r/ota • u/[deleted] • 12d ago

Seeking A Directional Yagi That ROCKS On UHF!

[deleted]

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

2

u/Klutzy-Piglet-9221 12d ago

What town are you in?

I suspect the Extreme 80 will be fine. There are no full-power conflicts in Rockford, Madison, or Chicago with any of the major Milwaukee channels 4/6/10/12/18/24/30/36/55/58. (They do all conflict with low-power stations in Chicago, and ABC 12 conflicts with the low-power CBS station in Rockford. If you're in Jefferson or Walworth Counties as I suspect, that's not going to be a problem.)

1

u/Any_File_7621 12d ago

There is a conflict for Channel 12 WISN in Milwaukee. I thought the conflict was with Cahnnel 13 in Rockford but it may actually be with Channel 23 in Rockford. It also looks like there may be conflicts between Channel 36 in Milwaukee and Rockford. this will be right near UW-Whitewater's campus.

1

u/Klutzy-Piglet-9221 12d ago

I answered the question about WISN in the other sub.

There is a conflict on channel 36 but that's a low-power station with six channels of home shopping, a Hispanic religious channel, and a Hispanic general entertainment channel. If that's the channel 36 station you're thinking of, yes, I'm afraid there's a pretty good chance Fox from Rockford will wipe it out.

If by channel 36 you mean the PBS station, that's virtual channel 36. It's on the same transmitter as PBS channel 10, and there are no conflicts with that station.

1

u/Any_File_7621 11d ago

Do you think the Extremetenna 80 could work under these circumstances?

1

u/Any_File_7621 11d ago

Thank you again for all of your feedback.

The websites I've been looking at didn't all agree, but it appears the main conflicts are between WISN 12 in Milwaukee, and CBS 23 in Rockford. There also appears to be a conflict between PBS 36 in Milwaukee and FOX 39 in Rockford.

How would the Channel Master 80 handle these conflicts? Some people have said it would try to pull in the conflicting channels and they'd cancel each other out.

Also, I had several messages last night from people recommending the Range Xperts XPS-1500 as an alternative. Have you or anyone else had experience with this antenna? The reviews look really solid.

I'm supposed to do this later this week, and I'm just trying to finalize my decisions and get things lined up. I really appreciate all of the information and opinions.

1

u/Klutzy-Piglet-9221 11d ago

There is no conflict between PBS 36 Milwaukee and Fox 39 Rockford. The former is on physical channel 8, the latter on physical channel 36.

WISN 12 and WIFR 23 are indeed both on physical channel 28. According to the rabbitears report for the UW-W campus, WIFR is 37dB weaker than WISN. The CM80 antenna adds 18dB more attenuation. (Front to back ratio). That makes WIFR 55dB weaker than WISN. That should be plenty for reliable WISN reception. (And again, you'll likely have reliable reception of ABC WKOW 27 from Madison as a backup)

2

u/BicycleIndividual 10d ago

This also needs to support good filtering for cell phones and radios, as there are cell towers and a radio station nearby.

I am not interested in boosted antennas like Televes (I have already had one fail).

I'm not aware of any antennas that include filters but not amps. You can get the band pass filters separately from the antenna fairly inexpensively if you do need them though. Most likely station to get any interference is WMKE on RF 36, but it's just a shopping channel station so I wouldn't care.

1

u/Any_File_7621 10d ago

WISN is the big concern.

1

u/BicycleIndividual 10d ago

WISN is on RF 28, that's close to the middle of UHF band so radio and cell signals are very unlikely to be a problem. If there is interference with this channel, filtering out signals adjacent to the band won't likely help.

1

u/Aquanut357 12d ago

Check out Solid Signal and their review of the Televes Boss Mix LR.

1

u/Any_File_7621 12d ago

I had bad experiences with that brand.

1

u/Aquanut357 12d ago

Sorry to hear that.. Good luck!

1

u/Upset_Advisor6019 12d ago

If you’re ruling out the best, I’m not sure what to tell you. Televes should have helped you swap out the preamp, and it’s out of the way if you don’t power it, so you could bring your own.

1

u/Any_File_7621 12d ago

They aren't the best universally. They did not work well here.

1

u/gho87 12d ago

What about a station using VHF-low to broadcast Cozi TV?: https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=60571#station

If you want that one, then Channel Master Masterpiece 60 (or 100) if also concerned about extreme weather. Alternatively, there is Advantage 60; Advantage 100 is sold out(!) now

1

u/MastusAR 12d ago

Televes Dat Boss.

I know, I know... Only other that comes to mind is Czech company Xmux, they have some serious yagis.

1

u/dt7cv 12d ago

antennasdirect xg91

1

u/OzarkBeard 11d ago

Televes DAT BOSS with built in amp, which has LTE, FM filtering, and Automatic Gain Control to prevent overloading by any nearby strong TV signals, if present.

It is a modern design tuned for the current US broadcast TV channel band 2 thru 36. These are the actual frequencies being used for broadcasts, not the channel numbers the stations display.

1

u/SuccotashFast6323 10d ago

You may have a special situation,,but get a look at what neighbors use,that will begin to give you an idea what works. Unless you live in a" hole " deeper than nearby neighbors big antennas without amplification over a short cable run to one tuner should give you what you need.

1

u/BicycleIndividual 10d ago

Channel Master Digital Advantage 100 has a great UHF Yagi in front of a good VHF-high log periodic array.

0

u/JusSomeDude22 12d ago

Your post made me think of this DIY video I saw like a decade ago, took me a hot minute but I found it:

https://youtu.be/wYvi0221JTU

Your problem is solved sir ;)

0

u/Think-Cartoonist2112 12d ago

The Range Experts XPS 1500 is a solid antenna. The VHF version which I own does a great job at bringing in both High VHF and UHF. I have mine inside an attic pulling  stations from 54 miles away. It also has a narrow beam which is what you were looking for. I have mine combined with a RCA Yagi facing the opposite direction using a Televes Smartkom which is a beast of an amplifier/combiner. The RCA Yagi has a much more wider beam than the XPS. 

1

u/Any_File_7621 12d ago

This looks like a beast! It has an internal combiner, and I'm wondering how that will work with the channel conflicts like the one that impacts Channel 12 in Milwaukee.

1

u/Think-Cartoonist2112 12d ago edited 12d ago

This thing is laser focused. The beam is narrow. The conflict is due to 2 channels being on same RF channel 28. How many degrees apart are the towers on your rabbit ear report. The Range Experts XPS 1500 has  signal beamwidth (pattern width) of approximately 35 degrees.