Winegard antenna amplifier

[DavGoodlin]

Paul,
Your antenna is a model CS-8098, third largest in the chrome-star line and introduced in the mid 70's. The bigger CS-8100 and the smaller CS-8096 were discontinued and only the biggest model has been carried over as the HD-8200. Only the Channel Master 3671 comes close to size and performance.

I installed many a CS-8096 which had a smaller VHF section, since most of the locations had decent VHF but poor UHF from Philly. The Winegard cartridge amps were sensitive to lightning (nearby tree hits, not the antenna), so we used Channel Master 0064 single-input mast-mount preamps twin-lead from the cartridge-mounted UV combiner supplied with the antenna.

Squirrel is correct that (assuming the connections to VHF and UHF bus-rods are sound) your amp may be to blame but these amps were discontinued in favor of using the U-V combiner and a short piece of 75 ohm coax or 300 ohm twinlead to a mast amplifier.

The construction is very solid and unless installed on a chimney with coal exhaust, last for decades.