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Winegard HD8200U Platinum HD VHF/UHF Antenna Reviews
Price:
$117.30
$189.95
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Availability: Usually shipped in 24 hours if sold by Amazon.com***GREAT Reception! by Robert Kulp @ Oct 11, 2009
For years we had an RCA VHF/UHF antenna mounted to our chimney, but it came down Easter weekend of 2009 from a tornado. Since several of the Nashville stations had already began broadcasting digitally, we were really enjoying digital TV. For a replacement I decided to try a DB8 from Antennas Direct, but it failed to live up to its reviews (don't get me started). It was only UHF and upper VHF and none of the stations were all that strong.
Well... it's a new day and a new antenna. Got the HD8200U from Amazon and it really sucks! That's a good thing! It sucks in every broadcast station in middle Tennessee. It's pulling in over 10 different stations, most of which are broadcasting with subchannels. I now have 23 different channels/sub-channels to choose.
Part of what makes this antenna work so well is its size. This is a BIG antenna. It's 14' long and over 9' at the widest. But, it was amazingly easy to assemble and install. It is very light weight and well balanced. I installed it myself - took about hour to assemble it and then another hour or so to get it installed. Do not even think about installing it with anything stronger than a breeze. It accepts a 2" pole, but I just used a 1-1/4" top pole from a chain-link fence. Worked great. Oh, this is without any amplifier and it's split to three TVs. Most stations are pegged around 98% signal strength with a couple around 85%
Now that I've gushed over how great it is, let me say a few things that really ticked me off. They're minor, but very annoying. 1) Ordered the antenna and one of the vanes was installed backwards at the factory. It was riveted on so I couldn't correct it. Because of this, it wouldn't lock in to place. Returned it to Amazon and had them ship another. 2) Second antenna was OK, but there were some nuts and bolts missing. Had to make a trip to Home Depot to get what was missing.
At any rate, I'm very pleased with the reception and how easily the installation went. Except for the two problems, it's about as perfect as can be. While this isn't a cheap antenna, it's a whole lot cheaper than paying for cable or satalite each month!