Looking for reception advice

[CFLUSFLWFL]

Just thought I would try to get some advice about my situation. I live in Stewartville, MN. I currently have a small rooftop antenna from Radio Shack without a preamp. I also have a rotor. The other day I pointed my antenna north and did a rescan of my stations. To my surprise, I pulled in all the Minneapolis stations. I did the scan at night. Now they come in once in awhile at night. Long story longer, would getting a bigger antenna allow me to pull these stations in all the time? My antenna is about 30 feet above ground. According to tvfool.com I am about 89 miles from the Minneapolis towers.

Thanks, Steve

 

[Mr Tony]

oof thats pretty far. tvfool considers most edge2 or tropo

The positive with Mpls stations is most are at or near full power for digital (1million watts)
The negative is other than 9 & 11 the rest are UHF which doesnt travel as far as VHF

The VHF could be done with a bigger antenna. I have a Winegard YA-1713 where I'm located (about 4 miles from Mystic Lake) and I use it to get KEYC12 out of Mankato which is running at way less power than 9 & 11 are...KEYC is 72 miles from me (and running around 20kwatts whereas both 9 & 11 are about double that power wise) and it works 98% of the time..when it rains (pours) near Mankato the signal cuts in and out.

You could try a booster but they might hurt the "local" stations.

Honestly once you get to "grey" and "tropo" on tvfool anything is hit and miss. You could try a booster or bigger antenna (or 2 separate ones) but nothing is guaranteed

 

[Larry1]

For the UHF channels you could try a Antennas Direct 91XG.
Antennas Direct 91XG UHF TV Antenna (91XG) - Antennas Direct - 91XG - 853748001910 Antennas&sku=853748001910
If you have no really powerfull stations nearby, try a Channel Master CM7777 (or Winegard AP8275) pre-amp, or if you have strong local stations, a Winegard AP8700. Less gain (amplification) but less chance of overloading if you have a strong signal. However, for 90 miles, you need a deep fringe antenna. You need a signal to amplify and not just noise to amplify. You need to make sure your antenna is above any nearby obstructions like trees. You generally need as much height as you can get. Do not count on consistant reception at that distance.

 

[Mr Tony]

The issue is there are stations nearby. But most folks within reception of Minneapolis would rather have them instead

Here is a city level tvfool report
TV Fool