Winegard HD8200U Platinum VHF/UHF HDTV Antenna (65 Miles+, Digital, 4K Ultra High-Def Ready)

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.

I got this Antenna shortly after I got my house! So it's been just over 2 years now!!! Sept 5th 2012. I had enough of a $170 a month Comcast bill. At the time it was just Me. When I got my house, I wasn't going to pay for TV ever again. Right now I pay AT&T U-Verse $30 a month for Internet only. It's not as fast as Comcast by far, but it's more then fast enough to stream some HD content.I rewired my House with all new cable for the Antenna. It's also grounded both he Antenna and the COAX cable. Both connected to a very long Copper Rod I installed into the ground!!! I also have it wired in such a way to go out directly to each of my 3 HDTV's for a direct connection as backup. But it also goes to my 2 Duel HD tuners in my small closet. This allows my Windows 7 PC and Media Center to record up to 4 HD programs at once while watching other already recorded content. Yep, when I was running all the COAX under my house, I ran a bunch of Cat6 Ethernet cable all over also!!! So my house is wired all up. Took a few days crawling around under my house!!! I have Xbox 360's connected to each HDTV. They boot right up into Media Center extender mode and all are controlled by harmony 900 remotes!!! Works fantastic and I have full DVR controls. It's better then TIVO! No monthly charges, and I can watch in the Family room, quit and finish watching the rest of the program in the bedroom.I pick up my signals around 50 miles away I guess. I needed no Booster, though I did wire up for one if I needed to add one. I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, PBS and others all in HD and 5.1 surround sound!!! It doesn't cost me anything per month for it all, other then the power to run my PC of course. Now there's a few other Boxes out for Cable cutters that look pretty cool to use. I'm already setup, so I don't need to go that way for now. I got a 10 foot mast from Radio shack to mount the Antenna to and some brackets to mount it to the side of my house. Because of the overhang of the roof over the side, I made a hole which it goes right though. It actually adds some extra support to the side house mounts. Once I adjusted for the BEST signal and locked the antenna in place, I put sealer around the pole on the top and bottom where the pole goes though.If you didn't know, this is a Directional type of antenna. You point it to get the strongest signal. Like I said I'm around 50 miles away. If your a whole lot closer, this isn't the type of antenna to get. You wouldn't want a directional antenna. You'd want a antenna to pick up signals around you!!!Growing up as a Kid we didn't have cable. We had a Antenna. One that was attached to a Box so we could remote turn it!!! It was Analog, lots of static at times. Not many channels. While it seemed everyone else I knew had cable. back then it was basic type cable and HBO. That was it. I'd go next door once in a while to watch MTV, back when they actually played Music Video TV!!! Now it's Digital, the picture is BETTER then on Comcast and much better then Satellite. Plus you get 5.1 Surround sound. All for FREE. 100% Legally FREE!!! I'm now saving $135 a month. Think about how much money you're spending on cable. Basic math if your rates didn't change at all which they seem to a couple times a year!!! For example ME, Cable TV service and a Duel tuner DVR box and Mid speed Internet service with my own modem!!! $170 a month. That's with no premium channels. That's $2040 a year. In just 10 years, that's $20,400 If prices didn't go up in those 10 years!!! I'm paying $30 now for Internet only. That's $360 Per year, and in 10 years that would be $3,600. I'm saving $1680 a year right now!!! That's money staying in my pocket and not going to Comcast!!! That's $16,800 in 10 years time not going to Comcast!!! Think about what you pay for PAY TV and how much YOU would save without it. I see no antenna's around me anywhere and I laugh at all the suckers.If you're a Huge sports person and ESPN and Fox Sports and the others you just can't live without, OK. The few cable channel shows you will no longer get, you can generally buy a season pass to watch. Like for my I love "The Walking Dead" on AMC. Well I can get a season pass right here from Amazon. I just get the SD version which looks just fine, The new show airs Sunday night and I get to watch it on Monday Night and Commercial free!!! With all the money I save, buying a few season passes is a drop in the bucket!!! With the Internet these days, a Antenna and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others you'll have more content to watch then you could possibly see!!!Stop paying for 100 channels and nothing to watch!!!

After connecting, my "smart" tv took over and added all the wi-fi from my computer. With local stations now have over 500 channels. Local channels alone amount to around 50 channels. I am 65 miles from St. Louis in thee Ozark Mtn.'s. Picture quality is as good if not better than cable. Can't really believe it, but I got to, I'm lookin' right at it.

This antenna arrived on time in our rural Canadian home. It was shipped by UPS and unfortunately UPS always delivers the package to our neighbors. This is a UPS issue though, not an amazon issue.The shape of the box was sub-par at best. The bottom edge of the box was open, enough that if someone had of pulled on it, all the boxes contents would have fallen out.Opening the box wasn't to hard (although that isn't necessarily a good thing). It had basically one layer of tape on it that it came off so easily. Luckily the main contents of the antenna were intact.It comes in a few pieces that you need to bolt together, but all of the antenna elements fold out. None of them were damaged in shipping, but a couple of the bolts used to put it together were missing. Luckily we had some in our shop, but people who do not might need to take a trip to the hardware store to pick them up.The plastic piece that clips on the antenna and has the coaxial hookup had it's metal contact points slightly bent from shipping as well. Luckily it wasn't broke and we gently bent them back in place. Then entire antenna overall went together nicely, although you do have to fold the elements over top of each other which is a bit cumbersome given it's size. Typical of an antenna with VHF elements though.The overall weight of the antenna is very light. The length is around 14 ft long and about 9ft wide, so it looks huge on the roof of our small house (it's only around 25ft long). It's only around 15lbs though so carrying it is quite easy. We mounted it on a tripod on the roof. Getting it up there was a little cumbersome since we wanted to unfold it on the group rather than the roof considering we don't have that large of a roof and it's quite steep. You mainly have to pay attention to the wideness and length of the antenna since it's so large.Despite the poor shipping from amazon, the performance of the antenna is amazing so it makes up for the poor shipment, definitely 5 star antenna. There are not many channels for us to get where we live, but the ones we do get come in crystal clear, and we do not even have a preamp yet. The analog signals are nice, and the DTV signals are amazing. Definitely would recommend this antenna to anyone looking for a good antenna that works great out in the fringe. Can't wait to get our hands on our CM7777 preamp as well to see what else we can get :)EDIT: Just wanted to add that this Antenna ROCKS! Throughout the summer we've been getting various US channels here in South-western Nova Scotia... from Boston, MA! That's nearly 500KM away... 300 miles. Coming in quite strongly often throughout the summer, scanning in up to 40 channels. Strongest ones being WGBH, WBZ, WCVB, WMFP and Ion channel. This antenna deserves more than 5 stars!

I've been testing a number of antennas - I live about 40 km away from antenna's here locally however there are two hills in between the towers and my location. I used the Channel Master Digital Advantage 90 mile (very well built antenna) - it worked fairly well, the UHF was great, but the VHF channel was lacking. So I upgraded to this antenna to try at about double the price. The VHF is definately better, however at night when the Ionosphere increases in height the radio waves give a signal of about 75 %, mid day its at 42% and unwatchable on VHF channel 8. This antenna is supposed to be strongest at VHF signal 8 with Gain, so essentially it does work, I just want people to know my experience. If you have mostly UHF channels get a cheaper channel masters. If you need all you can get, well this antenna is massive so don't take that lightly. You need at least a 1.5" -2" mast in order to mount this. 2" preferred schedule 40 pipe.

works well but again not as good as my 20yr old winegard which pulled in more stations without re-pointing in have to use the rotator much more frequently

Great Seller. Fast Shipping. Would use again! Thank you.

On a clear day from 70' tower pulls in stations over 130 miles away!