Winegard FlatWave Amped FL5500A - VHF?

[Thunder7]

I live in the metro Atlanta area....ALL of the channels I want to get (i.e. ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) are all in the general 212-218 azimuth, so I decided for my office instead of getting another cable box that I would just due over the air since I mainly want to see those channels in there 99% of the time. So, I purchased a Winegard FlatWave Amped FL5500A indoor antenna. I set it up, played with positing to optimize reception, and all works great for all the UHF channels, not so much for channels listed as being in the VHF-Hi range as they are not found at all. I thought this antenna did VHF-Hi, but for me it isn't tuning in the channels. The main impact is that it includes NBC (212 azimuth), which is a must have. I have pointed the antenna directly at 212, moved up/down/all around and can't seem to lock onto a signal. Currently the antenna is on a wall that points at 222 azimuth and CBS (218), FOX (217) and ABC (218) work great.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3de6a4bae19ccd8b

[WIRELESS ENGINEER]

these "high tech" antennas really don't work as well as a standard set of rabbit ears on vhf

for high vhf you need a dipole that's about 3 feet wide so all those small antenna solutions don't work well for vhf

[Thunder7]

I see...kind of makes since...if you are not really close, you'd need a wider antenna to snag the signal. Being that I am ~24 miles away its just too narrow.

[rabbit73]

It's not a matter of distance that determines how wide the antenna is, it's the frequency. VHF channels operate on lower frequencies, so wider elements are needed, for the resonant frequency. It's like organ pipes; the low notes need longer pipes.

It is difficult to predict the strength of indoor signals, but many people have had good results with the Antennas Direct C2V. The "V" dipole attachment is for VHF-High.

An alternative for better reception of NBC is to combine (with a UVSJ) the output of your UHF antenna with an Antennas Direct C5 VHF-High antenna that has more gain than the dipole of the C2V.

Or, if you are handy with DIY, you can make a folded dipole for NBC.

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2559&stc=1&d=1486829832

http://users.wfu.edu/matthews/misc/dipole.html

WXIA NBC, real channel 10, 192 to 198 MHz
center frequency 195 MHz

5540/195 = 28.4 inches wide for channel 10

[Thunder7]

Wow, thanks for the detailed info....excellent.