OTA Antenna with amplifier using Dish OTA Module-USB

[Jerab]

I just purchased a digital HDTV antenna model AN4006-001R. This comes with an amplifier that connects to the antenna's coax. The other end of the amplifier has another coax and a usb. I am trying to connect it to my hopper 3 so I can see the OTA channels on my guide. My problem is if I use the included amplifier, I have an extra usb plug since the dish OTA module also has a usb. I tried to connect it without the amplifier and get no channels when I scan. I also tried to connect the coax end of the amplifier to the dish OTA module and just use the dish OTA module usb. The usb from the booster wasn't plugged into anything.

I installed the new antenna with included amplifier attachment directly to my TV and got a lot of OTA channels.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I hate to say it but its probably a crappy antenna. I hope you kept the box and receipt. For antenna advice check out Antenna Man in our Social Influencers forums.

 

[Jerab]

I hate to say it but its probably a crappy antenna. I hope you kept the box and receipt. For antenna advice check out Antenna Man in our Social Influencers forums.

It seems to be a good antenna. I got tons of channels when I connected it directly to my TV. I hope to find a way to connect it to my hopper 3.

 

[rvvaquero]

I'm not sure I understand what you did. Your antenna amplifier needs a usb power source. Either you can plug it into a small power brick like comes with your cellphone, or you can plug it into most television usb ports and get power. The antenna coax must be attached to the DISH OTA module input.

The DISH OTA module must be plugged directly into the DISH receiver usb port.

I agree with above, that's not a good antenna for anything but nearby UHF stations. If you have any VHF stations, you probably won't pick them up well unless you are very close to the station broadcast antenna. But, that's not your immediate issue.

 

[Jerab]

I'm not sure I understand what you did. Your antenna amplifier needs a usb power source. Either you can plug it into a small power brick like comes with your cellphone, or you can plug it into most television usb ports and get power. The antenna coax must be attached to the DISH OTA module input.

The DISH OTA module must be plugged directly into the DISH receiver usb port.

I agree with above, that's not a good antenna for anything but nearby UHF stations. If you have any VHF stations, you probably won't pick them up well unless you are very close to the station broadcast antenna. But, that's not your immediate issue.

Thank you. I will see if I can plug both USBs into ports. The hopper has 2 usb ports on the back. One is 2.0 and the other is 3.0 I tried plugging them both in, but still got zero on the scans. I don't understand why a bunch of stations are showing if connected to the TV and none if connected to the hopper.

 

[KAB]

Hope this is not a dumb question. but are you using the Hopper to scan channels?

 

[Derek K]

Try plugging in the USB power for the antenna into a separate power source such as a 2 amp cell phone charger.

Just a guess, there could be a chance the hopper does not have enough power on the USB port to power the dongle and antenna. Antenna could be sucking all the power to the point the dongle cannot operate.

Stick a paper clip in the dongle to act as an antenna, and only connect the dongle to the hopper. Depending on the area you may pick up a few channels using this method and this will help you trouble shoot the situation.

Its also possible that the amplifier is introducing too much noise into the signal from the antenna. To be perfectly honest with you the antenna you have is crap, but may work good depending on how close you are to the broadcast towers. Ever since broadcasts went digital, its a known fact that all tuners in TVs and devices such as the Hopper USB dongle have different sensitivity levels when picking up over the air signals.

If anyone remembers the DTV pal, there was 2 different versions of that set top box. The second version or generation of the DTV pal had a better tuner which had the ability to pick up more stations. Its almost like the fact your TV picks up lots of channels. However you should get something on the dongle, the fact you get nothing means you got something going on such as the power.

I think its really crappy that in an effort to save money a lot of these companies are not including USB power adaptors. I get it, but a lot of people do not have good charging devices, For example, I have several google nest cameras A few of my cameras are outdoor and the USB power supply got wet and damaged.

I had a cheap 1 amp charger sitting in my kitchen drawer and used that. Camera lit up but would not work. I had to get a 2 amp charger off amazon the other day to make it work again.

Even though my nest camera came with a charger, point was not everyone is going to have a spare charger laying around that can provide power a device correctly, especially when none of these devices that likely came from China state the power requirements on them

 

[KAB]

To be perfectly honest with you the antenna you have is crap, but may work good depending on how close you are to the broadcast towers

I would never use an antenna that looks like a doughnut.