I am looking for some advise on how to go about choosing what sorts of antennas I should install


I live in rural Western Kansas, just from that statement you can guess my problem. I think that when '09 hits we will be left in the dust, as we are now compared to major areas. I also believe it will be some time before Dish or Direct will ever uplink the Wichita DMA in HD.



I recently moved out of town and have some exsisting equipment, a 30' pole with a omni directional antenna on top, looks like a pizza box, the pole is fully secured to the garage.


The paste is not quite what I wanted, the last 3 are compass/ miles from/ and channel #

yellow - vhf KBSH 7 CBS HAYS 180° 21.3 7

yellow - uhf KOOD-DT 16.1 PBS HAYS 128° 41.4 16

green - vhf KOOD 9 PBS HAYS 128° 41.4 9

red - uhf K25CV 25 ABC HAYS 179° 19.1 25

blue - uhf K38GH 38 ABC RUSSELL 123° 29.7 38

blue - vhf KSNC 2 NBC GREAT BEND 145° 59.4 2

violet - vhf KSNB 4 FOX SUPERIOR 43° 95.6 4

violet - uhf KBDK 14 FOX HOISINGTON 142° 45.4 14

violet - uhf KBDK-DT14 FOX HOISINGTON 142° 45.4 14


This is pasted from what antennaweb told my with my address put it. Something else of mention the bottom DTV Fox has an FCC extension, so it is not transmitting yet.

Right not I have Dish HD, with a 622VIP box, I has have a Sony 50" A2000, both of these are capable of receiving the digital broadcast. With the current antenna I am able to recieve PBS(DT) that transmits HDTV in the evenings, it does multicast during the day.

The analogs that I can get are channels......

7 CBS/Hays comes in clear as a bell, better than what Dish sends me.
9 PBS/Hays Bunker Hill is where the tower is I believe, comes in clear
25 ABC somewhat snowy
38 ABC snowier that channel 25 ABC
2 NBC sometimes you can see snowballs and people talking, about it
14 Fox somewhat snowy

I would like to be able to throw up some decent antennas to at least get better pictures than what I am currently getting on my analogs.

I am also curious as to where I can go about finding when the stations are required to change, FCC website?

Thanks for the input.

I am looking for some advise on how to go about choosing what sorts of antennas I should install


I live in rural Western Kansas, just from that statement you can guess my problem. I think that when '09 hits we will be left in the dust, as we are now compared to major areas. I also believe it will be some time before Dish or Direct will ever uplink the Wichita DMA in HD.

This is pasted from what antennaweb told my with my address put it. Something else of mention the bottom DTV Fox has an FCC extension, so it is not transmitting yet.

Right not I have Dish HD, with a 622VIP box, I has have a Sony 50" A2000, both of these are capable of receiving the digital broadcast. With the current antenna I am able to recieve PBS(DT) that transmits HDTV in the evenings, it does multicast during the day.

The analogs that I can get are channels......

7 CBS/Hays comes in clear as a bell, better than what Dish sends me.
9 PBS/Hays Bunker Hill is where the tower is I believe, comes in clear
25 ABC somewhat snowy
38 ABC snowier that channel 25 ABC
2 NBC sometimes you can see snowballs and people talking, about it
14 Fox somewhat snowy

I would like to be able to throw up some decent antennas to at least get better pictures than what I am currently getting on my analogs.

I am also curious as to where I can go about finding when the stations are required to change, FCC website?

Thanks for the input.

Hello Riker,

As a storm chaser/meteorologist, I like your part of the country. Unfortunately, when you see me around, that's probably a bad thing. :D But, I'll do my best to help you.

The "pizza pan" antennas cannot pick up low power stations and channels 2-6
well, as you are finding out. What I recommend depends on your budget, and how you want to do this.

First, the antennas I am suggesting will NOT be supported by a 30' pole, unless it is very well mounted and the pole is thick (otherwise, in the next severe storm it comes crashing down). Does this have a slot on top to put an antenna mast, or is it literally just a pole? If it is very well secured, and I mean very well, you have two options.

One, the Winegard Platinum 7084P:

https://www.tselectronic.com/winegard/hd7084.html

Or even better, but the biggest of all, the Winegard Platinum 8200P:

https://www.tselectronic.com/winegard/hd8200.html

Yes, that latter antenna is roughly 16' long! But boy, it can pick up. And, being out in rural Kansas, you need all the gain you can get...AND the quality of the Winegard will keep it intact except in the most extreme winds above 80 MPH.

Now, here's the truth, which you pretty much figured out...

Both antennas wil sharpen your reception. They are so directional that pointing it in one direction, will not let you get the other stations. The "pizza pie" antenna is omnidirectional, more or less. More directionality means more signal gain. I would recommend a rotor to overcome this problem. And again, make sure it can handle the weight of either antenna.

I think they'll likely flip those low-power analogs to digital. But you are right...microwaving an expensive HD signal 3/4 of the way across the state
is even more expensive, so they won't do it right away...which is why FOX isn't even on the air yet. KOCW are the right calls, according to the FCC, unless they changed them. In either case, channel 14 has told the FCC they will flash-cut channel 14 in 2009 to digital. KBSH, KSNB and KSNC will all eventually go to 1 million watts, according to the FCC, but no date has been set in the FCC logs for them to do it, except at or before February, 2009. KSNC broadcasts with 3,300 watts on channel 22, and with a monster antenna and a signal amplifier, you have a *chance* of getting it. KSNB has 530 watts...forget it.

But, your main point...with this, you'd get the analogs all better, but with the antennas above AND on a rotor. You could put it on the roof of your house and it should be fine. Just my $.02.

I live in rural Western Kansas, just from that statement you can guess my problem. I think that when '09 hits we will be left in the dust, as we are now compared to major areas. I also believe it will be some time before Dish or Direct will ever uplink the Wichita DMA in HD.

I recently moved out of town and have some exsisting equipment, a 30' pole with a omni directional antenna on top, looks like a pizza box, the pole is fully secured to the garage.
What is your zip code? It is easier to sort through what digital and analog stations you have using your zip. Since some of your stations are translators, those likely will not do a digital flash cut conversion until 2009, so no HD or digital SD until then for those stations.

I looked up the KBDK-DT14 FOX station and apparently it's call sign is now KOCW-TV? (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSAS-TV).

If you are looking for long range pickup of stations, the better choice is often separate UHF and VHF antennas for better performance for each band. Combining the AntennasDirect 91XG UHF antenna with a VHF antenna is popular here for long range situations. Some people on this forum have combined two 91XGs side by side for maximum gain for UHF. In case you have not looked at this website, it is very useful for antenna reception info: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html

Riker,

I made this map so it is easier to visualize what you are trying to do. Get one of the antennas mentioned above, support it well and get it up high enough to see the horizon and you should have success. Always use RG6 or better cable and consider a preamplifier. Also, by the looks of it you may benefit from a rotor.

Television signals can travel long distances in favorable conditions.

see- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-skip#Tropospheric_ducting

So if you get the right receiving equipment you can expect to see stations from Nebraska and Eastern Kansas from time to time, especially in summer. HDTV makes
TV worth watching again and the best part is it's all free.

Although the winegard HD7084P and HD8200P are great antennas, prefer separates under your conditions. I have installed these antennas since the 1980's so I have a feel what they are capable of.

Therefore suggest the following for deep fringe reception in your case.

91xg for UHF
Wade Delphi 306-VIP for VHF/FM
CM7777 preamp
Rotor

antennas spaced about 4' apart

The cm4228 is a great uhf antenna also but rather heavy and presents loading challenges when combined with another antenna. you can get by using a shorter mast when you combine 2 yagi style antennas spaced the appropriate distance apart.

I have been thinking of installing a vip306 at my home. It is 29" shorter than the hd8200p and performs better on vhf. currently use the 91xg for uhf combined with the hd8200p for vhf.

Sorry about that, my zip code is 67663 Plainville KS

Sorry about that, my zip code is 67663 Plainville KS
Yep, that's about where I had figured. My suggestion, or if you want to do the additional work and expense Rick talked about to get more distant stations, would work well.

Sorry about that, my zip code is 67663 Plainville KS
I wonder if antennaweb is missing some digital stations that you should be able to get? To explain this, here is the list that I get at antennaweb.org using your zip and entering a height of 300' for the antenna to get a more complete list:

yellow - vhf KBSH 7 CBS HAYS KS 177° 23.5 7
* yellow - uhf KOOD-DT 16.1 PBS HAYS KS 129° 43.9 16
green - vhf KOOD 9 PBS HAYS KS 129° 43.9 9
blue - vhf KSNC 2 NBC GREAT BEND KS 145° 62.0 2
blue - uhf K25CV 25 ABC HAYS KS 176° 21.4 25
blue - uhf K38GH 38 ABC RUSSELL KS 125° 32.1 38
blue - uhf KBDK 14 FOX HOISINGTON KS 142° 47.9 14
* blue - uhf KBDK-DT 14 FOX HOISINGTON KS FCC Ext 142° 47.9 14
violet - vhf KSNK 8 NBC MCCOOK NE 293° 85.1 8
violet - vhf K13OM 13 FOX NATOMA KS 97° 15.2 13
violet - vhf KLNE 3 PBS LEXINGTON NE 348° 80.5 3
violet - vhf KSNB 4 FOX SUPERIOR NE 44° 95.0 4

However, I looked up the wikipedia entries and the FCC database for the KBSH CBS 7 and KSNC NBC 2 stations and they both have construction permits for digital transmitters operating at the maximum 1000 kW allowed for UHF. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBSH-TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSNC
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KBSH
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KSNC

The question is whether either or both digital stations are operating at full power, but antennaweb is using the STA entry for KSNC-DT and does not have updated info for KBSH-DT. What you should do is contact both stations and ask them if they are broadcasting digitally at full power and if they are providing an HD signal. If they are not at full power - which is likely for a rural station - when will they go full power? The 91XG with a rotator should get you those four digital stations when they are at full power.

KBSH CBS channel 7 has not began broadcasting digital yet, KSNC NBC channel 2 has though. I recently learned that our local cable system is picking up the digital feed in Galatia and then piping it around the network. It is extremely low powered at this point though, which was stated in a previous post.

Also the K13OM Fox supposedly out of Natoma is not here, no tower, unless it is a new proposed tower permit.

BTW where would you find the Wade VIP 306 at online? not having any luck

THANKS

BTW where would you find the Wade VIP 306 at online? not having any luck

the antenna will ship most likely from the plant in canada directly to your home unless a distributor has one in stock. I just called a distributor close to home for a quote for the antenna plus freight. They will let me know on Monday.

call a distributor close to you from the listing here.

http://www.wade-antenna.com/Wade/Delhi_US_Distributors.htm#