Anyone have any knowledge of a 100 mile capability HD VHF, UHF OTA TV antenna? Trying to receive Chicago DMA Channels
Looking for a 100 mile HD UHF VHF Antenna
- Thread starter cardinalrooter
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If you into experimenting...
there are some people on a Canadian website (digitalhome dot ca) that are modifying an old design called the Grey-Hoverman with great results. Otherwise, stack a couple of Channel Master 4228's with a pre-amp for UHF. In my area, there used to be a company (Delhi) that made parabolic UHF reflectors that were up to 6' in diameter. These are the coveted deep fringe antennas!
Good luck 90 miles is a long way unless it is flat between you and the transmitter and their radiation pattern favours you.
Steve
there are some people on a Canadian website (digitalhome dot ca) that are modifying an old design called the Grey-Hoverman with great results. Otherwise, stack a couple of Channel Master 4228's with a pre-amp for UHF. In my area, there used to be a company (Delhi) that made parabolic UHF reflectors that were up to 6' in diameter. These are the coveted deep fringe antennas!
Good luck 90 miles is a long way unless it is flat between you and the transmitter and their radiation pattern favours you.
Steve
I have NEVER been a fan on combination UHF/VHF/FM antenna there are considered a "compromised" antenna and don't perform as well as a separate vhf uhf antennas.
I recommend looking at the Channel master Model 4248 uhf antenna. for VHF look at the channel master super color crossfire series. I also recommend getting a antenna rotor and if you are in a rural area a good mast mounted preamp I recommend the Blonder Tongue line of pre amps as they have a low noise floor. This might cost a little more but well worth the investment.
Bob
where in North Central Il do you Live???
I would try a winegard HD8200U, I am 65 miles west of chicago and use that in combo with q AP8275 Preamp to get them all.
Thanks for the replies, I live near La-Salle- Peru, i've read that a Wineguard has a range of 100 miles and that the 8275 preamp might get the job done.
If you're 100 actual miles from the transmitters, even the "best" antenna will be a long shot. 70-80 miles is the usual limit for digital UHF stations, unless the transmitter, or receiving antenna is on a mountain.
Can you post your TV FOOL report so we can see what kind of signal levels are available at your location?
www.tvfool.com
I would have to 2nd this opinion.
I have this antenna, and I am over 70 miles from the trasmission antennas.
I found that if I am only using one tuner, I did NOT need the preamp.
When I introduced a few splitters, it needed to be pre-amped to overcome the losses.
now I am using an AP-8700 preamp.
There are several preamps that you can get.
Basically... they offer:
AP-8700 17dB gain VHF 17dB Gain UHF
AP-8780 17dB gain VHF 29dB Gain UHF
AP-8800 29dB Gain VHF 17dB Gain UHF
AP-8275 29dB Gain VHF 29dBGain UFH
I only need the 8700
How about putting an antenna on a hill / mountain and transmitting the picture with a pair of wifi radios used for transmitting wireless broadband (one radio on the hill / mountain and the other at your house)? It would have to be up on a hill where someone has a house with electric.
tvfool.com states the Chicago transmitters are 88.8 miles away from my destination, anyway, if I cant receive Chi, I would gain Davenport, Peoria, and Rockford DMA'S. With Satellitte I qualify For Davenport Locals, thus no HD Locals with Dish. Thanks again for the replies.
I am pretty much in the same boat as the OP.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I had a Channel Master VHF antenna mounted above a 40 foot tall telephone pole in the back yard aimed towards New York City. It worked pretty good even though the channels were about 90 miles LOS away.
In 1977 I made the move to cable because of all it's offerings. There weren't any "cable" channels yet except for HBO, a printed Reuters News feed with stock prices floating across the screen and a neighboring DMA's big 3 (at the time CBS, ABC and NBC from Scranton) so it filled up all 12 (2-13) channels. A nice deal considering the antenna gave me only 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 from NYC that was all also offered on cable. Notice again, all VHF channels on the antenna.
Now we fast forward to 2009 and see channels 2, 4, 5 and 9 are permanently moving to UHF channels. Nobody that I know of near me has ever played with a UHF antenna for NYC but some have played with Scranton and that worked but I am on the wrong side of a mountain where I am to consider Scranton.
Antennaweb says I am pretty much SOL. TVFool paints a better picture but not too good as the channels I want are shaded grey meaning I need extreme measures to pick up those channels. Does anyone else reading this get channels shaded in grey listed on TVFool? Curious.
I could get TWC cable and tried that last year for a little while. The HD was horrible and the digital subs from NYC were worse than that. I have Dish right now so I only have the big 4 plus CW11 right now but I want more. This is why I want OTA again along with keeping the Dish and all ViP series receivers. And especially after reading so many threads about how HD OTA looks so much better than even what Dish LiL gives me. I will even see all the all the digital sub-channels if I could do this.
Then I called a local electronics guy (who happens to be a DirecTV dealer / installer as well). He says forget about OTA. He would probably get more out of a deal with switching me to DirecTV.
Oh well.. I guess I am just gonna wait a little while as the big digital switch is now delayed for most channels around NYC.. I just found this from the FCC (in excel format).. List of stations dropping their analogue feed on or before February 17, 2009
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I had a Channel Master VHF antenna mounted above a 40 foot tall telephone pole in the back yard aimed towards New York City. It worked pretty good even though the channels were about 90 miles LOS away.
In 1977 I made the move to cable because of all it's offerings. There weren't any "cable" channels yet except for HBO, a printed Reuters News feed with stock prices floating across the screen and a neighboring DMA's big 3 (at the time CBS, ABC and NBC from Scranton) so it filled up all 12 (2-13) channels. A nice deal considering the antenna gave me only 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 from NYC that was all also offered on cable. Notice again, all VHF channels on the antenna.
Now we fast forward to 2009 and see channels 2, 4, 5 and 9 are permanently moving to UHF channels. Nobody that I know of near me has ever played with a UHF antenna for NYC but some have played with Scranton and that worked but I am on the wrong side of a mountain where I am to consider Scranton.
Antennaweb says I am pretty much SOL. TVFool paints a better picture but not too good as the channels I want are shaded grey meaning I need extreme measures to pick up those channels. Does anyone else reading this get channels shaded in grey listed on TVFool? Curious.
I could get TWC cable and tried that last year for a little while. The HD was horrible and the digital subs from NYC were worse than that. I have Dish right now so I only have the big 4 plus CW11 right now but I want more. This is why I want OTA again along with keeping the Dish and all ViP series receivers. And especially after reading so many threads about how HD OTA looks so much better than even what Dish LiL gives me. I will even see all the all the digital sub-channels if I could do this.
Then I called a local electronics guy (who happens to be a DirecTV dealer / installer as well). He says forget about OTA. He would probably get more out of a deal with switching me to DirecTV.
Oh well.. I guess I am just gonna wait a little while as the big digital switch is now delayed for most channels around NYC.. I just found this from the FCC (in excel format).. List of stations dropping their analogue feed on or before February 17, 2009
You could do that completely legally with consumer equipment.
Antenna -> Tuner* -> Wireless Bridge -> Wireless Router -> PC -> TV (optional)
*Get this: products/hdhomerun - Silicondust and eliminate the need for a PC at this location!
Needing the same Info
Cardinalrooter
I live in the same area as you. Have you found a solution to your antenna needs?
Thanks
Cardinalrooter
I live in the same area as you. Have you found a solution to your antenna needs?
Thanks
You can NEVER guarantee 24/7 reception at 100 miles regardless of your antenna unless you have one edge reception (maybe not even then) because UHF signals do not bend over the horizon as easily as VHF frequencies do.
Read HDTV Primer carefully. There you will find a good discussion of stacking antennas even up to 4 CM 4228's.
If I were to attempt 100 mile reception on UHF I'd use a stacked pair of 91-XG's combined and amplified with either a CM low noise pre-amp or a Winegard low noise pre-amp (look at the specs, it MUST be less than 3dB noise).
Be prepared to spend a good deal of money wilh no ghuarantee of success.
One other parameter that is very important - altitude, get your antenna up as high as physically possible, you are looking over the horizon, get up on your tip-toes.
Read HDTV Primer carefully. There you will find a good discussion of stacking antennas even up to 4 CM 4228's.
If I were to attempt 100 mile reception on UHF I'd use a stacked pair of 91-XG's combined and amplified with either a CM low noise pre-amp or a Winegard low noise pre-amp (look at the specs, it MUST be less than 3dB noise).
Be prepared to spend a good deal of money wilh no ghuarantee of success.
One other parameter that is very important - altitude, get your antenna up as high as physically possible, you are looking over the horizon, get up on your tip-toes.
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I haven't at the few places I have put up antennas as a hobby. I'm sure it is possible in some cases, but more than likely not reliable 24/7.
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