Blue zone antenna for red zone reception?

[TimDo]

Your website has been extremely helpful. Thanks!

I have one question that has not been addressed. I've got 3 yellow, 7 red, and 2 blue area channels. Can I use a blue rated antenna for red and yellow zone channels reception? All of the channels are in the UHF band. The orientation is about the same.
If a blue antenna has the highest gain and can be used for all channels, is there any reason to go for something less?

[hdtvlabs]

Can I use a blue rated antenna for red and yellow zone channels reception?

If you buy a blue-rated antenna it will work also in yellow, green, light green and red areas. If you want it to work also in a violet zone you will have to add a pre-amplifier.

If a blue antenna has the highest gain and can be used for all channels, is there any reason to go for something less?

Well, a blue rated antenna will typically be larger, heavier, not as easy to install and a little bit more expensive.

[Bill]

Admittedly, I am really a "newbie" when it comes to all of this television technology. I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about with all of these colors and what-not! Is this something that is unique to only certain regions? Could somebody explain what blue zones and red zones are? Is this something that I need to be concerned with?

[hdtvlabs]

Bill,

See CEA zones explanation here -> http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/hdtv-antenna-zones.php

[Bill]

Wow! Thanks! That is very interesting. I never knew anything about these zones. If I have satellite, does that mean I can access all of the zones? Or, do satellites just allow you to access only certain zones too?

[SWHouston]

Bill,

Actually, UHF and Satellite (DBS) Systems don’t have anything to do with each other, other than the Boxes feed your TV sound and Video that it understands, and that’s where it ends.

You apparently (by now) have looked at the Color Charts for your address/GPS, and printed them out where you can take a good look at um. You should have sorted the list by Direction, it will make it a lot easier to understand, as we get this solved. I’m going to give you a mileage chart on the Colors, and keep in mind it’s general, NOT exact.

COLOR/RANGE CHART:
NAME:…….....………….VHF…..UHF……COLOR
Deepest Fringe:……….100+….60+……..WHITE
Deep Fringe:.....…….100….…60……….PINK
Fringe:…….......………80…..…45……….VIOLET
Near Fringe:……...……60….….40………..BLUE
Far Suburban:…...……50….….35………..RED
Suburban:………...…..45……...30………..LT GREEN
Far Metro:……………..30…...…25………..GREEN
Metropolitan:………….25…...…15………..YELLOW
Numbers are in Miles: +/- 20%.

Now, hdtvlabs said that with a Blue Antenna, you could pick up all the Stations you listed in your first post. That’s true, as long as you don’t mind rotating your Antenna manually, or, getting a Rotator for it. So if you see that the Yellow and Blue Stations are NOT at the same Azimuth, you’ll have to turn your antenna to tune them in. I think you will find that they are NOT in the same place, it’s rare that you would have a Yellow and Blue Station, in the same Antenna Farm (rare but not impossible).

So, sort that list by Direction, that’s important, and get back and tell us how many Stations are in the same Location/Azimuth, and, what those Azimuth’s are, and we’ll go from there. Since you only got 12 Stations, you might just list all of them in your Post, like this:

Ch2 128deg 12mi.
Ch11 131deg 26mi.
and so on

Have a good Day !

PS: Tell me if you just want to watch UHF, or, do you want to watch both VHF and UHF !