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Originally Posted by rabbit73
The HD8288XL is a clone. It says Made in America, but I have some doubts about its quality because I don't have any experience with it. You are certainly welcome to try it.
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Actually, with a little more research, I gather that WineGard manufactures both antennas -- from the administrator of the "Solid Signal" blog :
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Stuart Sweet - Administrator :
"That's a tough one. Being blocked by those hills stops you from getting most of the stations you should. If there's any hope at all it would be a tall mast, an antenna like this: Search: hd8200xl - Solid Signal and a rotator if you wanted to get stations besides the ones on Mt. Wilson. Here's a selection of rotators: Search: rotator - Solid Signal"
Customer :
" was researching the antenna based on your recommendation and another one, the HD8200U popped up as well. Is there any notable difference between the two? Also, Amazon states that many people bought a preamplifier with it, (Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT Digital HDTV Preamplifier) and some folks were able to attach it to their fireplace. Are these recommended at all? "
Stuart Sweet - Administrator :
"HD8200U is a very similar antenna. Both are made by Winegard, but our HD8200XL is made to our specifications to be larger and have more gain in the low UHF area where a lot of today's stations are."
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http://blog.solidsignal.com/showthre...ld-You-Suggest
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The point that Tower Guy was trying to make was that if you are happy with the local news on WCWN, you wouldn't need an antenna that covered VHF-Low, and would be able to use an antenna that was for VHF-High and UHF, which would be narrower. But, maybe you want to stick with an all channel antenna in case you do want channel 6.
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Well, I understood what he was saying....but, given that the dimensions of the two antennas are not that much different (same boom length, same height, but 1/2 the width on the HD 7698) I had to look at the range of each antenna see which one might better suit - since the overall VHF range of the HD8200 is 100 miles vs. the 60-mile VHF range of the HD 7698 -- and that they had similar UHF ranges and gain numbers....I thought it made more sense to go with the more powerful antenna for almost the same dollars. If I have to put a monster up on the roof, might as well go with the more capable monster, eh ?
(and I have the added bonus of being able to hook my home stereo to the antenna for excellent FM reception on the HD8200U)
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have had good results with my 7777, but it was the older model that had a good reputation. When PCT bought out CM, closed the NC plant, and fired their talented engineers, they redesigned the 7777, but kept the same model number which really caused a lot of confusion. Our impression was that they retained the same model number to trade on the old 7777 reputation. They could have at least called it the 7777A.
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Ah, I was not aware of that ..... that said, did they keep the old design for the Channel Master 7778, or did they redesign that too -- and if so, would not the 7778 also suffer the same redesign issues the 7777 did ?
If there are production flaws in the design of the Channel Master series, are there pre-amps out there of comparative performance and cost by the likes of Winegard and/or other manufacturers ?
Sorry for talking your head off this evening
Karl