Antennas for Naim tuners in the US

I thought this might help someone, somewhere, in trying to get the Naim tuner magic into their system. After a protracted period of experimentation with a Ron Smith G 17, which I had professionally mounted to my roof, I was not able to get sufficient levels into my NAT 01 to receive many of the stations I cared about in stereo. Since all of my preferred stations were in one direction, and based on my antenna man's advice against a rotator if I did not need to receive stations from different directions, I had a G 17 mounted about 15' up off of my roof. The antenna installation involved a far amount of physical tuning of the antenna to find the best orientation.

With no amplification, the signal was not strong enough for the Naim tuner to receive most of the NYC stations in stereo, as I am about 45 miles north of the city, and on the back side of a tall hill. Based on the recommendation of the antenna man, I started in on finding a suitable booster that would be high quality enough for the Naim tuner, and not overload it with hash. The brand that everyone I spoke with endorsed is "Blonder & Tongue, a professional company serving the Radio Station and installation industries. They are at "www.blondertongue.com"

What I found worked best, in my situation, was a distribution amp, model Masterline MVB-35. This model has gain adjustments, and individual adjustments for the two different frequency bands it covers. They make lower gain units that did not prove successful in my installation, and higher gain units as well that I did not try.

According to the always helpful folks at Naim USA, it probably would be best to live closer to the transmitters, and be free of needing any amplification, but then again, who said life was going to be perfect... Now that I am up and running in stereo, the NAT 01 is simply stunning. Vin Scelsa and my other favorite radio pilots are in control of my system on many nights, and it is a wonderful source of sweet, nuanced music that seeps through my speakers. Now if I could just figure out how to have more time in the day for listening...