What set up would work best?

[Rob]

Hi I live pretty close to being at the highest elevation within a 15 mils radius in 44460. I am looking to buy an outdoor antenna system and have been away from the(antenna) game for a while. I can only have an antenna height of 25 Feet (via antenna tower) and will be using under 100 feet of quad shield rg-6 wire, Both t v's are HD and digital ready . I was wondering what kind of combination antenna to buy and should i have a pre amp, rotator What would be the best?? would rather spend the money now rather that wondering if i could do better. Also was wondering what splitters are the best and some sort of inline surge protectors and grounding devices are out there to protect against lightening strikes.

Thanks For any imput you can give
Rob

[tigerbangs]

Look at my deep-fringe prescription: it has everything that you need for your area
http://www.indoorhdantenna.com/products ... stems.html

[Rob]

You don't like winegard HD8200U ? it claims 100 miles vhf and 60 miles uhf.

[tigerbangs]

Believe that if you like, but the prescription is a LOT better, especially where UHF reception is concerned.

[Rob]

I was just going from published specs and,a guy from "solid signal" . You don't think the 8200 is a good antenna? Will the Deep fringe 2 Winegard YA-1713 and the Antennas Direct 91XG get me as much distance ( what range) and is there better?Can you over do it? I would rather spend the money now? I have a public access channel tower about 5 air miles from house but a lot of towers are at least 30 miles away .Some are 60 miles or more . I would just like to get as many channels as possible. And how are those antennas for H D ? Is two antennas better than a combo antenna? And was also told if i was using less than 100' of coax there was no need? Is that wrong? The Winegard YA-1713 says good for channel 7thru 13 my area channels start at 2 will this get them?
Thanks

[tigerbangs]

The selection that i gave you is MUCH better than the HD-8200U on UHF, and it's equal on the VHF TV stations taqt you have in your area. You do NOT have any channels below channel 7 in your area any longer. The channels tat you see such as 2.1 and 5.1 are actually on UHF channels now. Consult TVFool.com with your correct address and zip code to see which the actual channel numbers are in your area post-digital transitiuon

[Rob]

TVfool.com shows Channel 2.1,3.1,4.1,and 5.1 under 55 miles from 44460 zip

[tigerbangs]

Yes, it does, but those virtual channels do not reflect the ACTUAL channel numbers on which the stations operate. KDKA-DT- operates on UHF channel 25, WKYC-DT operates on UHF channel 17, and WEWS-DT operates on UHF channel 15: you have NO VHF channels below channel 7 in your area. The Winegard HD-8200u is designed to work on channels 2-6, but will not perform as well on UHF as the AntennasDirect XG-91. Trust me, I have done this before.

[Rob]

Do you know anything about the ClearStream5 ? Is there a 'best' preamp, and will quad shield rg6 make difference over regular rg6 , and would you use anything on all the connections,like dielectric grease etc...?

[tigerbangs]

The Clearstream 5 is a funky VHF-high-band antenna with about 8.5 dB gain. It hardly represents a breakthrough of any sort. It doesn't do anything that the Winegard YA-1713 or the AntennaCraft Y-10-7-13 does, and takes up more room on the roof. I use Silicone tape on mt "F" fittings and other outside electrical connections.

The correct preamplifier for you is based on how many TV sets you use and how long your coaxial cable runs are. A preamplifier does NOT improve the quality of signal received from an antenna; it only compensates for ther passive losses incurred in a receiving system from long coax line and splitting losses. Whewn calculating the ultimate noise margin of a digital receiving system, the noise added to the system by the preamplifier must be subtracted from the overall noise margin gain of the antenna.