Need antenna advise for two transmitter sites

[pandabear79]

I live in rural NE Nebraska. Zip code 68792. I'm looking to replace what i believe is a vhf dual-directional antenna on top of my house. I want to be able to pick up vhf and uhf signals out of Sioux City IA and Sioux Falls SD. I currently have a digital converter box on my analog tv but am upgrading to a new lcd tv. I can recieve only vhf signals from both cities. I would prefer to not to install a rotator so i can watch two channels on seperate tv sets. I need advise on what is the best equipment and set up. I'd like to hook up three sets in all and can install new wire in my house to keep coax runs under fifty feet.

[tigerbangs]

How many TOTAL TV sets are you planning to have in the house? If you are only planning 2-4 sets, you can run a dual-cable setup with 2 cables running to each TV set and use an A/B switch at each TV set to select between one of 2 anrennas mounted on the roof. You will need 2-VHF-high-band plus UHF antennas, one aimed at 25 degrees for the one set of local stations, and one aimed at 100 degrees for the other Siouxland stations. I would use 2 Winegard HD-7696P antennas and 2 HDp-269 preamplifiers, one for each antenna,

[pandabear79]

I have done further research and concluded that i can receive all the networks from the Souix City IA stations. So i will most likely just use one antenna. You suggested the Winegard 7696 with a pre amp HDp-269. I would like to know if there is a problem if i decide to split the cable to mutiply points throughout the house while not having televisions hooked up to all of them. I plan running two tvs but want the freedom to move the tv without stringing cable on the floor. Another question is what is the big difference between the 7696 and the 7697 because i have a neighbor that bought the 7697p and was happy with it.