Thread: Amplifer suggestion

I have a Winegard 7082P and I am trying to pick my locals and it does a great job in clear weather. My stations are VHF and UHF 5,11,19, 39 was thinking about adding a amplifer perhaps the Winegard HDA 200. 5 is strongest signal. Just wondering if the HDA 200 would boost my signals or what other options do I have. Thanks

http://antennaweb.org/aw/Stations.aspx

The correct model of my antenna is the 7080P

I mostly use an inexpensive skywalker +25 indoor amp($26 retail) on most multi tv installs. Some times this is not possible(no dry location easy acessible to wire junction). In wet locations I use a weatherproof wineguard amp(ret.$75) that can be installed in the elements. In deepfringe areas I use a channel master preamp(ret.$100) that installs directly at antenna. I've experimented with all kinds of amps and these seem to be the best IMO.

How many TV's are you running off the antenna? What is your zip code? A pre-amp may be a better choice than a distribution amp depending on these factors.

Originally Posted by steve617

I have a Winegard 7082P. Just wondering if the HDA 200 would boost my signals or what other options do I have.

You'd be better off with a preamplifier at the antenna. The Winegard AP 8700 would be my choice for your situation.

An amplifier right at the antenna has two advantages. The system noise figure will be lower because the loss of the downlead won't matter and the impedance match between the antenna and the amplifier is less important and hence more efficient with a short jumper from the antenna to the preamp.

Let's back the bus up and start at the beginning.

In order to get a better understanding of where you live, we would need a street level address of your location. We would need to know how high above ground you are going to mount your antenna and we would need to know how many splitters you are going to use and how many connections you are going to put on that splitter and how long the cable runs are going to be. What make and model of wire you are going to use and what kind of terminals you used on the coax.

Giving us a list of virtual channel numbers does nothing for us as far as advice goes. We cannot look at station licenses, we cannot look at what is between the transmitter and the receive antenna.

Here is a basic lesson in reception. If there is anything between you and the transmitter that is 3 or more stories high, it could block your signal. Trees with leaves on it can block your signals. A hill or mountain, or if you live down in a valley - can make you loose or not get your signals, depending on how the signal refracts into your area. The time of day and month of the year and weather all is variables to your reception issues.

It is best to use a large antenna and no amplifier in a suburban area then to use a amplifier and a small antenna. Amplifiers do not compensate for a lack of signal. All amplifiers does do is amplify the signal to over come long lengths of wire. UHF - half or more of the signal can be lost in 100 feet of wire depending on the frequency and the type of wire you use. There is good RG 6 and not so good RG 6. It is best to use a wire of known quality that has the lowest amount of loss and has a solid copper conductor and not just a copper clad aluminum conductor. Sealing all terminal ends and using good crimping Techniques has as much to do with good reception as the antenna.
You could have the best antenna in the world and a poor conductor and still have a crappy signal. The same is true with amplifiers. If you use a distribution amplifier and you butt crap into the amplifier, all that is going to come out the other end is more crap.

Using a omni directional antenna in a suburban area, to compensate for no antenna rotor - when you need a antenna rotor will only promote multipath issues and co channel interference if there is several stations that are on adjacent channels.

So it is best to use the best antenna to do the job. Just as you would not buy a 1/2 ton truck to haul a 10 ton trailer. So you wouldn't buy a cheap antenna to try to receive signals 50 miles away.

The problem with the 7082P is that it is bass ackwards. After the DTV transition, most stations abandoned the VHF and moved up into the UHF.
At the same time, some stations that were in the UHF, moved down into the VHF where electricity costs are cheaper. It does not take as much power to transmit VHF as it does UHF, but UHF is better for digital television because it is less susceptible to electrical noise. Such things as ignition noise from everything from a lawnmower to a automobile to electric lines and electric fence chargers to lightning, even a light switch inside of your house being turned on or off will disrupt VHF reception.

Virtual channels are a imaginary channel number that the station was associated with before the DTV transition. Your channel 6 might be real channel 44. You might think that you still need a VHF antenna, when in some cases there are no VHF channels in your area.

That is the main reason why recycling your old antenna isn't always a good idea. You have to know which frequencies the station is broadcasting on and which direction they are transmitting in and you have to point the antenna directly at the strongest portion of the signal if the signal is weak and you might need to point the antenna away from the strongest part of the lobe of the signal if the signal is too strong or use some type of attenuator to knock it down.

That all requires a antenna rotor and mounting the antenna 10 feet above the main roof or your house to get as far away from electrical noise as possible.

The same is true with splitters. when you use a splitter you loose about 3.5 db of signal in a 2 way splitter. 3 Db is about 1/2 the signal.
At the same time, as the splitter gets bigger, the signal is divided more and more until you have nothing left coming out of the splitter.
Not all splitters are equal, some are unilateral - which means that if you walked into the splitter in the input port, two of you would walk out the other end, just that both of you would only be half as big. Your heads and your hands and your legs and your feet would still be 1/2 as big as the person that walked in the one end of the splitter.
With a cheap splitter or one that is not unilateral, the person walking into one end comes out the other ends with parts of unequal size. The problem with that is that one television might still work ok and another television in a different room might have little or no reception at all. That is not a good thing.

So knowing all the variables is the only way to suggest which antenna and which amplifier will work best for you. Just asking for a bigger amplifier will not solve your reception issues.

A amplifier cannot amplify a signal that is not there. With digital it is all or nothing. Either you have a picture perfect signal and sound or you have signal degradation or you have no signal at all. Sometimes with UHF - you can physically see the lights blinking on the transmitter tower and not have any signal - if the signal is up higher in the air then the receive antenna.

Just think of it like a flashlight. If you shine the flashlight up in the sky, it does not shine down on the ground. If you point it in front of you - it does not shine behind you. If you make the beam really wide, it does not shine out very far in front of you. Even when you make the beam very narrow, eventually the beam stops and travels no further. That is how UHF works.

VHF is like sound. If you scream - a person around the corner of a building can still hear you. A person on the second story can hear you and a person inside of a building can hear you. A yell can go up over one hill and down over the next.

Unless you are on the Buggs Bunny / Road Runner show, you cannot shoot a shotgun around the corner of a building or shine a flashlight into the side of a mountain and have the beam of light come out the other side.

So anything that can block a beam of light can also block your television signal.

Now do you understand why we need a exact physical address?

I have had the antenna for 8 months it is a 7080P. RG 6 cable 2 TV's one is about 50 feet the other is about 60 feet. I have a splitter about 10 feet from one and the other is about 15 feet away. My antenna is 20 in the air.

In clear weather I get about 95 percent signal on 5.1, about 82 percent on 11.1, and about the same on 19, and 39. In very cloudy weather 39 is hard to get drops in the 65 percent range.

Aiming to 39 it is points just above the eave of my house 10 more feet would probably do the job. Just dont want to really go that high.


my channel f is on 5.1, 11 is on 11.1 19 and 39 is on their UHF band.

'Kay steve you can edit your address out now.

We were looking for this initially:

TV Fool

His channel 19 is on RF Ch. 27 and is in the same direction as 5 and 11
So that rules out a UVSJ and a UHF-only aimed for 39