Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've done quite a number of commercial and residential antenna installations over the years. These have ranged from indoor amplified antennas to 12' C-Band satellite dishes. Among the over-the-air (free TV) antennas available in the United States, the Winegard HD8200U stands out as one of the best in the industry. Here is a short rundown of pros and cons you will want to take into consideration prior to purchase: THE GOOD: - Excellent design provides high-gain coverage of all possible frequencies that both digital VHF/UHF TV stations may be on as well as the FM Radio band and the few analog translators and LPTV transmitters still being used by TV broadcasters. - Construction is simple and straight forward. Very little documentation is included, but not much is needed to get this system up-and-running. - Uses standard RG-6 cable, masts and other hardware that can be easily found at any local hardware store. - The gain characteristics of this antenna are impressive. I was able to finally view HD signals in broadcast quality that I only had marginal reception with using a different high-gain outdoor antenna. THE BAD: - Documentation is minimal. There are no part numbers included, so reporting missing parts isn't as straightforward as it could be. THE UGLY: - Winegard's quality control and customer support leaves a lot to be desired. As with many others who have ordered Winegard products, my antenna arrived with parts missing. After waiting more than a week for them to answer my trouble ticket regarding the issue, I finally ended-up calling them, describing the part that was missing and had them send me a free replacement. It took about 3 days for the replacement to arrive, but that was after I had already waited a week when first submitting my trouble ticket (they never did respond to that one). Just do a search for Winegard using any search engine. You'll quickly find that my customer experience is not an unusual one. I did get the part, but it was a lot of trouble to go through and shouldn't have been necessary. What I like most about this antenna is the massive amount of gain you will achieve on not only the UHF band, but on the VHF-HI and VHF-LO bands as well. Even after the mandatory switch to HDTV for all U.S. broadcasters, many stations retained their frequency assignments below the UHF band. If you live in an area served by one of these broadcasters, you will get NO signal using a UHF-only antenna. Some analog translators also utilize the VHF band as well, so this antenna covers all the bases, regardless of what type of TV signal you are trying to pull in. The particular location I installed this antenna is less than 20 miles from the majority of broadcast stations in my area. However, the location also happens to be BELOW sea level, surrounded by trees and has NO direct line-of-sight reception at all. This makes for a tricky situation that most antennas simply aren't able to compensate for. I spent about $200 on a different brand antenna that was nearly the size of the Winegard, but with a pre-amp and antenna rotor for better accuracy in aiming the antenna. The results were disappointing, and I never received a reliable signal on any channel. Installing the Winegard HD8200U only about 15' away from the other antenna produced results that were like the difference between night and day. Although I did utilize a mast mounted pre-amp with the Winegard as well, I did not install an antenna rotor. In fact, I really didn't put any effort into aiming the antenna at all, other than choosing a general direction. Without any type of tweaking, ALL channels in the area now arrive in broadcast quality, without the need for fine tuning antenna direction with a rotor or making adjustments of any kind. This is despite the fact that some of the transmitter towers of local TV stations are located miles away from each other. The antenna's reception pattern seems to offer just the perfect balance of high-gain with just a wide enough antenna pattern to make adjustments for individual TV stations unnecessary. Obviously, your situation may be different, especially if you are trying to receive signals in opposite directions. If that's the case, opt for an antenna rotor or install a second, fixed antenna. As long as the antenna is installed properly and with high quality coaxial cable (RG-6), F-connectors, sealant for the antenna cartridge housing and connectors, this antenna should provide you with years of reliable service. If you are unsure about any part of your installation (i.e. where/how to mount, wind loading, whether a certain mast will support the antenna's large frame, where local transmitters are located, etc.) you should consult an experienced, local antenna installer. They can often give you information off the top of their heads that can save you hours of needless experimentation. If you don't know what you are doing, even the best antenna in the world is not going to help. After doing your homework though, I'm sure you'll find that the Winegard HD8200U is a great antenna that will serve you well under some of the most difficult conditions. If you can already get a decent signal with rabbit ears, this antenna is definitely overkill though, and you should look into a smaller outdoor antenna with less gain. As a side-note, the quality of picture I receive is definitely superior to HD signals on either the local cable system or even from DirecTV. I happen to live in one of the smallest TV markets in the entire United States, but I am still able to receive an absolutely perfect picture on nearly 20 different local TV channels. I am able to receive ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS (3 channels), FOX, ThisTV, Univision, The CW and a number of independent channels for absolutely free. There are two low-power analog stations in the area that provide a steady, if not broadcast quality signal, but this is likely due to failing to tweak the antenna for best direction and the extremely low-power these broadcasters are using. With a minimal amount of effort, those signal would likely be equal to cable or satellite quality for standard definition signals as well. Also, during a recent storm with hail and 50mph gusts of wind, reception was completely unaffected. Having a good mast and mounting system in place is absolutely essential for this type of reliability, but is not at all difficult to achieve with a little pre-planning and quality hardware.