Rural Kentucky Antenna Setup

[simnaj]

WHERE: 42728 (elevated location)

HOW MANY: 1 (w/dual tuner)

ANALOG or DiGITAL: DIGITAL

DIGITAL TUNER: TiVo HD connected to Vizio 50" 1080P LCD


Looking for some assistance in determining what I need to do to receive four Bowling Green KY broadcasts (NBC 40.1, CBS 40.2, ABC 13.1 & FOX 13.2). According to TVFool.com I am 49.8 miles (265 deg) from the NBC/CBS [UHF] transmissions and 63.9 miles (268 deg) from the ABC/FOX [VHF] transmissions. We have a single story home located on top of a hill with an unobstructed view of the Western sky. My plan is to install the antenna(s) on my chimney using a 5 ft mast. My research has lead me to the Winegard HD8200U antenna, with AP-8275 pre-amplifier and HDA-200 RF amplifier.

Does anyone think this setup would help me accomplish my goal of the four Bowling Green broadcasts? If not, do you have any recommended setups that would help me accomplish this goal?

[simnaj]

One more update...As I think it will be important?!?

Our roof is metal.

[tvreception]

Well, I see several problems here. First, you mentioned a few channels that you were after, do you not care about all of the others that may be available. or are you just after the channels you mentioned? First problem is the metal roof. I once installed an antenna on a tripod on a metal roof. The antenna was about ten feet above the roof, and my low band (2-6) was horrible. I don't know for sure how the size of the roof, or the distance from the roof would relate, but there was a problem. Your situation may not be an issue, as the channels you mentioned are not in low band. The Winegard 8200 is the big daddy of antennas, and it is quite a performer, but this antenna is way to large for a chimney mount. If you don't need the low band, the Winegard 7697p would be a better choice, but this is still a pretty good sized antenna, but I would much rather see this on a chimney mount than an 8200. You amplifier setup isn't going to work out well, as the HDA200 after the 8275 has a strong risk of overload, more is not always better. You do have a few stations that are closer, and they can become too strong, damaging your signal. The preamp only has to overcome the loss in your system, so if you had something like 10 db loss in cable, and 7 db loss in a 4 way splitter, then you only need about 17 db of gain to overcome that. There are other things that can factor in here, but that is the theory behind a preamp. I think your preamp choice would be OK, although you do have a station 14 that is less than 30 miles, although a different direction, so you should be OK.

Steve
http://tvreception.net

[tigerbangs]

When I run a scan of your zip code, it gives me different information than what you list; I suspect that you are up higher than the center of the zip code, and the best way to figure out what is right for you is to ask you for your specific coordinates, rather than a zip code, so I can make better suggestions to you...

[simnaj]

Steve,

I have Dish Network for my other needs...I am primirily interested in ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. I chose Bowling Green because the four channels are broadcast from two transmission towers only three degrees apart. I only have one receiver but it is a dual tuner, resulting in rotating not being an option.

I had a feeling the metal roof would be an issue...Any suggestions for alternative placements. My thoughts on the roof were to minimize the cable runs.

I had isolated the Winegard HD8200U because of its specs; indicating 60 mile UHF reception (desired transmission is 49.8 mi) and 100 mile VHF reception (desired transmission is 63.9 mi). I am open to other antenna's I just didn't see any with the range I need. Do you thing the 7697p will receive the Bowling Green channels at 50 and 64 miles respectively? If not, what is the best mounting strategy for the 8200U?

Since I am just running one tv I probably don't need the RF Amplifier anyway?

Thanks again for everyones input and assistance.

[tvreception]

Where do you see that there are 4 networks, broadcast on two channels? I don't understand where you see 40.2 and 13.2 ?


Steve
http://tvreception.net

[simnaj]

The broadcasters website (WNKY & WBKO) indicates that CBS and FOX are broadcast on 40.2 and 13.2 respectively.

[tigerbangs]

I have a much better idea of what you need now that you sent your street address to me: thank you. Bowling Green would appear to be the easiest city to get, but your location gives you some other options like Lexington and Louisville, KY, which have a full range of TV stations available. In any event, you are going to need a real deep-fringe solution to see the stations that you'll want to see. It appears that you will have several low-band VHF stations available, most notably WDKY-DT from Lexington, which is on channel 4 and WTVF-DT, channel 5 from Nashville. If you are serious about this, I would suggest a Wade-Delhi VIP-306SR VHF antenna plus an AntennasDirect XG-91 mounted as high above your roof as you can manage. Mount the two antennas on the same mast, above a rotator, separated by at least 4', with the UHF antenna at the top of the mast. Combine the two antenas by using a Channel Master Titan 7777 preamplifier, which has separate VHF and UHF inputs, and run the output of the preamplifier via RG-6U coaxial cable to the preamplifier power supply inside the house.

Why not use the Winegard HD-8200U? Well, it's reception is pretty good on VHF, but it's real-world UHF performance is not nearly as good as using a separate VHF and UHF antenna like the AntennasDirect XG-91, which is, by my estimation, the best of the available deep-fringe UHF antennas currently available. The difference on most stations is as much as 3-4DB, which is a significant differennce, and can make the difference between seeing a very weak digital and not seeing it at all..

Why would you want TV stations from other-more distant cities? Because when a TV station uses it's digital channel to broadcast two or more channels simultaniously, the chances are that it won't be able to broadcast 2 HDTV signals simultaniously, so picture quality will be severely compromised. If you are trying to record OTA signals, you may be thwarted in recording HDTV...In this case, I think the choice of Lexington as a primary choice for reception may make more sense, even though it is farther away than Bowling Green.

More amplification is not the answer for digital reception. An amplifier can only overcome line losses and splitting losses, but the noise that it contributes to the overall receiving system is actually debited from the calculations when determining potential reception. Amplifier gain is NOT added to the calculation, it is only used to overcome the losses that are inherent in the line AFTER then antenna gain is added in to calculation. You don't need 2 amplifiers unless you plan to power MANY television sets from the one antenna system.My choice of the Channel Master Titan 7777 preamp is based on it's low noise factor and dual antenna inputs, not on it's gain.

If you are going to use an antenna rig this big, and you need to turn it, you need a beefy rotator, and the Chinese-made Channel Master, Eagle Aspen and Philips rotators are not really beefy enough to provide long-term durability in such an installation. I suggest that you bite the bullet here and get a Hy-Gain AR-40 rotator, which is admittedly more expensive, but is much more heavily built, and will provide many years of reliable service in a heavy-duty application such as this. This same recommendation is true if you choose to go with any deep-fringe all-in-one antenna like a Winegard HD-8200u or a Wade-Delhi VU-937SR, or a Channel master Crossfire 3671.

What can you reasonably expect to see with this antenna system when properly installed? The Bowling Green stations, to be sure, but also Lexington and some of the Louisville stations, and a few stations from Nashville. Is it worth the investment? Well, that's up to you, but if I had your location and reception situation, it's surely the way that I would go.

http://www.rotorservice.com" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow
http://www.antennasdirect.com" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow
http://www.winegard.com" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow
http://www.channelmaster.tom" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow
http://www.pctinternational.com/channel ... lation.pdf" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow

[tvreception]

I talked with a tech from one of your local stations, and he did confirm that with just two digital channels, you will have access to five networks. I had not heard of this before, it works out really cool for you. I see what you want to do, and I think it is a really good idea, easy and somewhat inexpensive. The biggest problem I see for you is balancing the performance (size) of antenna against your chimney mount. I have been installing antennas for 25 years, and I can assure you that installing the 8200 or other gigantic antennas on a chimney mount is asking for trouble. I think this would make a good setup for you. The Winegard 7679 antenna with the Winegard Ap-8700 pre-amp. The UHF channel 16 that you want has a noise figure of 18.9 plus the antenna gain of 14.5 minus the amp noise of 2.9 equals 30.5 which looks real good for that station. The other station is VHF 13 with a noise of .5. The antenna has a gain 10.8 plus the .5, minus the amp noise of 2.9, and that leaves you with 8.4, which should work good. This antenna has a much lower wind load than other antennas discussed here, so you can feel more comfortable during wind storms. You could have this whole thing, with chimney mount, amp, and antenna delivered for less than $200. If you need more information, just let me know.

http://www.tvreception.net/servlet/the- ... 7-p/Detail

Steve
http://tvreception.net

[tigerbangs]

When calculating the noise margin of an antenna system, one DOES NOT factor in the gain of the preamplifier! Based on the the information provided, you will have a noise margin of 11.6, NOT the 30 NM as claimed. A preamplifier can only overcome line and splitting losses: it doesn NOT add noise margin!