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What do I need to DX DTV?

J

jras20

What do I need to DX DTV? I am 84 miles to San antonio, and 85 miles to Houston DTV towers. I can get either or analog channels, but DTV is non-excisting. My current antenna is Winegard HD7080P and about 25' up in the air. All I can recieve with it is channel 25 and 11 out of Victoria DTV. I would like to have Houston or San antonio DTV. Any help will be helpfull!
Thanks
 
Just taking a quick look at the antenna online, it looks like it is probably just a bit too small to get the signals you'll need.
You need a higher gain UHF antenna. (keep in mind that most of the HD signals are on UHF channels) You'll also want a rotator to point that antenna right at Houston or San Antonio. (you didn't mention if you already had one)
 
I dont need a rotater its easy to turn my poles that I have when I need to. I did get the radioshack UHF only antenna that said it pulls in UHF signals 75 miles away, I couldnt recieve Houston. I didnt even try San antonio because Houston had a better coverage into the county. I dont know what I need for out there.
 
jras,

To put it mildly, Radio Shack uses "creative" marketing to specify the mileage range of their antennas. My experience with them has shown that they are really only good for about 1/2 of the range that they claim. The U-75 is really in not usable 80+ miles out. The obsoleted U-120 was a pretty good antenna, and was good to 60 or 70 miles.

When dealing on the fringe like you are, there are 3 things that are most important - height, antenna, and pre-amp.

Of course the higher the better. At 80 miles you are starting to experience signal loss from the curvature of the earth, so get that thing up as high as you can. I would say 30' feet at a minimum, but you probably need to be 40' or 50' feet up for best results.

Antenna - You need a deep fringe UHF or V/U combo. The Channel Master CM4228 8 bay http://www.channelmasterintl.com/4228.html is one of the best UHF antennas around, and reasonably priced at about $50. Antennas Direct, has an awesome UHF yagi, the 91XG http://www.antennasdirect.com/91XG_HDTV_Antenna.html, but it is twice the price of the 4228. Be aware that some UHF digitals will be moving back to their old VHF channel assignment post-transistion, so to future proof yourself you may want to consider getting a deep fringe V/U combo, like a Channel Master 3020 http://www.channelmasterintl.com/3020.html, or a 3671 http://www.channelmasterintl.com/3671.html.

Pre-amp - Get a pre-amp. It is very important on the fringe. Not a distribution amp that will just add noise to the signal, but something like the Channel Master 7777 http://www.channelmasterintl.com/amplifiers.html. It needs to be a 2 piece system, with an amp that installs near the antenna and a power supply that connects near the TV. The beauty of the 7777 is that it has separate UHF and VHF inputs, so you can run separate UHF and VHF antennas into it, or a single UHF only or V/U combo into it. A 7777 will run you about $60 and is widely available on the web.

Hope this helps. I think that after Feb 2009 many people who live out in the fringes and rely on OTA are going to find that digital is not going to be as reliable as analog. Where as you could watch analog with some snow, digital is either there or not, or you may have a marginal signal that macroblocks and freezes, and is not really watchable. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice, I took back that antenna, I'll look into those antennas, I think people are going to be surprised when they do get on DTV out there when all they can get is Victoria with their antenna.
 
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