Outdoor antenna for UHF wireless systems

Shure antennas, such as the UA860, UA864, and UA874 are not rated to be installed outdoors.

Winegard and other makes outdoor antennas suitable for the 470-698 MHz range. Take a look at the Winegard Elite 7550.

1. Use two antennas for diversity reception. Position the two antennas with a minimum spacing of 2 feet (60 cm). Greater spacing is OK.
2. Use the supplied power inserter. The power inserter can be placed inside the press box or building, near the receiver. The bias voltage on Shure receivers is not correct for this antenna, so the supplied power inserter must be used. The supplied power inserter will block the voltage that is already coming from the Shure receiver. Thus, there is no need to worry about the bias voltage on the Shure receiver.
3. Use 75 ohm RG-6 cable with F-connectors between the antenna and the power inserter. This will be the long length of cable.
4. Use a short length of RG-6 cable with an F-connector at the power inserter end and BNC at the receiver end, or use an F to BNC adaptor.
5. In some installations, the amplifier on these antennas may be too much. Overload conditions might be seen on the receiver or a scan in Workbench might show elevated RF levels. For example, the Elite 7550 amplifier has about 20 dB of gain. The solutions are:
   1. Use cable that has more loss. How to calculate RF signal loss in coaxial antenna cable.
   2. OR use an RF attenuator. An attenuator of about 10dB would likely work well.
   3. OR use a UHF antenna that is passive and does not have a built in amplifier. Many passive television antennas are available. If using a passive TV antenna, it will likely be necessary to use a DC blocking device inline.

Larger UHF-only antennas are also available from antenna manufacturers.

NOTE: On other TV antennas (typically the non-amplified antennas), be certain to employ DC blocking devices if the antennas will be connected to a Shure device that provides 12 Vdc bias on the antenna inputs.