Does anyone get reliable 78 mile DTV OTA reception?

[sergei]

In the future you might think about installing a Antennas Direct 91XG UHF or even stacking two of them to improve your signals. If I had to replace my CM4251 then this would be my next choice stacking two of them as it has higher gain than a regular Yagi antenna, but the down side is it will be very directional and will need a rotor. And it's not a bad buy at around 53 dollars from at least one company ( Solid Signal ) Doing a Google search on stacking this type antenna will give you a lot to read and help you make a decision.

Antennas Direct 91XG UHF TV Antenna (91XG) from Solid Signal

 

[Bill_KY]

$53 is certainly an inexpensive antenna and looks to be well worth getting. The failure of this project was really mine on my part as if I did more planning and bought the antenna (s) in advance, better preamp, highers masts and guy wires... we could have watched the Bengals win over the Browns instead of listening to it on WEBN 102.7/WLW 700.

The Bengals have one more home game left, and I am hoping it will sell out. The whole NFL black out rule is silly in my opinion and does nothing but hurts the fans, and the taxpayers of Hamilton County who helped pay for the stadium.

One of the politicians in Ohio commented on the blacked out Bengals game. (I do not mean to get political here, this is related to the the situation and the story)

Senator Sherrod Brown | Senator for Ohio: Press Releases - With This Sunday's Browns-Bengals Game Blacked Out, Brown Tosses Red Flag on the Sports Blackout Rule

"Letter to the FCC Comes After Eight of Last Nine Bengals Home Games are Blacked Out; Last Year, Brown Urged NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to Reconsider Blackout Policies"

 

[Bob2011]

The antenna you posted a picture of on page two is just a midrange antenna with no more than 8 or 9 db of gain on that channel. The 91xg mentioned above has around 15db and even a homemade 4 bay bowtie antenna could do 12 db. Even with high gain 80 miles is tough unless you are at some elevation above the average terrain.

 

[Jim5506]

You are misinterpreting TVFool.

The topography of the earth is already included in the calculations for reception.

The elevation you enter is how high above ground level you mount your antenna.

You got a calculation for an antenna 500 ft above the airport, which is problaly only useful as to what might wildly be receivable on a perfect tropo day.

UHF signals do not carry over the earths curvature very well at all. WLKY-DT is however listed at 5.7dB NM @ 500 ft AGL. (the other channel 26 is 180 degrees in the other direction so that helps).

Going back to tha airport and re-doing the plot at 35 ft WLKY-DT comes in at -4.9, two edge which is possible but you need a better antenna. The 91GX is not as strong on these lower UHF channels as is the Winegard PR-8800 which has 15dB gain@ channel 26.

 

[Bill_KY]

I see that Winegard sells around $45 at Sears, maybe I will take a run there this weekend. Some 5 miles from here... the elevation drops several hundred feet to maybe 400 ASL or less. Is TV Fool that accurate in elevation calculations? We are about 900 ASL.

 

[Bob2011]

...
The 91GX is not as strong on these lower UHF channels as is the Winegard PR-8800 which has 15dB gain@ channel 26.

I would like to see the data that shows the PR-8800 to have 15 dB of gain on any channel as Winegard themselves states the highest gain to be 12.5 dB(ch 69). Even using dBi instead of dBd doesn't get you to 15.

Winegard Antenna Reference Chart | Solid Signal

If you really want to go Winegard then one of the large Yagi Corner Reflector antennas is the way to go. As you can see from the chart above the old PR9032(still available and also as HD9032) had 16.3 dB of gain on ch 32 and the new HD9095P has 16 dB on the same channel.

The 91XG does favor the high end and the real gain numbers posted by Antennas Direct in dBi make it look weaker than Winegard. However real world tests show the 91XG to take on all comers and match or beat them. A test over at antennahacks.com showed the 91XG to match a Winegard PR9032 on the low end of the band and beat it on the top end. Tests like that really make me question Winegard's published numbers.

 

[Jim5506]

Comparing some commercially available antennas

Chart entitled "Raw Gain for some common UHF antennas" was my source.

These are computer modeled estimates, not those provided by manufacturers.

 

[No Static At All]

I have tried the original Channel Master 4228, Winegard PR-8800 & AD 91-XG in metropolitan (3-70 miles), suburban (15-60 miles) & deep fringe environments(35-72 miles). The testing was not measured with a signal analyzer, but UHF reception proved superior with the 91-XG each time; especially in the deep fringe area.

 

[Larry1]

I have the same Sanyo Tv and it has a very poor tuner. I use a Philips PVR (same as the Magnavox) and have much better results. (although it is only SD resolution)
I use a 91XG with a Channel Master CM7777 pre-amp, but do need to raise my tower another 10 feet. The antenna pre-amp combo work great. I did have an older Radio Shack pre-amp and when I replaced it with the Channel Master it made a huge difference.

 

[Bill_KY]

Just a mention that the Bengals will be blacked out yet again...must be some kind of record for the Bengals...maybe just listening on the radio might be less of a hassle...stay tuned...