So how is everyone doing it them.....just point in the general direction of where you "think" the signal is coming from?
I use
www.antennaweb.org. If you put in the address, they will give you the compass headings of the broadcast antennas for every station you ought to be able to receive. Usually they're almost all in the same spot, so you just point the antenna that way.
This has served me well everywhere we've gone so far except Marathon, FL which was just a bit too far from Miami to do any good. (Still got the obligatory Spanish channel though -- the only thing funnier than the "Magic Bullet" infomercial is the "Magic Bullet" infomercial dubbed into Spanish.)
However, being in a valley, this might not help you much at home if the best (or "least worst") signal is actually being reflected from some other direction. But it's been pretty handy on the road.
I've also learned that the digital OTA channel numbers are all "fake" and even for channels with low numbers, like 4.1, the actual signals are usually broadcast in the old UHF range, not VHF. So there's always that extra fussing required to get them in right. If my childhood UHF experiences are any guide, having someone stand holding the antenna with one hand while leaning in a certain direction with one foot in the air may be your best bet to significantly improve reception.*
In my analog to digital converter box at home, it has that "Signal Strength" feature I mentioned earlier, there to assist in directing the house antenna on the roof. I wonder if I should somehow work that into my Winegard antenna in the motor home, just to aid in where to point the antenna, before I start scanning for channels.
In the RV that would be a bit hard to do because the signal strength meter would have to have the entire tuner built in. Otherwise it wouldn't know what channel's signal strength to report. So I'm not sure there's a smaller equivalent you could get. Taking that thing with you might be an option; you could temporarily plug it in where the TV connects and then reconnect the TV after you're satisfied.
*Take appropriate precautions before doing this on the roof of your PC! ;-)
