HDTV Forum

Ok I finally purchased and had installed the Winegard UHF antenna PR9032 which was recommended here. See info below:


My suggestion for problematic reception that has proven to be quite effective so far...

Winegard PR9032, preamp and rotor 12 feet above your roof line.

If this won't get it then you have an expensive reception problem.

Richard F. Fisher
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - [email protected]
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Like Ken said:
The advantage of a UHF-only antenna is that there are several available that are much better than the UHF part of any VHF/UHF combo.

Forget the combo!

For VHF just do a seperate antenna and use a U/V signal combiner/splitter. That is your best choice in your demanding application.

Good Luck!

The advantage of a UHF-only antenna is that there are several available that are much better than the UHF part of any VHF/UHF combo. The disadvantage of not having VHF is that beginning in 2007 nearly all OTA viewers will need VHF capability. Note that if you put a UHF antenna on the same mast as a VHF antenna there should be about 3 vertical feet of empty space between them

Ok here is my problem now. This UHF antenna that was suppose to be better to get the UHF channels out of St. Louis actually is getting worse reception that my old VHF/UHF combination. Most of the channels that I was getting before are now at a lower signal strength. I can not understand this. I use the rotor to try and get a better signal but can not even get the same higher signal I was originally getting with my old VHF/UHF combo which did not even have corner reflectors. My original problem is still there: not being able to pull in the STL Fox channel but now the other STL channels are at a weak signal and fade in and out more often than before.

I need more advice on what to do now since it does not appear a UHF only antenna will work in my situation. I am leaning toward going back to a large deepest fringe VHF/UHF combo. I am considering the Channel Master 3671(Deepest fringe crossfire series).

What are your guys opinion or advice on how I should proceed?

I appreciate any feedback on this.

Thanks..................... Mike

Your results do not make any sense at all. You need to go through your whole system and find out what is causing this problem. You may find some helpful direction and tips here...

http://www.ilovehdtv.com/hdlibrary/viewtopic.php?t=8

The information you were given is correct so your results point towards a system failure and that system failure may have favored the poorer performing antenna as it compensated for the problem.

Mjm- The 9032 is not qualitatively different from the UHF part of a combo, thus trees would not affect one differently from the other. However there is a quantitative difference: The 9032 has more gain and thus a narrower beam. At 50 yards, the tree is essentially blocking everything, so your reception depends on diffraction around the tree (either over the top or around the side, whichever path is less of an angle). Thus if you point the 9032 straight at the tree, it will be outperformed by an inferior antenna that has more reception to the sides.

Richard is essentially suggesting that you have made a mistake. Please don

MJM76,

Based on Ken's response it appears your situation is very challenging. What you may need is a guy with a spectrum analyzer that can sniff out what is going on. I had a client with the same situation as you, biggest U/V combo, and the 9032 was far better. It has to be. Ken's explanation is the only thing that makes any sense if indeed nothing is wrong with the system. On the other hand don't be surprised if your installer puts the old one back up and you have the same problem.

Please keep us updated and sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Richard wrote:MJM76,

Based on Ken's response it appears your situation is very challenging. What you may need is a guy with a spectrum analyzer that can sniff out what is going on. I had a client with the same situation as you, biggest U/V combo, and the 9032 was far better. It has to be. Ken's explanation is the only thing that makes any sense if indeed nothing is wrong with the system. On the other hand don't be surprised if your installer puts the old one back up and you have the same problem.

Please keep us updated and sorry to hear you are having trouble.

I have had this new antenna and rotor for just 2 nights now. Tonight I was moving the rotor around alot to try and tune the channels in. I was able to get most of them this evening but that is not unusual for me at night. I normally get a better signal at night than in the day.

My question is about UHF only antennas: Are they more directional(need more movement with a rotor to fine tune channels?) than UHF/VHF combos? On my old combo it was always pointing North towards the STL stations and I did not have a rotor. I point this new UHF antenna in the same north direction and I can not get the same channels with the good signal strength that I did with my UHF/VHF combo. Why is this? Tonight it seems that for some channels to come in I have to point the tip of the UHF antenna towards the WEST instead of north. Is this normal for UHF only antennas? I guess I was not expecting to have to move the antenna for each and every channel to get the best reception. Most of the STL channels are from 1 degree on the compass to I believe about 8 degrees, all NORTH. I am just confused about having to move this antenna so much.

I was able to get the FOX channel tonight with a normal signal. My signal meter is bad, normal and good. But as I said above it is not unusual for FOX to come in at night but fade away during the day.

I am anxious to see tomorrow morning if I can still get FOX or not. My guess it will be gone again.

Thanks for any feedback on UHF antennas and rotors.

Mike

Mike- The beam width is determined by the raw gain. See http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/glossaryA.html#beam . At 70 miles you need a strong antenna. But a strong antenna is going to be hard to aim. The broad beam of your combo meant one aim was good for all St. Louis. But now you have to re-aim.

(There is a second reason why re-aiming might be necessary. In a multi-path situation, aiming slightly to one side can reduce one of the paths enough to improve overall reception. The best strategy for this can be different for different frequencies.)

Personally I find rotors very annoying for digital channels. See http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/glos ... tml#rotors .

The most likely reason you lose FOX during the day is the

This morning I checked my STL stations again without moving the antenna from where it was positioned last night when I was receiving the channels fairly well, but this morning the STL channels are very weak. I can move the antenna some to get some of them back but most are unwatchable.

This morning I checked my signal on the STL stations and most of them are in the normal to good range which is strange because yesterday morning I tried using the rotor and tune in the stations and most of them I could not get a watchable signal on at least in the morning but last night after 8PM I was able to tune in the channels.

This UHF antenna so far I have found that every day is a new experience and I have to re-aim the antenna every day. It still seems that I was getting a little better signal on most of my channels with the my old UHF/VHF combo but this new UHF antenna is puzzling at times my signal strength approaches or exceeds my old signal on some of the STL channels and some channels in CAPE which is south of me. My STL channels are mostly due North.

One issue that really is puzzling with this new UHF antenna is my NBC channel out of STL............on the old antenna it's signal was normally at a normal to good and now most of the time it is a BAD signal..........I can re-aim the antenna and sometimes get it to come in but the best I have got it is only normal and it has never been in the good range yet. I am unsure if it is the actual transmission power of the station or it is my antenna. I have read on the AVS forums (STL thread) that NBC has been having some issues with their sound.......... fading in and out on some of their new fall shows(Hawaii???) so maybe the NBC affilliate is doing some maintenance on their end.

The last couple of days seeing the signal fade in and out I am just now sure which way I should go.......................... put back up my old antenna and keep the rotor to aim the VHF/UHF combo and hope I can pull in the stations like I used to...........even though several of the stations(FOX especially fades in and out badly) but for the most part the majority of the STL stations had a fairly stable signal with the old antenna(but the weather did affect them from time to time) or stick with this UHF antenna and contiuously having to re-aim it............which is frustrating at times.

Mike: If you want good reception at 70 miles you are going to have to put some work into it. Your 9032 is not performing up to its potential because it is not in a good spot. You must find a better spot. -Ken (Hint: The easiest first step: Try lowering it 2 feet. Next, try angling the boom. If there is little change with elevation, next try moving laterally.)

Ken,
Thanks for the advice. I was wondering why you would recommend to lower it two feet? Since this UHF antenna was put up in the same place as my VHF/UHF combo was and the only movement that was made was to accomodate the rotor was a small mast appproximately 2 feet was added. It is hard to believe that taking that away that mast would make that much of a difference.

Did you just choose that 2 feet at random or is there some significance to that 2 foot movement. I realize that from reading articles about installing an antenna that a little bit of movement one way or another can mean a lot to the reception.

I was just curious has to how you arrived at the recommendation of lowering the antenna 2 feet?

I will keep trying different movements.

I really do appreciate you trying to help me out.