DTV long distance UHF

[Denny]

What would you recommend for picking up UHF (ch18-34 only) DTV stations 72.3 miles away? I have a 40+ foot elevation from my roof and a clear shot across a lake in the direction of their transmitters. What model antenna and RF pre-amp would you recommend and what are the chances of reliable reception? Thanks!
Regards,
Denny

[winegard]

Good morning Denny,

Here is the response I received back from our Technical Services Manager...

The best Winegard antenna would be the HD-9032 or HD9095P depending on your mounting choice. The performance is the same between the 2 antennas. The preamplifier would be the Winegard model AP-4800. You do not state if there are any local UHF stations less than 30 miles in the area. If there are then go with the AP-4700 since we could over load the TV set with too a strong of a signal using the AP-4800 with 28dB of gain on the local channels.

Trying to receive UHF channels at 73 miles may be marginal.

[Denny]

test

[Denny]

Dear Winegard,

From your previous response; I realize 72.5 miles for UHF is pushing the enevlope.
However, please review and analize the following info.

1) My location is 3025 Waubesa, Ave. Madison, WI. 53711 (southern Wisconsin)
2) Madison, WI = 290 degs @ 8.7 mi (all UHF)
3) Milwaukee, WI = 85 deg @ 72.5 mi (all UHF)
4) Rockford, IL = 170 degs @ 50.1 mi (all UHF)

I'm interested in any and all recomendations regardless of price.
Thanks you very much for this service!

regards,
Denny

[Denny]

Dear Winegard,

Since UHF will now end a channel 51....do you plan on developing any new UHF only antennas?
Thanks agin for this great customer service!

regards,
denny

[winegard]

Denny -

I ran your situation by our Technical Services Manager and also had his answer reviewed by one of our engineers. Here are the answers I received back.

I think that we use an HD-1080 for Madison and then an HD7698P with an AP8700 plus a rotor for Milwaukee and Rockford . The 2 antennas then would feed an infra red A/B switch. I believe there might too much multiple signaling from the Madison channels to combine the antennas.

I agree with your thoughts.

The strong local signals from Madison transmitters (just west of Lake Mendota) will produce very strong adjacent channels within a combined system so an RF A/B switch is a good start. However, if the customer wishes to experiment, a 2-way splitter and a set of attenuators, 3 dB, 6 dB, 10 dB, and 20 dB values, may allow the higher signal levels from the HD-1080 antenna to be matched with the distant signals from the HD7698P antenna so that either Milwaukee/Madison or Rockford/Madison DTV stations can be viewed without switching antenna inputs.

The challenge will be receiving DTV stations from Milwaukee. The customer's location is outside the 41 dBuV contour by several miles. These conditions will call for a tower antenna system of 50 ft. to 60 ft. in elevation. In this case, the tower also offers a very reliable way to install a heavy duty antenna rotator and support bearing to position the HD7698P antenna mast. High gain UHF only antennas do not resolve DTV reception as each market has at least one VHF high band DTV in operation and more can be expected in June.

[Denny]

Dear Winegard,

Thanks so very much.....man, you folks do good work! Please bear with me for one more exchange of knowledge.

My plan is to try the small bow tie (HD-1080) and testing various attenuators to pad down the local Madison UHF's to match the small distance ...... I like that idea. Please excuse me, I should have reiterated that I'm not interested in the one VHF (ch 8) in Milwaukee, therefore I plan to design a UHF only system.

(1) Therefore, for a "UHF only" receiving system, which Winegard antennas do you recomend?

thanks again,
regards,
Denny

[winegard]

Typically when I hand our technicians an antenna recommendation like this, even if I request an answer for UHF only, they will come back to me with a complete antenna system that will receive all channels available in a market... which is what happened here as well.

If you are looking for UHF only at that distance we would recommend substituting the HD7698P/AP8700 combo with a HD9095P antenna and AP4700 pre-amp with a rotor.