Winegard - 769 Series Antennas Digital/High Definition Review

At last!  Our digital TV saga has come to a successful conclusion!

We owe it all to the replacement of our older antenna with the Winegard Digital/High Definition VHF/UHF Model HD7697P* Antenna.  After battling the great tall, 11-lb box into the house, my husband, Tuneful Pal, set to work with what he knows best.

Pal moved the monster out of our diningroom, set up shop on a table outdoors, unfolded and adjusted the antenna, installed the boom brace, attached the cartridge housing then the coaxial cable, and mounted it on the first section of the multiple poles that would go from ground past rooftop.  When the time came to raise the antenna, two men were needed.  Thank heaven for neighbors!

The Winegard is a big sucker, but it was our last hope in gaining multiple channels for watching TV in our foothill valley.  Our purchase of a new digital, Vizio TV (see review below) gained us several channels more than we'd had with the converter box, fossil analog TV, and old antenna.  But we counted on the Winegard to recover our beloved PBS stations and a reliable CBS affiliate on which we could watch our detective adventure shows.  (Yay for NCIS, The Mentalist, and our trio of forensics programs!)

With the Winegard HD7696P, we now have are more than 60 channels in at least nine different languages -- the world of Los Angeles at our fingertips.  Indeed, the Winegard "has been specifically tuned for channels 7-69".  The Estimated Range is 50 miles VHF and 40 miles UHF.  The Boom Length is 110.75 inches with a Maximum Width of 36 inches, an Element Diameter of 3/8 inches, and a Turning Radius of 70.6 inches.

The Winegard instructions look scary to this know-nothing.  Reading them closely is vital.  Hiring a professional installer may save a lot of grief.

Pal did the research, and I made our Winegard purchase online.  The best price I found in this competitive market was $112 with free shipping.  It was worth every penny.  With so much program availability, we're definitely in the groove for winter watching!

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* A similar antenna model is shown in the picture above.  Art for the HD7696P wasn't available as of this writing.