The 3 common dishes this days are 1000.2 1000.4 and 500+ (ones on a blue moon old 500 or something else)
Long distance antenna 60 - 100 miles?
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The 3 common dishes this days are 1000.2 1000.4 and 500+ (ones on a blue moon old 500 or something else)
DISH never used the Superdish CONUS-wide for its standard HD offering. The Superdish was used only for customers who wanted LIL where locals were beamed from 105W or 121W and as I noted previously, that ended more than eight years ago.
In contrast, you're stuck with the AT-9 even if you want DIRECTV on your RV or big rig.
That being said, the topic here is what can be used to improve DTV reception and there really isn't anything in the pizza dish space that will help with 44-700MHz range outside of the old Terk TV4x clip-on OTA antennas.
On the 60 - 100 mile reception...
Just to give the OP an idea of some of what I've tried to achieve long distance OTA TV reception, maybe this will help in deciding what antenna to use. I really need much more height for any reception, but an appropriate tower won't happen anytime soon.
Here's a copy of my TV Fool report:
I've tried this Winegard HD7694P antenna and had some success at current locale with VHF RF channel 7 (7.1) and UHF 17 (17.1). This antenna worked great at the previous locale, but we were only about 40 miles from most of the transmitters.
This is an Antennacraft Y-10-7-13 Yagi with an RCA TVPRAMP1 amplifier that works well here for RF channel 7 (7.1) and occasionally RF 13 (14.1). This is what is currently in use.
I've built this antenna using plans from http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/index.html. It works reasonably well for RF 7 and RF 17, but no RF 13.
The following antennae using electrical conduit and aluminum filler rod for TIG welding. The plans were from http://www.k7mem.com/Electronic_Notebook/antennas/yagi_vhf.html. Input the desired frequency in the online calculator, in the first example shown below it was RF channel 11. I think I used about 200 MHz for input frequency. Overall length was around 12'. This antenna with a TVPRAMP1 was intermittently pulling in 2-edge VHF RF 10 (KTUL) and 11 (KOED) at 108 and 104 miles, respectively. The tests were limited to low heights (< 20'). More trials later.
Then I made one for UHF RF 30. For element length comparison, antenna is shown alongside the VHF channel 11 yagi. No fruitful results yet from this antenna for 2-edge UHF channel 30 at 46 miles and -10.9 dB.
Just to give the OP an idea of some of what I've tried to achieve long distance OTA TV reception, maybe this will help in deciding what antenna to use. I really need much more height for any reception, but an appropriate tower won't happen anytime soon.
Here's a copy of my TV Fool report:
I've tried this Winegard HD7694P antenna and had some success at current locale with VHF RF channel 7 (7.1) and UHF 17 (17.1). This antenna worked great at the previous locale, but we were only about 40 miles from most of the transmitters.
This is an Antennacraft Y-10-7-13 Yagi with an RCA TVPRAMP1 amplifier that works well here for RF channel 7 (7.1) and occasionally RF 13 (14.1). This is what is currently in use.
I've built this antenna using plans from http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/index.html. It works reasonably well for RF 7 and RF 17, but no RF 13.
The following antennae using electrical conduit and aluminum filler rod for TIG welding. The plans were from http://www.k7mem.com/Electronic_Notebook/antennas/yagi_vhf.html. Input the desired frequency in the online calculator, in the first example shown below it was RF channel 11. I think I used about 200 MHz for input frequency. Overall length was around 12'. This antenna with a TVPRAMP1 was intermittently pulling in 2-edge VHF RF 10 (KTUL) and 11 (KOED) at 108 and 104 miles, respectively. The tests were limited to low heights (< 20'). More trials later.
Then I made one for UHF RF 30. For element length comparison, antenna is shown alongside the VHF channel 11 yagi. No fruitful results yet from this antenna for 2-edge UHF channel 30 at 46 miles and -10.9 dB.
Jason, you must not be too far from me. I live on the Kansas border, maybe 40 minutes north of Fort Scott. You must be northwest of Iola? Luckily I'm still close enough to Topeka and KC that I can pick them up. If I aim for Joplin I can pick them up reasonably well on a clear night. No Wichita action here.
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Fredonia area, southwest of Iola. KOAM from Pittsburg is about the only reliable OTA signal here. I have scanned in WIBW out of Topeka at 102 miles north and KOLR in Springfield to the southeast at around 170 miles but no picture on either. Trial and error testing, but it seems like my best bet for more OTA is south toward Tulsa.
Nice to meet someone else from the SEK area. And yeah, that probably makes the most sense about your Tulsa reception; I'm sure the Tulsa stations are strongest. I know DirectTV even carries two of the Tulsa locals for people in parts of the Joplin DMA, so they're considered significantly viewed down there.
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Jason- have you tried picking up KCTV (24.1) or KCPT (18.1) by aiming your antenna to the northeast? By the looks of your TVfool, it looks like they might be possible?
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Thank you, good to see another SEK'er here too! As for OTA here, it almost seems like a crap shoot. I experiment every few months to try and build on channels...
I haven't tried for either, mainly since they're listed as Tropo. The RF channel 30 antenna was to try to get the repeater from around Iola that has PBS. The RF channel 11 antenna was primarily for OETA (KOED). There are some repeaters around Bartlesville, OK, that are UHF. But they're low power and have terrain issues.
The Winegard is currently in storage
Another question, how the pre-amplification devices actually works ?
Do you just energize the antenna to catch the low signals, or is something else ?
It just amplifies the weaker signals that are already there. There has to be some signal strength there for the pream to amplify
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How about if the signal is there, but is way to weak?
Is there a way to "energize" the antenna to get more sensible?
Is there a way to compensate the small size of the antenna?
Is there a way to "energize" the antenna to get more sensible?
Is there a way to compensate the small size of the antenna?
Maybe some of the engineers here can chime in. It's complicated because there are many factors involved. Not just the size of your antenna, but distance above ground, distance from the tower, curvature of the earth, obstacles in the way, etc. I have a decent antenna 18 feet above ground and a 22db preamp, but even my setup can't bring in some of the really distant signals that I can detect with my meter. Just too many natural obstructions.
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Let me change the question a bit.
Lets assume that you can get the signal with 50 feet antenna, the question is how can you get the same level signal with 5 feet antenna?
Can you "energize" or amplify the antenna in order to make it happen?
What kind of signal meter do you have.
If it's strong enough for a pre-amp to boost it to a usable level, you're good. If not, you're out of luck. Or go higher.
No. That would be like trying to electrocute your eyeballs so you could see a distant object better. What you need is binoculars (an amp or larger antenna, in keeping with the analogy). Some objects are just too far away or behind obstructions.
Buy a bigger one.
- Trip
"Signal GH" for Iphone, available for $2.99 from the App Store
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If you set the antenna up with a resonant tuning circuit, it can be made more sensitive but that's typically not practical in a broadband TV antenna.
When you say 5' versus 50', I assume your talking height. In the higher frequencies (unlike AM), a proper antenna has a very specific size (determined by wavelength) and using multiples (or fractions) of that size usually aren't more effective.
When it comes to reaching, there's no substitute for height. TV is pretty much line-of-sight and you need to come as close as practical to clearing the obstructions. Think of the broadcast signal as being a beam of light.
