Best VHF Channel 7 Antenna?

[ontherooftop]

Just wondering if Hacking the CM4221 taking
the plastics off and flipping the balun will improve
VHF reception? I am goin to get the kitztech amp
and I am seeing more VHF channels being added
to hit Toronto especially for 2011.

[300ohm]

Probably wont help VHF on the CM4221 at all. Just build a relatively small VHF antenna, something like holl_ands loop with reflector for VHF. http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=112675

Or add some additional 36" long reflector rods to the CM-4221. I would add at least 4.

[ontherooftop]

yeah it's a cm4221hd, and when I got it
everything is UHF but in 2011 Buffalo will
have vhf 7, hamilton vhf11 and toronto vhf 9,
it shows on TV fool that My area should get these
VHF channels in dark blue. I get pretty good
analog vhf with this and im going to buy a kitztech
uhf/vhf amp. Also does VHF travel much further than
UHF because it says I should get a south buffalo
channel 90 miles away on vhf 7 with only 27 kw?

[300ohm]

Also does VHF travel much further than
UHF because it says I should get a south buffalo
channel 90 miles away on vhf 7 with only 27 kw?

Yes, vhf signals bend with the curvature of the earth more than uhf signals do. But 90 miles is still going to be pretty much tropo reception, unless on top of a mountain.

[little-infinity]

I doubt it would be tropo-only. Most south Buffalo UHFs come in very well here, even in bad weather. He's not too far from me, and my TVFOOL shows the rf7 in question (WNGS) has a positive NM (16.2 dB), in the yellow zone LOS. The lake helps us quite a bit in clearing obstructions which allows for somewhat extraordinary long-distance reception from Buffalo. From my location, Buffalo towers are around 80 miles. It can't be much worse for him.

The issue is there are 2 entries for rf7 right now (confusing), but I'm leaning towards the one with higher NM.

He might have to get a special VHF-Hi antenna though. I dunno. I've been wondering the same thing too, whether the CM4221HD (hacked, but reflectors not cut) will work with RF7. I hear it was just testing too...

I certainly do not want to buy a second antenna for the purpose of one channel. (And if you can get rf9 and 11 analog, you should be fine with digital when they convert).

Here's my tvfool. How about yours?
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbe3a5ef62369

[ontherooftop]

ok guys here is my TV fool, apparently, I am in
a pretty sweet spot for OTA just look at summerville
area

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbe8e091b0916

it says im at edge for channel 7, but maybe it will
be tropo cuz of VHF.

[stampeder]

ontherooftop, I'm pretty sure you're asking about this because WNGS has just come up on VHF-HI 7, right?

Sorry to have to break it to you like this but all signs are pointing to WNGS's northern contour edge going only as far as the Lake Ontario shoreline of NY State, as you can see in the quote from the new owner posted here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...postcount=1912.

Keep checking in the OTA Station Status: Buffalo, Rochester NY thread for the latest WNGS information before deciding to make any changes to your OTA gear.

[goforit]

Time for a new antenna?

I know it's early in the game for WNGS, but now that it looks like a go, I wonder what VHF/UHF combo would be best to get WNGS and ION? There are the 7-51 combos listed in the antenna chart, but another option could be two separate antennas into a pre-amp. From the antennahacks website, it was suggested that the 91XG and the DB8 are very close in performance, but interestingly, the DB8 does very well on UHF 23. The 91XG is much better at mid to high UHF. So maybe a DB8 and a C5 might do the trick? Other suggestions?

[PrinceLH]

Is WNGS broadcast right now? Since the tropo is starting to roll this way, I'd like to take a shot at it, down here in the Eastern Lake Ontario region.

[stampeder]

This thread is a result of the following news:

WNGS-DT Back OTA In Buffalo, NY Area - VHF Channel 7

PrinceLH you will definitely not get even a whiff of it from where you are, and everyone in Southern Ontario wanting to try for WNGS needs to be aware that reception is not likely to be good based on tests and documents. Discuss WNGS in the other thread. This one is all about antennas.

For people wanting to build their own Channel 7 antenna or try to adapt one of their present ones to receive Channel 7 and other VHF-HI statons this is the place to ask. For people wanting to buy a suitable antenna my recommendations, as always, are in the Antenna Chart ----------------------------------------------------->>>

[ontherooftop]

Guys just wondering if using Narods for VHF-hi on the CM4221HD is a
good idea or bad for channel 7? also I heard that the
Narods might cause some of the UHF signal to decrease
because of the narods, is that true? and is channel 7
really worth it because I don't really need any religion
channels.

[ManBOOYA]

From everything I've read NARODs do nothing for a 4221 but extending the reflectors to 36" should help

[ota_canuck]

I tried four 32" horizontal rods, evenly spaced behind each wisker [at the same distance as the stock reflector]. Vertical spacing of the added rods may be subject to some experimentation. It seemed to help somewhat, but that top&bottom narod idea seemed to hit the UHF freqs and the VHF gain was only minimal in my trials

Try adding a few 32" horizonal rods into the reflector area. The 4221's are not bad for reasonable strength VHF signals but the added reflector rods seem to give the wiskers a boost. I would keep in mind though, the additional reflector capacity may reduce the back door a little.

[ontherooftop]

would it be ok if i put the rods in the
bottom reflector for the VHF? and still
just leave the top alone because I need
the beamwidth, will this method do any
affect on UHF?

[hkaye]

Building a yagi for channel 7 specifically might be an option. Mlord has a great thread on channel cut yagis. I built my own here -

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...ighlight=106.7

Scale the dimensions for VHF tv. This antenna is working very well to this date. Adding an amp probably would work even better for getting this weak station.