Winegard HD7698 no sensitivity...

[Cham]

This antenna used to work great, but had it down for a while when the roof was being re-done. Temporarily had an old radio shack antenna on a pole beside the roof that has been working great for VHF (but poor UHF reception of course until I could put back the good antenna.

Well I got around to doing that today, replacing the old VHF antenna with the nice Winegard. Climbed down the tower after making sure the rotor was set just right etc... but no no reception (other than one really close VHF). Played around with the feedline and ended up hooking up the old antenna again, it works fine.

Played around with the little circuit board in the matching-box under the Winegard antenna, connections seem good but there is some corrosion on the circuit board. I cleaned it off as much as I dare but no difference. I suspect a problem in this circuit board. To verify, I attached a balun with alligator clips to the upper (VHF) connections and connected it up, and it does work now (on VHF).

Wondering where to go here... should I use two 300-75 ohm baluns and a 75 ohm combiner to feed both bands or should I replace the factory circuit board with a new one? (That is if I can get a circuit board from Winegard)
Maybe this circuit board is a flawed design and is problematic... or maybe it was a dud and a new one would work for many years? You guys have any opinions on this?

-C.

 

[pamajestic]

 

[Cham]

Exactly the test I made! Didn't bother doing the UHF test though since VHF was a dud right off the bat. Both bands or the combiner part of the board must be toast.
Just ordered a new cartridge via amazon.
If it goes again, I'll just use two baluns and a combiner. Almost never have trouble with baluns.

 

[boba]

Be sure when you mount the replacement it is water tight, you said you had some corrosion on the existing board.

 

[Larry1]

Also have a look at the wires inside the housing to see if you can see some marks from where the V's cut into the wires (or scratch marks) when it is assembled. Corrosion or a bent wire will cause problems. These need to make a good connection and you should feel pressure from the four wires as you snap the adapter back into place.