Two antennas into one...can I do this?

**Ghpr13** · 02-12-2010 08:39 AM

I've got a problem and a question. My problem is I have an antenna in the attic that gives me my OTA signal from about 13 different stations with no real problems, but the local ABC station, WHAS 11.01 will not tune in with out a lot of microblocking and freeze ups. Yet, according to "TV Fool", it's a strong signal and in the same direction as all the other signals I picking up. With me so far?
OK. One day when I wanted to record something on WHAS, I unplugged the attic antenna and plug in a old set of rabbit ears I had...WHAS tuned in with all it's HD glory!
Now my question is, can I put the rabbit ears up in the attic and using a splitter in reverse, connect both antennas to the one cable I have coming from the attic? Right now I'm using the tuner on my Samsung and my Philips DVDR, but I plan on ordering the 722k OTA mod later this month.
Here's the antenna I have in the attic:

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

Thanks all,
Ghpr13

**STL** · 02-12-2010 10:01 AM

Your problem is likely the antenna. Get a quad bowtie antenna (which does a good job rejecting the multipath you get in attics) and use it instead. Combining the two antennas will make that multipath worse and liking work like you hope. If you have a splitter why not go ahead and try it?

**KAB** · 02-12-2010 10:30 AM

I have two antennas together with no problems.

**Ghpr13** · 02-12-2010 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by STL

Your problem is likely the antenna. Get a quad bowtie antenna (which does a good job rejecting the multipath you get in attics) and use it instead. Combining the two antennas will make that multipath worse and liking work like you hope. If you have a splitter why not go ahead and try it?

Originally Posted by KAB

I have two antennas together with no problems.

STL,
Thank you for your reply.

KAB,
Could you tell me how you have them hooked up together? Is it like I wanted to do by using a splitter but in reverse?
Thanks,
Ghpr13

**gdarwin** · 02-12-2010 10:58 AM

Never could pull in the Louisville stations with the antenna in the attic. Moved mine outside, no problems.

Another consideration - WHAS went back to channel 11 (VHF) during the transition. Make sure the antenna is pointed toward the Knobs.

**rglore** · 02-12-2010 11:05 AM

I'm using the Radio Shack outdoor UHF antenna and have no problems with any Louisville station.

**harshness** · 02-12-2010 11:07 AM

You need to be careful about putting up multiple antennas covering the same frequency. That's probably somewhat the problem you have now.

I'm suspicious that your antenna is a little too much for the application and you're experiencing multipath (signal coming from different directions that are out of phase with each other). Adding more antennas that aren't phased will likely make the problem much worse for all stations.

As WHAS broadcasts on VHF 11, going to a UHF antenna may not be in your best interests.

**gdarwin** · 02-12-2010 11:09 AM

UHF here also - no problems picking up WHAS. I think the original problem us multipath.

**Geronimo** · 02-12-2010 11:15 AM

I see youa re getting good advice here but you might want to try asking this in the OTA forum.

**STL** · 02-12-2010 12:41 PM

I didn't realize the channel you are lacking is VHF -- most places are all UHF after the transition. You could combine those two antennas -- without worrying about creating additional multipath issues -- using a special combiner. One that is make specifically to take a VHF and a UHF input and combine them -- like this:

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=UVSJ&d=Pico-Macom-UVSJ-UHF-VHF-Band-SeparatorCombiner-for-Antenna-(UVSJ)&c=Signal%20Combiners&sku=UVSJ

Hook up your rabbit ears to the VHF and the other antenna to the UHF. I used one back when stations still broadcast analog (and digital) to successfully combine a 4-bay bowtie (UHF) and a yagi (VHF -- because the UHF elements were removed).