Customer Reviews

Winegard HD-1080 HDTV High Band VHF Antenna

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Nice quality antenna, but it was significantly smaller than my old antenna and did not pick up the Boston channel digital signals as strongly on its own (1 bar out of 6, compared to 2-3 bars for my old antenna)but once I added the pre-amp BOOM! The digital signal exploded into an unbeliveable 6 out of 6 bars! No more dropped pictures and fantastic picture quality, visually in my opinon better than what the cable provider was giving me and I am saving $50.00 per month - SUPER NICE!

Boston to Shirley 40 miles, highly wooded, antenna sits on top of a second floor chimney, cable run from chimney to pre-amp 3', cable run from pre-amp to Samsung digital converter box approximately 40'.

The first thing you need to know before purchasing an HDTV antenna is whether or not you will need a VHF/UHF antenna or just UHF. Winegard states "VHF-Hi band is needed in 98% of 2009 DTV markets".

The [...] puts most of my local transmitters between 37.8 and 41.8 miles. The 1080-HD's stated range is up to 40 miles for channels 7-69...the only channels available once the digital switchover has been completed. In San Jose, all channels except 11 are broadcasting HD on UHF, but digital channel 7 is scheduled switch from UHF 24 back to VHF 7 once analog brodacasting ceases after June 12, 2009.

The HD-1080 is rated at -11 db gain for channel 7. Channel 12 is rated about 0 db gain and I am receiving a strong signal from 37.8 miles. If channel 7 starts giving me dropouts in June, I may have to upgrade to the Winegard HD7694P HDTV High Band VHF/UHF Antenna which supplies higher gain in the VHF-HI range with its 65" boom and Yagi design. Note that you'll save about 20" in boom length for the same gain by purchasing a VHF-HI/UHF antenna designed for HDTV without the channel 2-6 elements such as the Winegard HD769 series.

The dimensions of the assembled 2-bay HD-1080 are 34.5"W x 18.25H" (the dimensions on the Amazon page are of the shipping box). The instruction sheet was a single page but the instructions for connecting the front and back sections of the antenna were a bit confusing. Careful examination of the illustrations clarified the spacer strap installation. Newer models use a different style of spacer between the sections and indicate only a single mast clamp.

I bought a J-mount Mast hoping for a nice, compact mount. The problem that I ran into was the fascia I was mounting to wasn't perpendicular to the ground and I couldn't plumb the installation without using some washers as spacers to bring the bottom of the bracket out, but I did avoid having to penetrate the flat roof with any mounting hardware.

Overall, I am very pleased with the antenna. I went from 10 stations with an indoor antenna to 43 stations of clear digital. I will re-evaluate the antenna in late summer after all of the TV stations have settled into their final broadcast slots and finalized their power.

This antenna has VERY poor high VHF performance. I am about eight miles from the main local towers, have the 1080HD located 45 feet above ground level with no obstructions, I use tvfool generated aiming results and it refuses to work for two of the three networks whcih are on high VHF.

This is a good compact UHF antenna but should not be predominantly advertised as "high VHF" as it is here.

I have discussed it over at avsforums and everyone with this antenna gets very poor high VHF results.

here is my advice on outdoor antennas.

1) go to tvfool and generate a report. by putting in your address you will get the compass direction distance and frequency of all your possible surrounding stations. KEEP in mind many stations have moved back to from UHF to high VHF where power output is limited to 10% of UHF limits and if there are high VHF you need, do NOT just trust the manufacturer statements on high VHF.

2) go to avsforums and where there is a very good OTA (over the air) antenna thread. provide your TVfool results. people there will help you.

3) Sadly do not buy from amazon where you CANNOT return. Instead buy from any number of sources that will take exchanges. Yes you pay about 20% more but there is nothing for you to do with an extra antenna that isn't optimal.

I found a CM2016 did much much better as did a winegard 7694p than this 1080.

In my case winegard 1080HD with no preamp got 22 channels with NO high band VHF meaning no CBS or ABC in my case. a preamp added two stations and still did no better on high VHF. The CM2016 (channel master) and Winegard 7694p both got me 61 channels and had no problem pulling in all the high VHF, both with no preamp.

This antenna should NOT be so prominently advertised as high VHF, it does terrible with high VHF. Again go to TVfool website and put in your address, and then go to avsforums and ask!

I'm sure the antenna is pretty good, but there are a lot of parts and nothing that explains how they interconnect. There was a lousy, one-page instruction flier, but it didn't define any of the terms that it used.

I tried using an indoor antenna to receive my local stations OTA in HD. Nothing worked. I called Winegard and they recommended the Winegard HD-1080 antenna. The antenna works great. It pulls in both UHF and VHF signals. The signal strength meter reads in the high 80's to 100 on my Dish-network receiver. It was easy to put together and setup. The only issues I have was the antenna and the hardware was just tossed into the box. Everything was rattling around. The instruction sheet did not have a parts list but everything was all there and it's working great.

If you go to the company's site, the gain for high-band VHF is actually negative compared to a simple dipole antenna. It would be fine with strong signals. If you want maximum signal strength for range and artifact-free HD then you need something else.

Digital TV broadcasts in BOTH UHF and high-band VHF (channels 7-13). I find the best system for me is to use a dedicated very high gain UHF antenna and a very high gain high-band VHF antenna. I also use a mast-mounted amplifier (Radio Shack but was/is available through Amazon). Also use a Radio Shack coupler to feed the 300 ohm leads from both antennas into the 75 ohm amplifier input connection.

Both antennas were from Solidsignal (they advertize on Amazon). VHF:
Winegard YA 1713 Prostar 1000 10 El. Hi-Band VHF Antenna (YA-1713)
UHF:
Antennacraft MXU59 Extreme Deep Fringe UHF Antenna (MXU59).

This is the cheapest tv antenna I could find. Interestingly, many simpler, lesser antennas are more expensive.
As many have commented, the instructions aren't great, but if you can look carefully at the illustrations, be patient and can use a screw driver, it's not bad. If assembling items usually ends in frustration or if you want detailed instructions, this may not be for you. I haven't tried it out in it's intended settting (Los Angeles area), but I hooked it up to my TV in a rural setting and got amazing reception with it sitting on the floor propped up against a piece of furntiture. I think this would serve most people's needs as long as they aren't trying to pull in some weak or remote station.

Followup 12/13 Installed it in it's intended home near Los Angeles. Had line of sight to the TV towers and total stations received was about 135. Was on a 5 foot pole. I suspect it would have done equally well placed in the attic.

Living in the northern suburbs of Detroit, approx. 40 miles away from the transmitter farms, I was skeptical that the antenna wouldn't be able to pull in the local channels in digital. Boy was I surprised that not only was I able to pull them in (minus the ION Channel 31 group, which I am not pointing to directly) but was also able to get Channel 28 from Flint, and regularly pull in Cleveland Channels 8 and 61, which is 125 miles away. And I installed this unit in my attic. Only complaint is those darn instructions...took me an hour to figure out. Remember, YMMV...

I am 50 miles from the tower which is out of this antennas documented range and really anticipated having to get the recommended preamp for this distance. I recieve all the stations in at least the mid 70% range for VHF and 80-90 range for UHF with only one channel that has pixelation problems when cars go by. I will probably get the accompanying preamp later as I found I am recieving channels from other areas with this antenna. Who needs cable? This exceeded my expectations. Definately recomended.

I have used several very large expensive directional antennas over the years made by Channel Master, Winegard, and Radio Shack. I decided to make a change during the digital transition. I wanted something to replace it that was not as big. I tried a Philips MANT940 on my rotor (approx. 50 foot coax run) and could not pull in all local stations without intermittant digital drop out(freeze). We are approximately 15 miles from the brodcast tower, that most of our local stations use. We have large trees between the antenna and the tower. I think the Philips would have worked without the trees, but can not say for sure. The Philips seems to work better close to the TV inside the house. It may need a drop amp in my situation, but I did not want to waste time and more money on it trying one. I use it now on a bedroom tv that I have not fed coax to yet. Now about the Winegard HD-1080. I have never been so happy with any antenna I have used, but this one puts a smile on my face. I tried it on my back porch tv sitting on the floor and it worked great. I could not wait to get it on the rotor up in the air to see if it worked as good, and it did. No drop amp needed. Thanks to Amazon, I paid less than $50.00 with free shipping. If you have similar distance to tower and trees give it a try. I think you will like it! The instruction sheet could be better, but do not let this stop you from trying this antenna.