# At Least 300 mile range hdtv antena



## yodamang (Apr 2, 2016)

Hi,

Now to the point. I am looking for a 300 mile range hdtv antenna, but all I find doing google searches are ones that say they have that range and then when you drill down on the information about them they state that they have a "well range of 70- 120 miles and higher". To me that is BS. Either it does or it doesn't. Can anyone lead me in the right direction? Oh yeah, and I don't want any dealers trying to sell me a subscription to anything!

Thanks,

Yoda


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

That's not how reception works. There's no such thing as a one size fits all antenna that's guaranteed to get reception at a certain distance for everyone.

There are tons of other factors at play like terrain between you and the station's towers, your elevation, power of the stations you want to receiver, co-channel and adjacent channel interference, sources of boost, etc. (i.e. if you're near the great lakes you can easily pick up stations from the other side of the lake on a regular basis, but the closer inland you get the quicker you lose those distant signals)

Even with the best antenna though, 300 mile range on a regular basis is not possible, by that point line of site starts affecting things. The only time you can get that distance is when there's environmental conditions giving massive boost, but even then that only lasts for a few hours at most. (i.e. one time in the early-mid 90s, I picked up WEDU from Florida all the way in Long Island in the Evening, the morning after the blackout of 2003 I was picking up some channels from Virginia since the NYC stations were still off the air, during mid-August 2004 I picked up WHDH out of Boston in Northeast PA in the afternoon for a few minutes for about a week)

When those conditions were at play, it wasn't some high quality antenna that let me get them, I was picking up those stations with a pair of rabbit ears from the dollar store. And the time I picked up WEDU, it was a metal coat hanger (on Long Island, it's easy to pick up the stations from Connecticut over the air on a regular basis, that evening I was surprised when I turned on channel 3 and saw Lamb Chop's Play-A-Long, which was a PBS show, instead of CBS News via WFSB from Hartford, it lasted long enough to see the promos where they said WEDU)


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Television signals cannot travel that far on a daily, reliable basis. This is true for both analog and digital signals. There is no such thing. Anybody who advertises an antenna claiming that distance is a fraud.

OTOH on the shortwave bands that distance and farther are a regular occurrence. Unfortunately no commercial TV is transmitted on those frequencies.

That's why we have satellite TV. At 22,500 miles above Earth a wide area can receive the same channels.

If you want to see the local news from a city 300 miles away most major network affiliates stream their local newscasts. It's legal and free.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

It wouldn't matter even if you had one:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d5134fac7acc89a


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Building a 300' tower for your antenna isn't going to do much either


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## mwdxer (Oct 30, 2013)

300 miles with reliable OTA TV reception? That would be a rare indeed, especially with digital. Good luck. Maybe if you were on a mountain top and the stations were LOS, but 300 miles, I doubt it. Here in NW Oregon, I cannot not even get OTA TV 75 miles away. It takes translators out here.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

there is a formula that can give an approximate idea of LOS range given the height of transmission and receiving antennas. For 300 miles - you're looking at antenna heights of 3000 feet or more - and most commercial transmission antennas are not much over 1500- 2000 feet AGL.

If somebody tells you they have a 300 mile OTA antenna - you have my permission to laugh in their face.


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## nmetro (Jul 11, 2006)

The original poster is from Arkansas, which is not flat by any means (Ozarks). Their location, based on Google maps, puts them equidistant from St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. They are about 1000' above sea level and in the Ozarks.

Besides mountain being in the way, and curvature of the earth; frequency interference would play a huge role here.

By the way, from Smithtown, Long Island, in 1973, in the middle of summer, evening, I was watching Channel 2 thinking it was WCBS New York. But, when they identified the station, it was from Midland-Odessa, Texas. Channel 2 and Channel 3, were prone to signal skips, around New York, for some reason. A few years earlier, I was watching a very clear signal on channel 3, during the day, and it was not WFSB from Hartford, but a station from Omaha, Nebraska. Both these were on a portable TV with rabbit ears.

Before sun rise, in the summer, it was not unusual to pick up stations from Philadelphia, New Haven, Hartford and Providence. Before WNET signed on, Channel 13 from Baltimore. These were done with a roof antenna, in the late 1960s, designed to go about 60 miles (New York transmitter Empire State Building, at the time).

Even then, we eventually got cable to get clear signals from New York and Connecticut (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13; 12 was 30 from Hartford, 6 was Madison Square Garden, local Access, 10 was Connecticut Public TV, at first, then WLIW). That as cable TV then; get a good signal. ESPN was 6, 9 and 11. TCM was 5, 9 and 11. USA was 5, 9, 11. Nickelodeon was 5 and 11. Funny, in a way, there was more to watch on New York TV in the 1960s and 1970s, then the hundreds of channels we have today.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

How old are you, Yoda [TS] ?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Without atmospheric bending of the signals, you cannot receive UHF TV signals over approx. 60 miles from the transmitter, and that is assuming there are no obstructions between you and the transmitter. Harrison, Ar? You can forget it. You are surrounded by terrain much higher than you are. If you are extremely lucky and in a good location, you MIGHT get Fayetteville and Springfield. I am sitting on top of a 450' hill with a 60 foot tower, a 15db gain UHF yagi antenna, with a 25db preamp. It is totally flat to the east of me. Memphis TN is 140 miles. I cannot receive Memphis except with the help of tropospheric bending in the early AM, and late PM in spring and fall, and then it is only about 50% reception. Comes in for a minute, disappears for a minute. Not something you could actually watch.


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