Rooftop over the air antennas on metal roofs

Hey everyone…………

For those of you that have aluminum fish houses, what rooftop antennas have you chosen for getting free over the air channels? I have an all aluminum skid house that I chose, after a lot of research, to install a King Jack OA8500 model
https://kingconnect.com/product/king-jack-antenna . I ended up getting most of the same channels I also get at my cabin that the shanty sits next to, but the antenna’s included signal strength meter would indicate there was more signal strength still available. I decided to send a note to King to ask if there was anything more I could do to help the antenna install, describing it was on a metal roof. They said it doesn’t work on a metal roof. This caught me by major surprise, as nowhere in the owners/install manual or any of their marketing content do they help us know this important item. I figured I’d ask all of you what you did? Thanks for any feedback you can offer. I do plan on responding to King’s reply to me, but wanted to hear more from all of you first.

As far as I know this is the same unit that is installed in every Ice Castle and they also have metal roofs. My question to them would be, why do they sell them to Ice Castle or maybe a better question, why does Ice Castle buy them?

That said mine seems to pick up reception fairly well.

It will work on a metal roof but may not be ideal….adding prominence will help for sure

those ota antennas are full of gimmicks, unless you’re dealing with a design that will yeild a higher gain (likely not with the small units) then they’ll do no better than any other size comparable omni or directional on the market

I’m guessing this has more to do with height above ground than your metal roof.

The lake by definition is a hole, so you’re at a lower elevation than the cabin is. Low antennas don’t work as well as higher antennas.

The roof really doesn’t matter. Imagine a flashlight on the roof of your shack pointing at the far shore. The light is shooting off into the distance, not straight down so the roof doesn’t have any effect. An antenna will “see” the horizon the same way.

If it was me, I’d get a regular antenna (no amplifiers or internal electronics) and put it on a tall pole.

S.R.

Thanks everyone for the replies…..very helpful. I’m glad to hear that my install should work ok. I wasn’t ready to let King tell me in a single sentence that my choice wasn’t meant for metal roofs. Seemed ridiculous.

Steve Root wrote:

I’m guessing this has more to do with height above ground than your metal roof.

The lake by definition is a hole, so you’re at a lower elevation than the cabin is. Low antennas don’t work as well as higher antennas.

The roof really doesn’t matter. Imagine a flashlight on the roof of your shack pointing at the far shore. The light is shooting off into the distance, not straight down so the roof doesn’t have any effect. An antenna will “see” the horizon the same way.

If it was me, I’d get a regular antenna (no amplifiers or internal electronics) and put it on a tall pole.

S.R.

do you mean like this????

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