I have an HD7082 roof mounted antenna right now. The cable run goes down the house, enters the basement, and from there is split to the living room and bedrooms. The main TV in the living area receives the "stronger" stations at 92-99%. On antennaweb, these are my red stations. Where I'm having trouble is the blue stations which are coming in around 60-70% and are sometimes watchable but sometimes have problems dropping out.
I'm considering a preamp as I'd like to receive the blue stations as clearly as I do the red, but I'm having difficulty selecting. It sounds like I just install the preamp on the antenna, and can put the power unit in the basement before my splitter. The problem is which model to go with.
Three Winegard models I've considered are the AP8700, AP8780, and AP8275. The 8275 has the most gain, but I've read that you may have problems "overdriving" a good signal, and since my red stations already come in in the 90s, I'm concerned that a more powerful amp might cause more problems than it fixes. The AP8700 is lower gain and probably wouldn't risk overdriving, but will it really be enough power to help stations coming in at 60%? The 8780 seemed like it might be a good compromise since it boosts UHF more than VHF, and my problem stations are UHF.
Reviews of the Winegard preamps have been mixed, with a number of complaints about product quality, which are also making me hesitate on the purchase.
Then there are comparable products from ChannelMaster, like the CM7778. The specs seem similar, but the CM line seems relatively more pricey and/or harder to locate.
Pointers?
I'm considering a preamp as I'd like to receive the blue stations as clearly as I do the red, but I'm having difficulty selecting. It sounds like I just install the preamp on the antenna, and can put the power unit in the basement before my splitter. The problem is which model to go with.
Three Winegard models I've considered are the AP8700, AP8780, and AP8275. The 8275 has the most gain, but I've read that you may have problems "overdriving" a good signal, and since my red stations already come in in the 90s, I'm concerned that a more powerful amp might cause more problems than it fixes. The AP8700 is lower gain and probably wouldn't risk overdriving, but will it really be enough power to help stations coming in at 60%? The 8780 seemed like it might be a good compromise since it boosts UHF more than VHF, and my problem stations are UHF.
Reviews of the Winegard preamps have been mixed, with a number of complaints about product quality, which are also making me hesitate on the purchase.
Then there are comparable products from ChannelMaster, like the CM7778. The specs seem similar, but the CM line seems relatively more pricey and/or harder to locate.
Pointers?
