HD antenna

dapack5

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Apr 15, 2006
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I live in S florida about 149 miles south of tampa in ft myers/lehigh acres area. i am looking for a replacement for my old winegard antenna and have been looking at the HD9095P from winegard. as you all know we do have a lot of wind here and that will be my determining factor. from everything i'm reading i'm leaning more toward the winegard over the cm 4228 because of wind. the specs on the winegard are comparable to the 4228 but not exact. anyone live in this area that can give me some great advise as to what's working for you? i have no trees,buildings or towers to obstruct the antenna pointing and the antenna will be over 30ft in the air ( roughly 25ft above the roof ) any and all info is very much appreciated!
 
Looks like all your digitals are near and easily receivable, except CBS which is planned.

* yellow - uhf WZVN-DT 26.1 ABC NAPLES FL 347° 14.7 41
* yellow - uhf WRXY-DT 33.1 CTN TICE FL 336° 13.0 33
* yellow - uhf WTVK-DT 45.1 WB NAPLES FL 336° 13.0 45
* yellow - vhf WINK-DT 9 CBS FORT MYERS FL TBD 345° 13.2 9
* yellow - uhf WFTX-DT 36.1 FOX CAPE CORAL FL 335° 13.8 35
* yellow - uhf WGCU-DT 30.1 PBS FORT MYERS FL 347° 14.2 31
* yellow - uhf WBBH-DT 20.1 NBC FORT MYERS FL 347° 14.7 15

Which stations are you interested in? These are all in the same general direction and quite near, so a small 2 bay bowtie antenna would suffice.

If you're going for St.Petersburg or Venice (90 miles) you've got to go very big and that means wind load plus if you try to amplify, your locals might overload your tuner.
 
yellow - vhf WINK-DT 9 CBS FORT MYERS FL TBD 345° 13.2 **9** and recently went on the air with 20kw.

This channel will be an issue with the bow ties and the uhf yagi's for that matter because these are uhf and ch is 9 vhf.

Tried various bow ties here for our local ch 9. Tested at my home approx. 19 miles from towers and reception stinks/stunk. cm4228 worked for ch 9 but mediocar. Would not waste my time or money with a bow tie or yagi if reception is desired (except the cm4228...but it ain't great).

As far as preamps for long distance reception in a suburban setting...the best bet would be the Winegard hdp269 12db gain, 3 db noise. This preamp works miracles in the suburbs with no overload...none...zippo! All others forget it.

As far as tuner overload. I have yet to see tuner overload with a clean unamplifed signal no matter how big or powerful the antenna. Now adding a too powerful distribution amp or preamp... that is another matter.

Let us know what you would like to receive.
 
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Jim5506 said:
Looks like all your digitals are near and easily receivable, except CBS which is planned.

* yellow - uhf WZVN-DT 26.1 ABC NAPLES FL 347° 14.7 41
* yellow - uhf WRXY-DT 33.1 CTN TICE FL 336° 13.0 33
* yellow - uhf WTVK-DT 45.1 WB NAPLES FL 336° 13.0 45
* yellow - vhf WINK-DT 9 CBS FORT MYERS FL TBD 345° 13.2 9
* yellow - uhf WFTX-DT 36.1 FOX CAPE CORAL FL 335° 13.8 35
* yellow - uhf WGCU-DT 30.1 PBS FORT MYERS FL 347° 14.2 31
* yellow - uhf WBBH-DT 20.1 NBC FORT MYERS FL 347° 14.7 15

Which stations are you interested in? These are all in the same general direction and quite near, so a small 2 bay bowtie antenna would suffice.

If you're going for St.Petersburg or Venice (90 miles) you've got to go very big and that means wind load plus if you try to amplify, your locals might overload your tuner.
how well does your sir-t351 receiver work? my sir-t451 stinks! half the time i cannot receive local channel 46 HD also have problems with channel 30 and 36!
as far as what i'm trying to do: i can get channel 29 from west palm beach alot of times better than i can get 30,36 and 46. St pete i have never been able to receive but miami,west palm and ( orlando ) from time to time i receive more frequently.
 
yellow - vhf WINK-DT 9 CBS FORT MYERS FL TBD 345° 13.2 **9** and recently went on the air with 20kw.

it is not available yet to the OTA antenna it is only available on comcast cable here! i have hooked up my powered indoor antenna and still can not receive it.
i also would like this antenna to work with stations that are not hd. my wife likes to watch what used to be known as pax tv now simply called ( i ) and i could receive it when i first put this antenna up but now i cannot. my winegard antenna is roughly 20 years old and it's a yagi type,i'm looking for the paper that has the model number on it and will post it later,i know i have the paper work for it cause my wife's a pack rat!! ( takes after her mother )
 
I stand corrected. wink-dt construction has been held up because of storm reconstruction and other issues.

They are building the transmission room and construction should be done early summer. Then they need to install and test transmitting equipment, etc. (Just read all the stuff at the fcc.)

Wink-dt most likely will be up and running shortly.

As regarding your other issues...

I would not suggest a uhf yagi or bow tie for the long term. Another winegard combo vhf/uhf yes. I am going to forego comment till a zipcode is supplied to look at the details more closely.
 
the antenna is an old winegard U-630 that i can find no info on it's so old! i bought it from a friend who used to be partners in a radio shack store here in Lehigh Acres and it was in his storage area still sealed in the original box when i got it and he stated that it was well over 15 years old and i have had it for 3 years myself

my zipcode is 33936

just about everything that antennaweb says i can receive with the proper antenna setup is UHF
but i know i have received channel 8 & 13 from tampa area and 2,4,5,6,7,10,12 24,25,33.34,39,42, and several others using a combo antenna i had borrowed for testing originally.
 
dapack5 said:
how well does your sir-t351 receiver work? my sir-t451 stinks! half the time i cannot receive local channel 46 HD also have problems with channel 30 and 36!
as far as what i'm trying to do: i can get channel 29 from west palm beach alot of times better than i can get 30,36 and 46. St pete i have never been able to receive but miami,west palm and ( orlando ) from time to time i receive more frequently.
I have a SIR-T351, an Accurian 6000 and a DN VIP622. The SIR-T351 is the weakest tuner. It has trouble with weak signals. I have 2 locals that broadcast <100watts about 5 miles away and cannot get them with the 351, the Accurian pulls in the one that is 1/4 mile closer and the 622 gets both 50% of the time. the CBS station (closer) comes in about 80 on the 622, the other is ABC comes in 50-60.
 
19 miles away like me.

winegard hd7082P (110" long), winegard hdp269 preamp and aimed right down the middle. If you want more, the next size up HD7084P with a rotor.

For uhf only...cm4228. The other uhf yagis and bow ties will not receive wink-dt ch 9 vhf.

Just installed the hd7082P combo for the parents. see picture below. do not need to mount real high. if you get a bad storm you take it down temporarily.
 

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FYI

Hi Rick,

We hope to be on the air with DTV/ HDTV by June 1. It will be on VHF channel 9.

Thanks
Keith Stuhlmann
Director Of Engineering
WINK-TV/ AM / FM
 
would you think it would be better to try another preamp before i jump for newer antenna? i have the radioshack 15-2501 adjustable. after it was too late to return it,i read that it has between a 4.0 & 4.5 noise rating compared to the cm 7775/7777 2.0/2.8 and the winegards at 2.8 and 2.9 would this be a good road to take even if i do need the antenna also?
 
At 15 miles from the towers, the high gain preamps (including the radio shack, cm7777, cm7775, etc.) will overload your system and hd tuner. Do not even think about the cm7775... it is uhf only!

Suggest only the Winegard hdp269 available here.

http://www.starkelectronic.com/allamps.htm

Your antenna seems to be working fine . The decision is totally up to you if you need to replace.
 
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Rick:
here is a few photos of my nearly 20 year old winegard antenna that i was talking about. have you seen this model before?
 

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I am not familiar with that antenna.

Earlier you had mentioned if you should purchase a new antenna and or preamp.

It may be a good opportunity right now with wink dt ch 9 coming on the air around june 1.

I mentioned a few choices earlier. If you are concerned about wind, install lower.
 
Rick0725 said:
I am not familiar with that antenna.

Earlier you had mentioned if you should purchase a new antenna and or preamp.

It may be a good opportunity right now with wink dt ch 9 coming on the air around june 1.

I mentioned a few choices earlier. If you are concerned about wind, install
lower.
i just recently lowered the antenna approximately 6ft from where i had it and now it seems to be receiving signals much better. i can lock channel 4 ( wfor ) from miami 70% of the time,channel 5 from west palm beach,channel 2 pbs from miami,(46,36.,26,20) ft myers/naples,23,51,69,39,33,42,29,25,from miami/wpb area
digital and hd channels that are available from these stations and also receiving channel 8 from Tampa ( analog signal with the antenna lowered.i remember being able to watch channel 66 ( Pax ) from St . Pete when i first put this antenna up,but,then when i raised it further into the air i lost almost all my channels.

thanks for the help and i appreciate all info you have given me
 
Jim5506 said:
Do you have a ceiling mounted projector? 'Cause that antenna looks upside down!!

Hey Jim
i have to agree with you,that antenna does look like it's upside down.

Dodge:
you have a picture of your 25 year old antenna? took mine down yesterday to try the old ( lightly tap the rivots to knock corosion off ) and i have about 5 or more lose elements from the large crows and a couple of Owls that have claimed the antenna as their sitting area
 

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