WINEGARD COMPANY

We want to receive signals from Fargo, ND 70-80 miles away (as the crow flies) and from Alexandria, MN, 20 miles.

We would like to use two antennas combined at some point going to our TIVO receiver. Is this possible without ghosting (?) ?

I've used a rotors in the past at a different location but they always seem to fail in January when maintenance is dangerous. It's been 20 years since I had my last rotor. Does anyone make one that really works without failing, especially with an antenna as large as the HD7698P?

So if I purchase the HD7698P and find it still is not enough to receive the Fargo stations will this antenna be overloaded when I point it to the Alexandria tower only 20 miles away?

Thanks,

Good morning perryb67 -

I wanted to let you know I have passed on your question to engineering. It gets a little complicated combining antennas and not having multipathing issues so I wanted to make sure I gave you a correct answer. Should have something back tomorrow.

Good morning perryb67-

Here is the response back from technical service...

You problem will be trying to receive a good digital 70-80 miles away from Fargo will require a TV antenna tower at least 50-60 feet high assuming clear line of site. The HD7698P antenna should also have a preamplifier on it such as the AP-8275. Now let’s assume that we have a good signal from Fargo if we try and use a separate antenna pointed towards Alexandria 20 miles away you will need to use a small antenna such as the HD-1080 or HD7694P. Either of these antennas should work at a height of 35 feet if we have a clear line of sight or very few trees. Now you are correct in that there could be a problem with multipath signals (ghosting in the old days) of the Alexandria channels.

Since the Alexandria channels will come in strong on the small antenna pointed properly but also will be received on the back or side of the HD7698P to some unknown signal strength when the 2 separate antennas are combined together through coupler such as the Winegard CC-7870 you will have a strong Alexandria signal from the Alexandria antenna and second set of Alexandria channels coming into the CC-7870 of the Fargo antenna. Depending on the signal strength difference and time delay the digital will not know which set of Alexandria channels to use and it will constantly search for signal or the picture will have tiling in it.

You me lucky enough depending on how much signal you receive of the side or the back of the HD7698P on the Alexandria channels that you can get by with just the HD7698P for both Alexandria and Fargo channels. The HD7698P can be used to receive the Alexandria channels without a preamplifier if it does not work out for the Fargo channels but you have to install a in line attenuator such as a 6dB or 10dB attenuator to reduce the incoming signals from Alexandria to prevent overloading.

Winegard does not manufacture antenna rotors but they can be purchased off the internet. Try www.solidsignal.com to see if thety have a rotor the meet your needs if you wish to pursue the use of a rotor.