I'm looking for an outdoor antenna to mount on an existing 25 ft. mast. Here are the surveys:

TV Fool:
119990

Antenna Web:
119991

Approximately 3 miles from my location, the elevation rises about 200'. I was leaning toward a Winegard HD7082P with a CM Titan 7777 pre-amp. After checking the TV Fool results, I'm wondering if this is overkill.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

The 7777 is definitely overkill. Drill down into AntennaWeb's FAQs, and they tell you that pre-amps are NOT recommended if most/all stations are in the yellow and dark green zones. That's because they have a habit of getting overloaded, and/or overloading digital tuners, in such strong signal areas.

The only situation where a pre-amp would be necessary here is if at least three TVs (and preferably four!) are to be cabled from the antenna. Even then, you'd be better off with a high input/low gain model like Winegard HDP-269. If you're not doing this, then forget about a pre-amp.

The HD 7082 would also be unnecessary, unless you really like FM DXing (for which a dedicated FM antenna is preferable, anyway). The Winegard HD 7694 is all you need, since your lowest channel assignment right now is 9, moving to 11 next year. The CM 4228 will also work fine, even on 9 and 11, despite its UHF designation. Either antenna is roughly $30 cheaper than the 7082 as well.

A CM4228 should do well here. I would try it w/o a pre-amp first, since the CM7777 is probably a little strong for these signals. A Winegard 8700 might be a better choice, if you need a pre-amp.

A CM4221 is probably sufficient for UHF, but I wouldn't count on it for VHF.

With all that 1 and 2 edge diffraction at only 20 miles; I would suspect quite a bit of mutipath potential. Do you see a lot of ghosting with analog reception?

I would lean towards a yagi style antenna like the Winegard 7-52 series. I don't like bowtie style antennas if mutipath is suspected. That VHF channel 9 is a bit weak to gamble using a 4228 anyway.

Going by the TV FOOL results; I think you would be OK with the CM 7777. I have succesfully used the 7777 with signal levels even stronger than -68dbm.(Mid 50's work just fine as long as you aren't right next to an FM station)

From what I gather from others near my location, ghosting is significant with analog signals.

I though I would need a VHF/UHF combo antenna and the Winegard 7082P looked like a good candidate. The CM 7777 was for insurance.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I'll take a look at each of them.

You will be better off with one of the smaller/lighter Winegard HD series channel 7-52 antennas. The width is greatly reduced without the channel 2-6 elements that the 7082 has.