New Dinova Boss Mix antenna

[ncted]

ncted you may be interested in looking at my recent bandscans. My 751R is in the attic and regularly picking up VHF stations 80+ miles away:

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I don't have any sophisticated metering equipment, but, at first blush, the 751 seems to do a good job indoors. The VHF channel I currently have comes in at around 75% signal strength on the cheap Insignia I used for testing -- better than some UHF channels that should be stronger. I think I could improve signal on everything I care about with a preamp enough to be pretty reliable. The only problem is WUNC (PBS) is in another direction. I am not concerned about not receiving it because it is close enough a spoon would probably work as an antenna for it. I am concerned the preamp will over-amplify its signal.

I'm going to see if I can figure out a good way to mount the 751 from in my attic this weekend, which should provide some challenges.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I am concerned the preamp will over-amplify its signal.

A preamp with adjustable gain might help. The CM-7777HD toggles between 17 dB and 30 dB.

 

[ncted]

A preamp with adjustable gain might help. The CM-7777HD toggles between 17 dB and 30 dB.

Yeah, I don't think I need to boost the gain much on the main channels, just a fine line on boosting PBS too much in the process.

 

[ncted]

Well, no way will the 751 fit in my attic. It is a very tight space to begin with, and then the steepness of the roofline and the width of the elements just make it impossible.

 

[cpalmer2k]

I've had this antenna up since March 10th and it performs like a champ. Very consistent signal levels. It gets significantly higher readings on 2 UHF channels I always had a hard time with on the yagi. I'd say the "Boss" passes muster

After fidgeting with many different types of antennas (mudflap, rabbit ears, Dinova) I have concluded that nothing beats a regular old yagi antenna for reception at distances greater than 30 miles.

I'm curious to hear some update from you on this... based on your last quote I assume that you found that the RCA you mentioned actually did perform better than the "Boss" antenna in the end?

The "repack" just finished up in our area, so I'm about to get serious about improving my OTA situation. Ironically the closest market to me, Charlotte, has all kinds of issues now that the repack is complete. I can't pick up stations there that I once did even though they are closer to me than my "real" stations. On the opposite side the Greenville/Spartanburg market is better now. It only has 3 UHF stations left now (WHNS Fox, WYFF NBC, and WUNF UNC PBS). The rest are VHF. I'm debating whether to go with the Dinova Boss Mix, the RCA ANT751R, or in place of it the Mediasonic HOMEWORX (HW-27UV) which looks like it would be almost the same as the RCA, or a mixture of the two.

I'm going to go with one antenna for each market, hooked to separate HDHomeRun devices. I'm thinking the Dinova Boss Mix is worth a shot in the Charlotte market because the only VHF channel would be WSOC's translator when it comes back online and it is only 17 miles or so away from me. On the opposite hand I might be better off with the YAGI antennas for the Greenville/Spartanburg market since most of it is VHF. I do have one of the Stellar Labs VHF antennas (the fringe model, not the deep fringe model) up in the attic. I found years ago while testing it that it even picked up the UHF stations in our area pretty easy. I've strongly considered pulling it out and trying it out to see what it can do after the repack. The downside is it is bulky to mount outdoors compared to the others. If I found it would work in the attic it might be a keeper though.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I'm curious to hear some update from you on this... based on your last quote I assume that you found that the RCA you mentioned actually did perform better than the "Boss" antenna in the end?

The "repack" just finished up in our area, so I'm about to get serious about improving my OTA situation. Ironically the closest market to me, Charlotte, has all kinds of issues now that the repack is complete. I can't pick up stations there that I once did even though they are closer to me than my "real" stations. On the opposite side the Greenville/Spartanburg market is better now. It only has 3 UHF stations left now (WHNS Fox, WYFF NBC, and WUNF UNC PBS). The rest are VHF. I'm debating whether to go with the Dinova Boss Mix, the RCA ANT751R, or in place of it the Mediasonic HOMEWORX (HW-27UV) which looks like it would be almost the same as the RCA, or a mixture of the two.

I'm going to go with one antenna for each market, hooked to separate HDHomeRun devices. I'm thinking the Dinova Boss Mix is worth a shot in the Charlotte market because the only VHF channel would be WSOC's translator when it comes back online and it is only 17 miles or so away from me. On the opposite hand I might be better off with the YAGI antennas for the Greenville/Spartanburg market since most of it is VHF. I do have one of the Stellar Labs VHF antennas (the fringe model, not the deep fringe model) up in the attic. I found years ago while testing it that it even picked up the UHF stations in our area pretty easy. I've strongly considered pulling it out and trying it out to see what it can do after the repack. The downside is it is bulky to mount outdoors compared to the others. If I found it would work in the attic it might be a keeper though.

The RCA performs better on VHF stations. I no longer have the Dinova as it was struck by lightning.