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TV antennas: What's more important, dB gain or distance?

Y

yragha

I'm looking at two "indoor/outdoor" antennas, experimenting a bit.

Question has come up, what's more important dB gain or advertised distance.

The DB2 from Antennas Direct shows a 11.4 dB gain but only a distance of 1-30 miles.

Their new model just out the C2, shows a gain of 10.2 dB but a distance of up to 50 miles.

I've been trying to do some homework and seems the DB2 outperforms all 2 bow tie antennas including the Channel Master 4220. No comparison was available for the Winegard 1080. With any of the above mentioned I would also be adding a Channel Master 7777 preamp to the configuration.

Your help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Gary
 
Range is subjective.....depends on how tall the transmitter tower is, how much power the station is running, etc....GAIN is the biggest thing but then if they dont compare it against the same reference, 10db vs 11db could mean 10db over a 1/2wave dipole vs 11db over a piece of spaghetti!! So that would not be a good comparison (and you can always play with numbers if you dont have a reference) Also the higher the gain, the tighter the pattern (meaning if you aint pointed right at the tower, OR you have stations widely spaced in distance, you will need a rotor or you wont get one station good while the other is coming in ok....)
There are real antenna gain figures on one website .....I cant recall it right now but google HDTV antenna gain.....(no, an antenna doesnt have to be HDTV rated...RF is RF...and the antenna doesnt know the difference)....Personally, I like the CM 4228..

the CM7777 amp is an excellent amp (I have one myself!)
 
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