MS-2002

[BG Eagle]

I am in Birmingham, AL 35216 at 1768 Brookview Trail. I have had an MS-2002 (non-amplified version) for about 6 months now and I get green bars on all but several stations. On the several that aren't green, I still get 3 yellow bars. Our ABC station broadcasts on channel 9 and is at around 58 degrees while the others are in the 290 to 360 degree range. I have annoying dropouts especially on the ABC channel.

I have some trees and a tall church building in the way of the ABC station. I don't want to spend money unnecessarily, so I need advice on what increase in signal I could expect with the amplified version of the MS-2000?

[BG Eagle]

I am in Birmingham, AL 35216 at 1768 Brookview Trail. I have had an MS-2002 (non-amplified version) for about 6 months now and I get green bars on all but several stations. On the several that aren't green, I still get 3 yellow bars. Our ABC station broadcasts on channel 9 and is at around 58 degrees while the others are in the 290 to 360 degree range. I have annoying dropouts especially on the ABC channel. I am using an HD-100 distribution amplifier to 3 sets.

I have some trees and a tall church building in the way of the ABC station. I don't want to spend money unnecessarily, so I need advice on what increase in signal I could expect with the amplified version of the MS-2000? Or, should I consider two HD1080's, one pointed to around 40 degrees to get ABC and the other to the Northwest ( 290 to 360 degrees) to get the other stations. What coupler would I need for two HD1080's?

BG Eagle

Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:03 am
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[winegard]

Some of your TV station signals are a 1 Edge and 2 Edge signal, meaning that you do not have a direct line of sight (LOS) to those stations and you will be receiving these channels via reflections off the ground or atmosphere. These signals will be intermittent at time and there is not much you can do about this. Even a larger antenna may not solve your problem entirely. The HD-1080 antenna will receive 2 times as strong of a signal on VHF high band channels 7-13 and up to 4 times as strong a UHF signal than the MS-1000 non amplified antenna does.

Even though the HD-1080 antennas will receive a stronger signal to start with you will loose -3.5dB (30%) of each antennas signal when you combine two HD-1080 antennas through a Winegard CC-7870 combiner or a 2 way splitter hooked up in reverse to combine the two HD-1080 antennas. There is no way around this loss, but you will still net 25% more signal than what the MS-1000 antenna receives. This may or may not be enough signal to solve your dropouts.

Since you are blocked by trees and the church for your ABC station channel 9 the HD-1080 antenna may not be large enough of an antenna and you may still have difficulties no matter what size antenna you use. All TV reception is based on the antenna being installed at least 30 feet high. Try raising the MS-1000 antenna your presently have if it is not at least 30 feet high above the ground to see if the additional height helps.


Some of your TV channels are only 6 miles away with a strong signal level. When combining 2 antennas in different directions it is possible to create multiple signals on some of these strong channels once the antennas are combined, because you will have a strong signal from the antenna pointed toward 343 degrees and also a weaker signal from these channels being received of the back or side of the other antenna pointed toward channel 9 and now when these multiple signals reach the TV tuner it will have a hard time figuring out which signal to use, it may not lock onto some of these channels depending on the signal strength difference between the channels with multiple signals.



Going to the MS-2000 or MS-2002 over the MS-1000 non amplified antenna and HDA-100 distribution amplifier will improve your situation.