DX'n Forum

[smdp1]

Due to recent storms and some major damage in my area, the subject of properly securing you antenna rigs is fresh on my mind.....while I didn't suffer any damage, many people here lost their antennas....so I thought it might be a good idea to let anyone new to larger antenna setups know the importance of proper installation from the ground up.

Many people who are getting in to long distance ota for the first time don't think to much about storms when they add that extra section of poll after putting an over sized antenna on and adding a rotor to their rig, but all this upgrade will put a lot more strain on the mast than just a simple small setup that most people start with.....Generally anytime you have more than 10' of mast from the highest clamp position to the (lowest) antenna it is a good idea to include guy wires in your planes just to be safe....adding a rotor adds a lot of weight and can even cause short masts to act like pendulums and when the wind hits just right even a modest breeze can cause it to break off or bend over....so its even more critical when you have the whole shebang to make sure its tied off and clamped down properly.....for those who have towers...make sure to stay within the rated wind load or you could loose your tower too. Whoever installed it should tell you this, if not ask, if you installed yourself, the manufacturer can tell you. Also various mast poles are different in rated wind load so make sure you know yours rating and if you don't, ask....first ask your retailer and if they can't help try the manufacturer...if still no luck try here....If you have it professionally installed they should take care of this for you and you should have no worries.

Sorry if I seem to be a bit of a worry wart here, but after seeing so many rigs fall due to improper installation and high winds it was fresh on my mind, and I would really hate it if someone just got them this great new dx'ing rig and then in 6 weeks lost it because I failed to mention the importance of ensuring that your new rig will take the wind.

[donnyjaguar]

One of the local wireless ISPs 'round here puts 20ft masts on 5ft rooftop tripods to hold their 1.5 square foot radios. I would never do that myself.

[smdp1]

Someone asked a few posts back "Why do we like Dx'ing?" Well after the storms last night I remembered one of my reasons....I have family spread all over Al, TN, and MS and with this rig I can keep an eye on bad weather to see if I need to be checking up on someone to make sure they are ok....I sat up most of the night and watched as the storms came through here.....seems to be happening a lot lately this is the third time in 2 weeks to have severe weather and this time is by far the worst of them.....I faired well myself with little to no damage with the exception of a shingle or two and a few limbs all was unharmed, but just to my north, west, south and east it was horrible...this is the first time that I ever remember seeing warnings in all directions from here at once....several are reported dead...last count I heard was 31 and climbing....If you believe, please pray for those who were caught in these storms and the ones who have lost loved ones in the storms. Thanks

[rrrrrroger]

200 miles.

Anybody with a rooftop antenna + amplifier can get 1 or 2 channels that are 100 miles away. It's easy. But 200 miles? That takes special talent.

[smdp1]

This link might be helpful to anyone who is trying for a little vhf dx....it gives real-time propagation paths and distances for the vhf band. It will help you know what direction to shoot for or if you should even bother.
http://www.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ha...ath.cgi?map=na

[smdp1]

Ok, I here people all the time asking "do you get good reception at 85 miles all the time"...or something like it and I thought it might be useful to show exactly what I see...even on a bad night....so I decided that I would wait till a "bad reception day" and take some screen shots to show the worst I get and what someone could reasonably expect from a good antenna setup.

Here is a few shots of some of my farther channels and one of my closest for comparison and a copy of my digital channel list from tvfool for reference (not all of these show up on tvfool)

WAAY 31 is the reference channel at 58.6 miles out it is one of the closest major networks I get.

ABC 33/40 wcft is in Tuscaloosa/B'ham area and is 102.5 miles out and broadcasting on real channel 5 for digital and despite 2 other analog ch 5's it still comes in regularly....only goes out when cci gets bad.

Channel 3 from chattanooga analog is always in reasonably at 126 miles out...no luck with digital though....oh well, can't win them all....this screen shot is it at its worst.

cw21 is actually on a repeater for me operating on ch 17 for analog and ch 18 for digital....I have attached a screen shot of both.....its 102.5 miles out.

wbbj ch 7 isn't listed on the tvfool listing, but it comes in all the time with no dropouts at a distance of about 90 miles

wcbi ch 4 anolog comes in clear most of the time but occasionally looks like this and is near Columbus MS about 113 miles away

wkrn ch 2 is about 85 miles north in Nashville TN and comes in good about 90% of the time, but occasionally wlov 27 from MS will affect the digital with a little cci causing some dropouts....that will disappear when the cutoff date comes....the pic shows the 2.2 wx channel with the signal meter on like some of the other dig. pics.

WSMV 4 digital is on ch 10 and is about 90 miles out and comes in great untill ch 10 from B'ham gets real strong here and causes cci in it and thus results in dropouts

The tvfool list I attached is ajusted for the tower that I have, however if you enter your antenna height with an exact location and then compare the signal level on your list to mine you can tell if you will be able to get the stations you want with the antenna setup that I have.....(its listed in the very 1st post on this thread)

I hope this is useful to someone and of at least some interest to others....

P.S. If you look at the power out put of some of these digital stations you can see that even some of the farthest listed are not up to full strength and may be getting stronger in 09

[jim5506]

Check out the LOS distances from these co-ordinates with TVFool.

33.585136 LAT
105.23567 LON

[smdp1]

try just a little over for some interesting results too
33.59321 N
105.26654 W

this gives some very long los distances

[jim5506]

Originally Posted by smdp1

try just a little over for some interesting results too
33.59321 N
105.26654 W

this gives some very long los distances

10,000 ft peaks really help los.

[smdp1]

what a difference a mile makes in reception...just about 1.5 miles down the road from me reception stinks....here are some coordinates for one of my neighbors in the valley.
34.96225 N
87.54784 W
....compare them to mine I left in the first post......and believe it or not there isn't that much elevation change between him and me...just about 150' and no hills taller than mine....he had to buy a 68' tower just to get the same reception that I can get with 4 bay behind the tv set.

[Rick0725]

Was informed this morning that Wade stopped production on the VIP307 VHF antenna. The only inventory is at at dealer/distributor network. If there is any stock available.

[smdp1]

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!.....ok seriously...that stinks

[smdp1]

Originally Posted by Rick0725

Was informed this morning that Wade stopped production on the VIP307 VHF antenna. The only inventory is at at dealer/distributor network. If there is any stock available.

Lets all beg them to keep it on...I would hate to see one of the last good vhf only rigs to go out of production... here is the only e-mail addy I have for them: sales@wade-antenna.com
If you have a better on please let us know....

[smdp1]

Here is the response I got from them when I wrote in...seems like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel....maybe?

Good Morning Anthony - I thank you very much for your email below. We really appreciate your comments and concerns.
The reason we were going to discontinue the VIP antennas was because of the hi def channels being mostly in the UHF band.
From what we were hearing there is going to be very few channels left in the VHF band. The other reason being that we do not sell a lot of these large antennas anymore. We do have VIP-306's here is stock and will continue to build either model if there is a demand for them. We are actually developing a ch. 7 - 13 antenna. We will take either the VIP-306 or 307 and remove the chs. 2 - 6 and have a smaller antenna and good performance.
Once again, thank you very much! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information.

Debbie Robyn
Sales Coordinator
Ph: 1-800-463-1607 x 247

[smdp1]

I'm guessing that dx has been bad lately...mostly because of the no new posts...I have however gotten an unusual occurrence, I actually was able to pull in wtbs 17 from Atlanta...this is a big deal because there are two other channel 17's here....one of which is only a few degrees off from wtbs (wdbb from Bessemer) This is not a record by any means, but is a tribute to the 91XG's ability to tune out cci problems....