@street, if you're not confused yet you haven't been paying attention. I'd suggest thinking about the problem as follows:
1) The most important factor is line-of-sight. If the earth were a billiard ball that would pretty much be the only important factor. So, start by figuring the distance and height of the transmitting antennas you would like to hear. The stations should be able to tell you their lat/long and antenna height with a phone call. Worst case, if you know the approximate location, search the internet for an aviation "Sectional Chart" to suit. The tower heights will be shown and the web site will probably have some kind of measuring tool. Then find a line-of-sight calculator that you like.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=line+of+sight+radio+calculator From the calculator you can figure the minimum height your antenna needs to be..
2) The next factor is terrain. If you figure out the highest hill between you and the transmitter, a good LOS calculator can deal with that. Worst case is @
UnrealizedPotential's post where the antenna had to be
on the hill
3) Next is obstructions like houses, trees, etc. Ideally your antenna can be high enough to look over nearby obstructions. At our lake home, I have a cell phone booster antenna about 30' in the air but it is looking through trees between us and the cell tower. Reception in the summer with leaves on the trees is noticeably worse than in the winter.
4) Next is probably reflection and diffraction effects. These put signals in places that the LOS calculators don't expect but it is pretty much the luck of the draw. This is why moving and turning an indoor antenna can sometimes work.
5) Finally, the antenna. Indoors you can try the @pb4 technique and hope you get lucky. Outside on a mast, changing antennas is not so much fun. There I'd stick with a yagi -- an old reliable design. Alternatively, if you have stations in multiple directions you can try an omnidirectional antenna. Worst case here is the omni antenna isn't good enough; then you get to put an antenna rotator on the yagi mast and turn the antenna every time you change stations.
If your antenna cable run is more than a few tens of feet, make sure to buy good coaxial cable. RG-6 from a good manufacturer like Belden is probably adequate to 100 feet or so. I use LMR-400 on my ham antennas but it is a bit expensive. Weather seal all outside connections with self-bonding rubber tape.
The more elements the yagi has, the more sensitive it is and the more directional it is. If you have any neighbors at similar elevations to yours, I'd eyeball their antennas to see how high, big, and complex they are -- a guide for you. You want the minimum number of elements that work. More is usually not better.
Hopefully you have enough signal that an indoor antenna will work. It's really not much fun to be dealing with an outdoor antenna on a mast, even with no rotor.
If so do you have to buy the Dish and or any other equipment for installation?? I can't seem to find that answer on their site. They do all free installation from outside to inside free of charge up to 6 rooms.
