Antenna suggestion (Sacramento, CA area)

[jfredine]

Hi Everyone.

First my tvfool profile: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9c6b16f0a0835c

I'm looking for suggestions on an antenna for my situation. I'm fortunate in that all the stations of interest for me are along a very narrow compass range of 200* to 202* and are in the green range of my profile (KMAX-TV, KOVR, KCRA-DT, KSPX-DT, KTXL-DT, KQCA-DT, KVIE-DT, and KXTV). I know, I know, many of you would probably love to have the problems I have The issue for me is that I have a mix of UHF and VFH stations.

Currently I'm using an Antennas Direct 43XG which works great for the UHF stations but not so great for VHF (not a surprise). The two VHF stations (KVIE-DT and KXTV) are relatively weak and I get frame drops ocassionally. I tried playing with direction and this improved the situation some (pointing the antenna further south helped a lot with KXTV which was by far the worst), but it's still not great. I would like to find a good UHF/VHF antenna (want to avoid mounting two antennas as this would require a tough approval process with the boss, i.e. wife), but would also like to keep the size small.

Something like the Winegard HD-1080 is attractive in size, but the listed range is right on the edge for me. It's not terribly expensive so I might just buy it and try it. Any thoughts on this or another suggestion for a smallish UHF/VHF antenna that would work well in my area? I currently am not using an amp and have three cable runs between the antenna and the receiver (approx 50', 50', 10' each directly connected (no splits)) if that is important.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Tigerbangs]

You absolutely do not need to dump your XG-43: it is an excellent antenna, and a MUCH better antenna for UHF than the HD-1080 is. I suggest that you ADD a Winegard YA-6713 or an AntennaCraft Y-5-7-13 aimed in the same direction as the XG-43. Be sure to separate the two antennas by at least 4' on the same mast, and I suggest that you mount the XG-43 ABOVE the VHF yagi. Combine the signals from the two antennas using a Pico-Macom UVSJ antenna joiner. Add a small distribution amplifier like a Channel Master CM3410 in the line before your splitter, and you should clear up any problems that you are experiencing.

http://www.antennacraft.net/pdfs/Y5-7-13.pdf
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/ya-6713.pdf
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...Combiners&sku=
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...mplifiers&sku=

[jfredine]

I just wanted to post a follow up to this topic. I appreciate the suggestions Tigerbangs, but I wanted to avoid two antennas so I ended up with an RCA ANT751. For my situation with line of sight and 35 miles to the transmitters, this small antenna does a fantastic job. My UHF stations are coming in just as strong as before and my VHF stations are now just slightly less strong than the UHF stations. For anyone else in a similar situation, I would whole heartedly recommend this antenna. I'll look into the distribution amp suggestion when I start to distribute this to more TVs.