Odds of pulling in stations 90 miles away?

[paulm]

I'm in Rochester, MN and I'm wondering if would even be worth trying to pull in stations from the Twin Cities. In particular, I'm interested in KSTC as they broadcast quite a few Minnesota Wild games.

Here's the map from TVFool:
TV Fool

As you can see, Rochester is on the very very edge. In fact, if you zoom down to the street level of the house we're buying, there's no color at all.

The garage roof could accommodate one heck of an antenna, though.

 

[pro96]

You might pull them with a huge, high element roof antenna and a rotor to aim the antenna at the right spot.. No guarantees tho.

 

[Jim5506]

Zoom in on Rochester and put the marker on the house you are buying.

If the NM is between 0 and -10 there is a slim chance of reception with the best equipment.

No color at all probably means no reception.

 

[Ronnie-]

I have pulled in that far, and a little farther, but its iffy.

 

[stone phillips420]

i say no way im in msp and have huge 91 element antenna on roof, ever got rochester

i had visions of getting duluth rochester eau claire and la crosse with this antenna didnt work
msp comes in crystal clear though

 

[paulm]

Yeah, this is probably just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[mikekohl]

The answer is yes, but you need to be outside of downtown, such as in an elevated area to the north or even a few miles south. I have friends equipped with 30 to 40 foot antennas within 5 minutes of downdown Rochester, on high ground to the north of the city, and they have no problems picking up TC signals from the Shoreview transmitters. But it's on a station by station basis.
I have been doing some testing in Fergus Falls, MN using some European made (extremely high gain) UHF antennas with 75 ohm connections, coupled to a low noise preamp (2.0 dB or less), and it works incredibly well on stations from the Fargo market, including two UHF signals (38 and 44) that are over 95 miles out from here. If you have flat terrain and are not in a "hole" such as a river valley, lots of things are possible, and on a regular basis. Stay tuned to the SatTalk show with Ralf Black and Mike Kohl on Friday nights (8 to 10 pm Central)
GALAXY 19 / 97 West Ku-band MPEG-2 audio from ACCESS AMERICA.
Or keep checking the SKYVISION C-band Satellite TV, 4DTV and Free To Air Satellite Entertainment
or GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS www.global-cm-net
websites for news on availability of such products on this side of the Atlantic.

They test extremely well----the problem is getting them here in large enough quantities to be competitive. We're working on it...

To give a couple of examples, I tested one of these antennas (without a preamp) against a 5 foot parabolic UHF antenna as well as a vintage 8-bay bow tie UHF antenna, and it beat them both by a sizeable margin.

If you want to test signals in the Rochester area, carry a portable TV with digital tuner with you and drive to the rest area on I-90 just east of the city. It's elevated, and gets great FM reception from the Twin Cities, so I would expect that television should be similar. Reports with LOCAL KNOWLEDGE from Rochester residents are appreciated!

 

[havenx]

Just wait for the troposphere to do something funny and then you can pull it in with a 12 inch telescoping antenna off a radio that is soldered to a piece of coax.

I think if you had a large antenna shoved 40 to 50 feet in the air, and had a pleasant landscape between the two areas you could do it.

 

[paulm]

Thanks for the info Mike, but we're pretty close to downtown (just a block off Silver Lake), so I guess I'll have to be content with local broadcast. Think I'd even benefit from a roof or attic antenna, or would a decent indoor antenna work for my location?

 

[mikekohl]

Paul,

You definitely need to at least test an antenna outdoors, with a clear view to the north. Attics decrease the signal too much......try a portable TV with converter and a smaller UHF antenna to first see if you get anything from the Twin Cities
(16-22-26-29-32-34-35-45). Signal is where you find it, so maybe you'll get lucky on your rooftop. If it works, put in a permanent antenna with preamp...we should have something in hand before the snow starts falling in our part of the world.

 

[TimandPatti]

We have the Winegard HD 8200U antenna, 40 ft. tower, Channel Master CM 7777 Titan Antenna Preamplifier and Channel Master CM 9521A Antenna Rotator. We used Belden 1829AC Single RG-6 Coax Cable and still can't get anything but KXII and Kten.
I contacted WFAA in Dallas and Don Guemmer who is theTransmitter Supervisor/Chief Operator responded after entering my address: Not gonna work. You guys have even more dirt between Cedar Hill and your house than the other guy up there. Attached is a plot of the terrain vs distance to your house. That red line is the terrain. Your antenna mast will be nearly 300’ tall to make it work.

The Dallas stations are 80 miles from us.