp, I can get that easily at the local BestBuy ($49 for the Winegard setup of preamp and power inserter).
If I need more height after that I can get an extension to the mast I have at HD, but right now they are out of stock or I would try that first. The mast I have is a 4.5’ Zenith, so I’d like to go with another one to keep them matching (appearance wise). That will give me up to a 9’ reach, currently it 4.5’ (2’ above the chimney), that should be enough to pull in that last remaining signal.
The Antop AT-400BV antenna has a relatively good preamp built in along with an LTE filter. With the switch on the power inserter turned off it has a 10dB gain and with the switch turned on, it has a 33dB gain. At my location I get the best signal across all stations with the preamp in the off position (10dB gain). I’m not sure how much if any help a different preamp will provide. If your antenna can not receive a good signal to start with, your preamp will just amplify a poor signal which will still be unwatchable. The antenna has to be at the proper height and aimed in the proper direction to receive a quality signal before a preamp can do any good.
If you have a particular station you are trying to receive, you might play with rotating the antenna slightly each direction and see if it makes any difference.
Many HD TV’s have some sort of signal strength meter built in, so if it is possible to connect your antenna directly to a TV and then have someone watch the signal strength on the TV while you rotate the antenna you should be able to make adjustments to maximize your reception.
Unfortunately, TV rf signals are subject to numerous atmospheric changes and what works great today may not work well tomorrow, next month or 6 months from now.
I’ve contacted the mfgr about attaching it to a chimney with an additional 4.5’ extension mast. They said there should be no problem with attaching it to the chimney, but said nothing about the extension. I’ve asked a couple times with no reply.
Should I be able to add an extension, or would wind stress be too much?