Long Range TV Antennas

Imagine you've just bought the latest top-notch TV home theatre set up with super sound quality you set it all up and find that your picture and sound is worse than your sisters who lives in New York city and has a crappy old 12 inch portable TV. How would you feel?
For some folk that isn't imagination it's a real problem but one that can easily be fixed usually with a long range TV antenna.
Television wavelengths are broadcast at longer wavelengths than radio, which means that its signals cannot be received from very far away. Meaning that if you live more than 50 miles from where a television station is broadcast, you will need special long-range antennas to get the best out of your equipment.

In general the rule is as follows

· If you are 0-15 miles from your television broadcasting station you will be able to get good reception with an indoor antenna aerial.
· If you are 0-25 miles from your television broadcasting station you will be able to get good reception with a short-range antenna aerial.
· If you are 10-55 miles from your television broadcasting station you will be able to get good reception with a medium range antenna aerial.
· If you are 50-70+ miles from your television broadcasting station you will be able to get good reception with a long-range antenna aerial.
I understand that long range TV antennas beyond about a 75 mile range are not made because of the curvature of the earth.

A friend had the problem of being to far away from a TV broadcasting station and when looking for a solution he came across this.

T.V. reception from transmitting stations located beyond the range commonly covered by T.V. receivers using conventional antennas is achieved by means of a highly directional bi-conical antenna structure that accommodates both VHF and UHF signals. Two truncated conductive cone antenna elements are mechanically connected at their apexes to the ends of an r.f. coil to provide the bi-conical antenna structure. The structure is horizontally positioned and rotatable for alignment with a desired station for optimum reception. A monopole antenna element is center tapped to the r.f. coil and the television UHF antenna lead is connected to the r.f. coil. The VHF antenna lead is connected to the bi-conical antenna structure.

He didn't understand it and neither do I. He just wanted a solution to his problem. You could solve your reception problem here.