Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Loudin
Increasing gain does mean more sensitivity in the center. This comes at the expense of sensitivity in other directions. It's like squeezing a balloon.
Your summary of the question is exactly the point I was trying to make. You have all the data you need in your TVFool report to estimate the impact of narrower beamwidths (NM vs. azimuth.) Not nearly the trial-and-error you might think.
|
The reason it seems like trial and error to me is that I don't know how to compare the HBU33 that I'm using with the HD-7696P that *seems* like it would be better. Here's my reasoning:
The HBU33 says it has a gain of around 7.7 for the UHF band and 7.6 for VHF high. It doesn't break it down by frequency. The beamwidth is around 55 degrees. The HD-7696P has a gain of 10.8 near channel 43 with a similar beamwidth (although it's a bit smaller, around 40 degrees, near channel 43). So it *seems* like the HD-7696P would give me about a 3dB improvement over what I have now since the antenna is already pointing at channel 43. According to my TVFool report, the difference between channel 8, which I get fine, and channel 43, which I get sometimes, is approximately 6dB. Since I am getting channel 8 fine, I assume I am less than 6dB from getting channel 43. But am I 5dB from getting it or 1dB from getting it? I can't tell. If changing the antenna gives me a 3dB improvement, it still seems like a shot in the dark to me.
Does that analysis make sense or am I missing something?