[dprljackson]

Hi,

I'm a little confused about something and am hoping someone can help me out. At solidsignal.com, it says the Winegard HD 7694P has an approximate range of 30 miles for high VHF and 25 miles for UHF while the 7697P has an approximate range of 60 miles for high VHF and 50 miles for UHF. The boom length on the 7697P is twice as long as on the 7694P, so it doesn't completely surprise me that the range would be twice as long. However, the gain specs has the 7694P at 8.3 dB for channel 7 and 10.7 dB for channel 50 whereas the 7697P is listed at 10.9 dB for channel 7 and 11.8 dB for channel 50, a difference of between 1-2 dB.

Now, I do realize that antenna "range" is hard to quantify because every place has different buildings, trees, and terrain. However, the gain specs seem to suggest to me that these two antennas are fairly equivalent. Is that correct or am I not understanding something? I guess I'm trying to determine if the 7697P will really perform significantly better (and hence justify the increased cost) than the 7694P.

I guess I don't really understand antenna gain. Being measured in decibels, does that mean a 3 dB increase corresponds to a doubling of the signal strength at the output of the antenna? If so, would that mean that doubling the distance from a source would result in a signal strength that is 1/4 as strong and therefore you would need an antenna with a gain that is 6 dB higher to compensate?

This doesn't add up with the information at solidsignal.com so I must not be understanding something correctly. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
David