RaRaLew

Hi,

I went to antennaweb.org and entered my address. I live in Quincy, Massachusetts, and there is a tall water tower not far from my house. Antenneweb.org said I need a "large directional antenna with pre-amp" to view the channels I want to receive (in the violet sector).

I'm having a terrible time finding the right antenna to buy. ConsumerReports.org doesn't rate antennas, and I've searched the Internet for days with no luck.

Has anyone had to buy this type of antenna? If so, can you please give me some help? I have no clue.

Thanks,

Stephanie

Tim58hsv

Is your zip 02170 and are you trying to pick up ch. 64 out of Providence? A db8 uhf antenna might do the job but a vhf antenna rated for the blue zone would be best since your area has several digital channels on vhf frequencies. Ch. 64 is actually using ch. 12 to broadcast it's signal btw.

You'll also want a quality uhf antenna for everything on the higher (uhf) frequencies, then combine the two antennas with a cm7777 preamp. Two of the best uhf antennas are the 91XG and the db 8. SummitSource.com seems to have the best prices on antennas and the cm7777 preamp but I don't think they sell the 91XG model.

One more thing, I don't believe there are any antennas rated for the violet zone. To achieve that you take a blue zone antenna and add a good preamp to achieve the violet rating.

cowboyup4christ

see deep fringe prescription thread solid signal sells the 91-xg by far the highest gain UHF

HTNut

Are any of the channels VHF or are they mostly UHF?

Violet Sector channels are pretty tough and I mostly see the Channel Master 4228 8 bay recommended at a good mounting height, and a preamp is a must with a Winegard AP 8275 or Channel Master Titan 777.

RaRaLew

Hi,

Sorry I'm so late responding. Had a torn meniscus on my right knee that I had to get fixed.

I'm on Churchill Road in Quincy, MA, zip 02169, and there is a large water tower nearby. I want to pick up the UHF PBS channel 44, UHF CW channel 56, and UHF IND channel 38. These are channels I watch regularly, and they all fall into the violet section. Even without the water tower these channels are still in violet. Thus, according to AntennaWeb.org I need the "large directional with pre-amp" antenna.

Thanks for all your suggestions, and I will research every one. Truth be told I want the easiest to install, and from what I've been reading a large directional with pre-amp is not easy (I'll be doing this myself).

Thanks again, and if you have any other suggestions please post them.

Stephanie

Piggie

From your address you are not in a weak zone at all, unless you are trying for stations way out of town.

Here is the TVFool plot I found down to the road level

TV Fool

Unless Churchill Road is very long , this plot says you would probably use rabbit ears to pick up the Boston station.

Do you live between Furnace Brook Golf Course and the North Commons? If so then the plot above is correct. I looked up the road on Google Maps then plotted the Lat/Long and got the same TVFool plot as above.

Post transition you will have one VHF station, which is NBC WHDH on RF channel 7 back where they were before they temp were on UHF for DTV.

Even at 10 miles and them running 29.KW, unless you live in a metal building, like a trailer or metal walls, I would think even rabbit ears would pick this up.

Now if you want a more stable signal without the rabbit ears getting bumped and having to adjust them, you could put up a small outside antenna.

With the levels on the chart above you should never run an amp, it will overload with strong signals.

AntennaCraft HBU22 22 Element High-Band VHF UHF Outdoor HDTV Antenna (HBU22) | HBU22 [AntennaCraft]
Winegard HD-1080 2-Bay Bowtie UHF and High Band VHF Antenna (HD-1080) | HD-1080 [Winegard]
Channel Master CM2016 HDTV VHF High Band and UHF Antenna (CM2016) | CM2016 [Channel Master]

I didn't put them in order because a lot of things determine which to buy.

The HBU22 is the best antenna overall in the group, but requires pole mount unless you can get a j-pole above the roof line. But it can go in the attic nicely at your distance

The CM2016 has the best UHF gain, but is in the middle on VHF, but it can be j-pole mounted to a wall at your distance

The HD1080 is the weakest, but smallest most compact. It has poor VHF, but your VHF is strong where you live. It's UHF is enough also for Boston stations.

If you mount on a j-pole or a short mast below your roof line, you need to be on the west side of your house, and from the map that seems possible.

If I see the water tower, it's south of you? If that is it, then your mulitpath problems or blockage should not be bad, as it's off the side of any antenna you mount.

Any reflection off that tower might effect you the most on the HD1080, so you might want to drop that idea.

And if you only want Boston stations, then you don't need a rotor either, as they are all just a little north of west of your street.

If you need suggestions on how to mount it please chime back in, or tell us if any of the suggestions worked.

Hope your injury is better now also.

Tim58hsv

What's odd is if you put the same zip in Antennaweb.org it shows all the channels being in the red, blue, and violet zones even thou a lot of the stations are only 12 miles away.

What could cause such a huge discrepancy with the two sites results?

Piggie

Because Andy Lee looks at his site and fixes things that are wrong in the FCC data base to match reality if someone tells him. Antennaweb.org they paid someone then that person walked off to the next webmaster job.

I put the towers lat and long into Google Maps because I thought, why is one so far off. TVFool has the correct results as I actually did the plots myself on Google maps.

cowboyup4christ

UHF 91-xg VHF wineguard ya-1713

Piggie

Removed by Author. Did not relate to thread.