Long Distance Antenna

[memphian]

My mother-in-law lives about 80 miles from Nashville, TN and 70 miles from Huntsville, AL. The angle between the two cities is about 90 degrees. There are large trees near the house in the Nashville direction.

Before the digital conversion, her reception from both cities was marginal at best using an old, large outdoor antenna. Her television is an old analog so she is using a converter box. Since a digital signal is all or nothing, it isn't unusual to have a channel disappear right during a show. Some Nashville channels rarely, if ever, come in.

Is there anything that will help her short of signing up for satelite or moving? New TV? New antenna? Pre-amplifier?

Thank you.

[winegard]

Good morning memphian -

Is there anything that will help her short of signing up for satelite or moving? New TV? New antenna? Pre-amplifier?

Yes, you can raise the height of the antenna and remove the obstruction. Typically you would want to mount the antenna 10 feet high for every 10 miles away the stations you want to receive are. You would want to get up on at least a 50 foot tower which hopefully puts you over the tree obstructions. If it does not, you will need to remove the obstruction be it the tree or limbs.

A new antenna could possibly also help but I do not know what you are currently using. You would want to look at something like the Winegard HD8200U.

A new TV will not solve the issue. A pre-amplifier will only help overcome signal loss in your cable run. If you try to amplify no signal, you still end up with no signal.