Situation:

I bought a cottage last fall, about 50 minutes drive north of Ottawa,
Canada.

The cottage came with a disused VHF-only antenna on an approximately 20
foot tower, with about 10 feet of pole including a rotator. With some
noodling with the console and trimming of trees, I was able to get the
rotator working and basic VHF reception.

So the goal now is to get UHF reception as well, perhaps improving my
VHF reception along the way if possible.

The physical situation is difficult. The terrain is very mountainous,
and the cottage is nestled on a steep hill about 300ft tall that blocks
the main direction towards all transmitters in the city. The other side of
the lake is also a steep mountain, so multipath is very prevalent.

As well, tall trees all around the property dwarf the tower. So... not an
ideal situation, but my expectations are reasonable. It would just be nice
to get enough channels to pass a rainy day, and a lot of the better
channels are starting to be on UHF around here. (all analog)

The current antenna is shown he

http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/antenna_...on_image_1.jpg

...I don't quite recognize the type, it's not the standard log-periodic
style of TV antenna seen on most towers. Since it is VHF-only in an area
with a dozen or so UHF stations, I assume it's an older installation. It
is relatively large (certainly longer than 10 feet).

First question, is this older antenna design acceptable, and would
it's VHF performance compare decently with a more conventional design of
the same size? If it's fine, I prefer to just leave it there, but if it's
an outdated or inferior design, there might be room for easy improvement
right there.

It is only VHF, so I do need a UHF antenna in some shape or
form. I have acquired this serviceable and more typically-styled UHF/VHF
antenna, of about the same size:

http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/antenna_...on_image_2.jpg

Would the VHF performance of this "modern" style of antenna be any
improvement on the existing one? If it would I might consider installing
it, but that is obviously a bit of a job to switch considering the tower.

Another option that might work... the nose of the new antenna unbolts
and seems to me to be a typical UHF design (with two VHF tines that I
suspect wouldn't affect UHF):

http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/antenna_...on_image_3.jpg

Am I correct in assuming that this can be used alone as a UHF antenna?

...if the existing VHF antenna is "about as good as I can expect", I
might choose to just install this as a UHF antenna with a separate 300 ohm
lead down, as the TV I use has a separate UHF input anyways so it would be
simpler than combing and splitting anyways... not sure if I can get enough
separation to put it on the same pole though...

Any ideas or suggestions? Experiences?

Cheers.