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Front-to-back ratio for UHF antenna
On Jul 2, 10:49 am, szilagyic wrote:
Hello: I have been trying to find the answer to my question on the front- to- back ratio on UHF antennas, and so far have been unsuccessful. I think I understand what the front-to-back ratio is, but the specs on my Winegard PR-8800 (8 bay bowtie) show negative front-to-back ratios (-9 dB @ ch 14; -17 dB @ ch 32; -11 dB @ ch 50; -9 dB @ ch 69). The "dB over reference dipole" is: 10.7 dB @ ch 14; 12 dB @ ch 32; 11 dB @ ch 50; 12.5 dB @ ch 69. How can the front-to-back ratio be negative, and is this good or bad? I am assuming this could be bad in my case as I would like the signal at the back of the antenna to be minimal. I am currently trying to improve our HDTV reception. I currently have the PR-8800 antenna in our attic hooked to a Radio Shack 30 dB mast amp. This antenna works very well overall. But from time to time, on a couple channels the HD signal strength will drop all the way down, enough to drop the signal or cause break-up. I've been considering a Winegard HD9095P or PR9032 to use in conjunction with the PR-8800 since they have a higher gain than the PR-8800, then rotate the PR-8800 the other way to receive some different stations. I really appreciate the help and feedback on this!! Thanks, -- Chris 30 dB is quite a bit of gain on top of a decent gain antenna. If you're _far_ from the stations OR they're still running reduced power it can be justified but as a point of reference, I use a Winegard squareshooter (4-5 dB gain), no amplifier split 4 ways with 100' of RG-6 35 miles from the LA transmitters. SIgnal strength reported as 80% on the HDTV Wonders. I wonder if perhaps you're almost overloading either the preamp or the front-end of the TV. As Bert mentioned, the negative front-to-back number just referencing the front gain of the antenna. Again, I wouldn't use so 'much' preamp unless I was 50+ miles from the nearest station. GG |
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