Thread: Amplifer suggestion

When it is clear I can point my antenna to the east and get all channels. When its cloudy to get 38 I have to point it directly to its tower. Then if its very very cloudy its hard to get. The problem is to aim it toward the tower our roof is between the antenna and tower. I bought a 5 foot section I am going to add to the mast that should help. I dont use a rotor however I do turn my antenna when needed.

UHF - like a flashlight requires a clear field of view for proper reception.

Some building materials, even a piece of aluminum flashing 6 inches wide can make your roof opaque to those signals. Proper reception requires the proper amount of height. In some cases, the difference between 25 and 35 feet of elevation equals about 10 DB of gain.

To get good digital reception, you want to have your antenna pointed in the proper direction - which requires you to use a antenna rotor and it also requires you to mount your antenna 10 feet above the main roof of the house - in fringe reception areas.

So you already answered your own question.

Originally Posted by steve617

When it is clear I can point my antenna to the east and get all channels. When its cloudy to get 38 I have to point it directly to its tower. Then if its very very cloudy its hard to get. The problem is to aim it toward the tower our roof is between the antenna and tower. I bought a 5 foot section I am going to add to the mast that should help. I dont use a rotor however I do turn my antenna when needed.

Originally Posted by Tower Guy

The classic solutions for your situation are a rotor, or a second antenna (UHF only) and an A/B switch.

Coupling the antennas together to work as one with a splitter probably won't work. A Jointenna tuned to channel 38 (39's RF channel) can't be had. The Tinlee AC-7 will work fine. Expect to pay about $100.

Adding 5 feet may be just the ticket you need. Or it may make your reception worse. You will find that many people advocate going high. "the higher the better" you will hear quite frequently. Well I want you to also know that height can also be detremental to your signal, and you could try lowering your antenna and have an equal chance of gaining better reception.

Tower Guy, in my opinion is on the right track. Ignore JB Antennaman as he just likes to spout off knowledge that you already have, or is completely irrelevant to your situation. Let me explain how everything should fall into place.

First off, lets tackle your primary question and that is about a specific amplifier. In my opinion, yes, an amplifier is needed in your situation. However the amplifier you are asking about isn't what I would recommend as it has too high of a noise level for my liking. At the same time, you do need a signal boost, but you don't want too strong of a boost, and 24dB is more than you will need and could cause more reception problems up to and including overdriving your tuner and you getting no picture.

I would stick with a low noise, medium-high gain amplifier, such as
Amazon.com: Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00 Bi-Directional RF Amplifier:…@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HG8Q6hI6L.@@AMEPARAM@@41HG8Q6hI6L

which is an absolutely wonderful, high quality amplifier that you will install before your 2 way splitter. I have been using these in my antenna installs when a signal pre-amp is required, with great success. I also use one for my own system.

Now, on to your aiming issues. I don't care for the antenna you have unless you plan to use a rotor. When using a rotor or when only one direction is neccessary, then the antenna you have is a great choice (depending on location of course). The thing I personally don't like about using a rotor, is that you have to wait for the rotor to turn the antenna before you get any kind of a picture at all, now that everything is digital. When it used to be analog, the picture would sort of 'fade' in so it wasn't as bad. I also am not thrilled with the cost and additional equipment to make everything work. These are the primary reason I avoid rotors if possible. In fact, I have yet to install a rotor at any of my customers installations.

What I practice, and use at my house, is multiple antennas. I dislike joining 2 antennas with a splitter as it usually creates more issues than it solves. Depending on the desired channels, and the location of the transmitting towers, dictates the type and number of antennas needed if you don't use a rotor. There is a method that, again, many will say is not a good solution, but I can attest to the method working wonderfully, and many of my customers will agree as they have the same setup.

In your case, this is what I would do; I would keep your current antenna and aim it at 87degrees true azimuth for reception of your VHF stations and FM reception. Get a second UHF only antenna like the
Antennacraft U-4000 UHF/HD 4 Bay Bowtie TV Antenna (U4000) - Antennacraft - U4000 - 716079002110 -

and mount it under the combo antenna (about 3', no less than 2') pointed at 216 degrees. I really like this antenna. First it is very inexpensive and it comes with a 3' mast extension. Second, it is a very high quality unit with excellent construction. And it works very well. I haven't had any complaints.

To join the 2 antennas, use a balun (matching transformer) on the U4000 and RG6 jumper to the combo antenna. The combo antenna will have 2 baluns attached. Run the jumper from the U4000 to one balun, then attach the cable going in the house to the second balun. Using RG6 from the second balun to inside the home, once inside, find a place to mount the pre-amp before the 2 way splitter. I generally mount them to the back of the cabinet/stand/equipment rack at the main TV location. Connect to the input of the pre-amp and run the output to the input of the 2 way splitter. One output of the splitter to the main TV, and the other output to the secondary location.

Now this way may or may not be appropriate for your situation and if it isn't just install everything in the order listed and that is all that matters. Utilizing this setup will allow you to 'channel surf' without the need for waiting for the rotor to turn the antenna, and alot less complicated than rigging the rotor to work from 2 different locations in the home as well as enable different channels to be viewed on each set while not affecting the opposite set.

Wow! I just realized how long this is! Sorry but I wanted to be thorough. Look around for the best price on the pre-amp. Also, the difference between a pre-amp and a regular amp, is a pre-amp has a seperate power supply and an amp has a built in power supply. Pre-amps have the lower noise level of either type. If I were you, the first thing I would do is get the pre-amp. Then I would just connect it without doing anything else and see how that works out. If it does what you need, don't sweat doing anything else. If you still have problems, then try positioning the antenna higher or lower and see how that works. If everything else fails, I would do what I suggested above. Always try the cheapest way first. I am a firm believer in the KISS principle as it usually is the best. Good luck, sorry for the length, and come back if you don't understand or need to clarify something.

The best is to only use a amplifier as close to the antenna as possible
with the highest gain in the area that you are interested in receiving
(UHF) with the lowest possible noise and both at a reasonable cost.

The KEY is that you want a relative "good" level of input at your receiver
(TV) with the minimum noise.
A mast mounted amplifier (doesn't matter if it is called a amplifier or
preamplifier) is the best when you are in a remote area.
In theory it is best if you amplify a "good" signal to a higher level than
a "poor noisy" signal to a higher level. When you start out with crap and
amplify it you just end up with more crap.
All cable has loss and the higher up that you go in frequency (VHF to UHF)
the more loss that the cable has.
If you start with a low level signal at the antenna and then butt it into
coax cable you are going to have less come out at the end than went into it
from the antenna. The amount of loss depends upon a number of factors,
cable type and cable length are the two most important. Cable is rated in
db loss per 100' at X MHz (frequency). RG-6 cable is the cable most used
in TV use. Like all things there is good RG6 and not so good. Belden
1829AC Coax - Series 6 has a loss of 4db/100 feet at 500 MHz (TV Channel
18)
Channel 32 is 580 MHz Channel 52 is 700 MHz a 5 db loss At TV channel 2
the cable would have a loss of 1.4db. So at channel 18 you loose more than
1/2 the power in 100' of cable between the antenna and the TV.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about pre amplifiers.

On paper, the Winegard pre amplifier has a lower noise factor then the Channel Master. But the Channel Master has a housing that is made of metal and will last longer than the Winegard pre amplifier. Both are good pre amplifiers, but the selling point for me for the channel master pre amplifiers is the built in switch and FM trap. You can use the amplifier with one UHF / VHF antenna or you can combine two signals with the pre amplifier for one UHF and one VHF antenna.

Again Steve, ignore JB Antennaman. All he does is yap about things that have zero to do with your question. He says it makes no difference what a pre-amp is called. Well, it does. A pre-amp and an amp are two different things. That is the reason for not being call by one name. He continues his giberish saying that you will lose half of your signal strength going thru a 100' section of RG6. AGain, while irrelevant, it is untrue. He seems to think of the cable length like it is a 2 way splitter and it is not. The amount of loss being half, lees, or more is based solely on the amount of beginning power and nothing else.

So just ignore his rants and nonsensical gibberish. I really can't stand people that post untrue things acting like they know what they are talking about. So sorry your thread got hijacked by him.

Splicer be polite in your disagreement without slagging a fellow member.

well its true
JB posts this huge long "good to read in the crapper" posts that have NOTHING to do with the issue or topic at hand. I posted once about a station going off the air due to no money for digital and he posted about something local to him about stations getting ad money etc

Originally Posted by Kevinw

Splicer be polite in your disagreement without slagging a fellow member.

I was polite. The only slagging being done here is JB Antennaman leaving his residue of falsehoods.

Kevinw you will find as you read these posts thatJB Antennaman's post can usually be skipped over with out affecting the actual information in the post.