On the 8200, the gain shown is 14.2 DBi, but in DB, the gain is actually around 12, so if you're figuring losses for splitters and stuff, keep that in mind.
Antenna Suggestions
- Thread starter Robertoo
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A Raine, thank you for that clarification. The differences between DB, DBi, and DBm seem complicated to me now that I look them up, but good to know the max possible is around 12 for the 8200. I'm going off of this chart now for all of my signal checks.
harshness, yeah I put that together after I posted. 14 feet is crazy. I doubt my landlord will like it. As far as the VHF reception goes between the 8200 and 7698P, I think I'm a little bit confused. If I understand it correctly, it's actually the low VHF signals that the 8200 can receive better than the 7698P (and probably the 1080 too; I think I typed high VHF earlier / EDIT: Okay, it was the 1080 that had problems with high VHF, so unrelated). I just checked and I actually wouldn't be missing too much if I didn't get the low VHF channels. I know I've read stuff around saying that VHF is maybe being phased out slowly anyway. Any truth to that?
Update: Well, the Winegard HD8200 is coming for sure now. Might as well keep it if my landlord lets me put it on the roof. I'll go up there ASAP and scope out the situation. I'm not even sure if there's flat space up there, or if it's just all sloped/pitched.
harshness, yeah I put that together after I posted. 14 feet is crazy. I doubt my landlord will like it. As far as the VHF reception goes between the 8200 and 7698P, I think I'm a little bit confused. If I understand it correctly, it's actually the low VHF signals that the 8200 can receive better than the 7698P (and probably the 1080 too; I think I typed high VHF earlier / EDIT: Okay, it was the 1080 that had problems with high VHF, so unrelated). I just checked and I actually wouldn't be missing too much if I didn't get the low VHF channels. I know I've read stuff around saying that VHF is maybe being phased out slowly anyway. Any truth to that?
Update: Well, the Winegard HD8200 is coming for sure now. Might as well keep it if my landlord lets me put it on the roof. I'll go up there ASAP and scope out the situation. I'm not even sure if there's flat space up there, or if it's just all sloped/pitched.
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Yeah, I guess that makes sense, plus wouldn't the smoke cause interference? Anyway, it turns out I don't actually have a landlord, we rent from a company called Invitation Homes. I'm calling them tomorrow and looking for my lease agreement right now. I can definitely put it in the backyard, but for the roof I will probably need permission from the company.
DISH might but DIRECTV doesn't because of the strut requirement brought on by the relatively large sail area of the "Slimline" dish.
None that I know of. As the FCC continues to sell off the upper UHF frequencies (they've stolen about 32 channels in as many years), newer allocations are having to go lower. In some areas, the lower frequencies seem to be preferred by the broadcasters.
Quick update. I got the antenna in the mail yesterday, but still no response from the homeowner(s). I'd like to have some mounting options to lay out for them though in case they ask. Here are some pictures of the house:
Street View
Left Side
Right Side
Chimney 1
Chimney 2
It's two stories, facing directly toward the stations I want to pick up. I figure the antenna could go on either level. Higher would probably be better, but the cable box is on the first floor, on the left side of the house in those pictures. Anyway, as you can see the roof is all tile shingles, with no flat space at all, and the walls seem to be stucco, which I know is bad for reception with all the internal wiring (I'm in California, so earthquake regulations make that necessary). I could probably use a tripod and mast at the peak of one of the A-frames, but I don't want to drill through the tiles (can I slip it underneath them?). Might be able to do an eaves mount, but I think those ceramic decoration things might get in the way. The other thing I was looking at was this Commdeck Commtile system plus this adapter for the mast, but I think that would have to be installed while building the house, no? It would be cool not having to run cables along the roof and side of the house. Other than that, I know I was warned against a chimney mount for this particular antenna because of size (I guess the Winegard HD8200 is about 14 feet wide), but if you take a look at the pictures, the chimney seems pretty well-attached to the house, and it would be great if I could just use straps, without drilling for the homeowner's sake. My only concern with that would be the smoke disrupting antenna reception. Any tips?
Street View
Left Side
Right Side
Chimney 1
Chimney 2
It's two stories, facing directly toward the stations I want to pick up. I figure the antenna could go on either level. Higher would probably be better, but the cable box is on the first floor, on the left side of the house in those pictures. Anyway, as you can see the roof is all tile shingles, with no flat space at all, and the walls seem to be stucco, which I know is bad for reception with all the internal wiring (I'm in California, so earthquake regulations make that necessary). I could probably use a tripod and mast at the peak of one of the A-frames, but I don't want to drill through the tiles (can I slip it underneath them?). Might be able to do an eaves mount, but I think those ceramic decoration things might get in the way. The other thing I was looking at was this Commdeck Commtile system plus this adapter for the mast, but I think that would have to be installed while building the house, no? It would be cool not having to run cables along the roof and side of the house. Other than that, I know I was warned against a chimney mount for this particular antenna because of size (I guess the Winegard HD8200 is about 14 feet wide), but if you take a look at the pictures, the chimney seems pretty well-attached to the house, and it would be great if I could just use straps, without drilling for the homeowner's sake. My only concern with that would be the smoke disrupting antenna reception. Any tips?
Look for antenna mounts on other homes in your area to get some ideas. You have some of the worst conditions for mounting to the building. Clay tiles are a no no and stucco surfaces are easily damaged. Old style stucco uses a wire mesh for the base with about 3-4 layers of stucco applied over it. New insulated stucco uses a 1-4inch base of foam with stucco over that. Very fragile and little structural support.
One person drilled into their stucco. It looks a bit like this, with a mast. Another person has their antenna mounted on a mast right on top of their chimney, kind of like this, but from what I can see I think it's drilled directly on top using some kind of metal chimney cap? I can't see it too well. Both of these antennas are tiny compared to the one I want to put up, and neither setup seems like a good idea to me. One thing I did learn while doing this though was that if you look closely at the Chimney 2 picture I posted (zoom-in), there's actually a wood rim going around the whole thing that I could potentially drill into for a mount. Probably a better idea would be using the wood running along the tile overhang to do something like this.
Think that is what I'd do. Spray paint it all to match the trim of the house.
Your "V" doesn't seem as sharp as the picture. May have to supply your own bottom support so is wide enough to get decent separation from the upper mount.
Any idea what a good/minimum amount of separation between top and bottom brackets would be for a sturdy install?
The maximum amount that you can get, The top mount is going to be the fulcrum point for a lever with the 8200 and wind load being the force applied to the lever.
Most eaves/gable mounts I can find on Solid Signal only go up to 60", or five feet across max. I'd have to go up there to measure what that would give me with my roof's peak angle, which is pretty wide. Sidenote, this kind of setup will probably be a lot stronger for the HD8200 than an under-eaves mount like this, right?
I just got the go-ahead to install my antenna. I'm going to put it right here, on the side of the house on the fascia board. I ordered this mount, this mast, and besides that I guess I'm going to need the coaxial cable and probably some stronger bolts than the ones that come with the mount. Does anyone know how to go about grounding an antenna for lightning protection? Is there anything else I'm forgetting?
Run your coax to a ground block before entering the premises. Run copper ground wire to the electric service ground rod. I would also put a loop in the coax after the ground block before entering the premises. 1 or 2 turns about 6 inch diameter.
Disclamer: check local regulations for what's mandated in your area.
Disclamer: check local regulations for what's mandated in your area.
I'm pretty sure my ground rod is on the other side of the house, where my main coax box is (it's dark right now, so I can't really find it). Anyway, I didn't want to put the antenna on that side because I thought the chimney might get in the way or somehow damage the antenna with smoke. The way I'm thinking about doing it is just plugging into the coax cable running on the side of the house in the bottom right of this picture. I guess that would mean I'd have to run a very long stretch of copper wire to the rod. About the loop though, do you mean just circle the cable into a physical loop and tie it off like that? Or do you mean something else?
Yep. Just one or two turns. Tie up with nylon ties or tape [Scotch 33]
If just feeding that coax with the antenna? or making a ground connection? If just making a ground connection, if it's grounded, I think you'd be safe. Maybe not to code, but I would feel safe with it.
If just feeding the antenna into it, into the room it services, could use a dual ground block. One side to feed through to the tv, the other to connect the ground via the coax.
Another option to 'run a ground' wire: RG6-50-Feet-W/Ground
I mean I would pull out that coax cable on the first floor, which is just a TV endpoint, then put a directional coupler on it. Using the coupler I would then connect both that TV and my antenna to the house coax. That should allow the antenna signal to travel to all the other TVs in the house, I think. As far as grounding, are you saying that if my coax is grounded, and my antenna is hooked up into it, then the antenna is grounded too?
