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Last reply · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info
I have looked through the posts and didn't see the issue I am having, but I might not have searched for the right issue/solution. I am very new to OTA TV, until recently I didn't know that there was a solution to getting 'local channels' that are pretty far from me. I did alot of reading online and finally purchased an RCA ANT751, installed it on the back of my house, just below the roofline (two story) and pointed it to 56 degrees. I used RG6 quad shield coax, which runs about 40 feet from the antenna to the tv. I am able to recieve all the yellow, green and red stations, but the VHF, especially the lower stations, are very sporadic and I would like to recieve them.

My questions are, did I buy the right antenna, if I add a pre-amp will that help, or just add more noise and make the channels that are coming in go from good to less good? If I add a second antenna of the same model (is it stacking or ganging?) about 10 feet from the first antenna (horizontally) and point it to 56 degrees, will it solve my reception problem? I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you might have.
21 Replies · 5171 views
D
First, Thank you all for the advise and suggestions. I am picking up the supplies to move the antenna this weekend. I am hoping that this will get me the low vhf numbers, but if it doesn't, I could resort to getting the channel from Tampa, which is directly behind the antenna (Most Orlando stations 50-56 degrees, most Tampa stations 235 - 237 degrees). Will my ANT751 pick up both sets of stations, or will I need to purchase another directional antenna and point it in the opposite direction? If I have to add another antenna could it be on the same mast and coax? If on the same mast, how far apart do they need to be? They should be the same antenna, right? Everything I have read says they need to be the same. Again, thank you for all the help! I really appreciate it.
boba
First, Thank you all for the advise and suggestions. I am picking up the supplies to move the antenna this weekend. I am hoping that this will get me the low vhf numbers, but if it doesn't, I could resort to getting the channel from Tampa, which is directly behind the antenna (Most Orlando stations 50-56 degrees, most Tampa stations 235 - 237 degrees). Will my ANT751 pick up both sets of stations, or will I need to purchase another directional antenna and point it in the opposite direction? If I have to add another antenna could it be on the same mast and coax? If on the same mast, how far apart do they need to be? They should be the same antenna, right? Everything I have read says they need to be the same. Again, thank you for all the help! I really appreciate it.
When you get the antenna setup on the roof please come back with the latest info. Does your TV or converter box display signal strengths for the TV stations? When you get it mounted you will need to rescan for channels if you gain any channels please note them. Also if you have signal strengths record them in your current location and record above the roof to see if they increase.
D
I got the antenna up on Saturday morning, and was able to hook the antenna up through my Tivo. I am now getting the lower VHF channel, but appear to have lost some of the Tampa channels that I got when the antenna was on the house (which is surprising, because the house should have blocked some of the signal, that there is no block for now). I was able to check the signal strength once the antenna was up above the house, and the Orlando stations are coming in 71 to 100. The Tampa stations are 28 to 60. I am using Tivo to convert the signal, not a converter box. Before the Tivo arrived, I was going straight into the television.
M
I got the antenna up on Saturday morning, and was able to hook the antenna up through my Tivo. I am now getting the lower VHF channel, but appear to have lost some of the Tampa channels that I got when the antenna was on the house (which is surprising, because the house should have blocked some of the signal, that there is no block for now). I was able to check the signal strength once the antenna was up above the house, and the Orlando stations are coming in 71 to 100. The Tampa stations are 28 to 60. I am using Tivo to convert the signal, not a converter box. Before the Tivo arrived, I was going straight into the television.

Why not use a signal splitter where the line comes in and attach one leg to the TiVo and one straight into the TV? A simple input change on the set will then allow you to select the signal that presents the best signal choice.
boba
A simple trial is rotate the antenna 180* and aim it at Tampa. This should raise the Tampa signals and lower the Orlando signals. It won't maximize signals but it may give acceptable signals from both directions. Don't forget to rescan if you move the antenna.
S
I've been using the ANT751 for my personal TV and set it up on a couple of other homes in the area where I live and gotten good results. There's no way it's going to pick up backside from 40+ miles, though. I don't have any stations at range from 7 miles out to the 45 miles, but I have tried aiming it backside to the 44 milers and none of them will come in.

TV Fool

The Hi-VHF, 8, struggles a little (70-75%) with this antenna, but 36 comes in like it's next door. Just about any deviation from direct LOS will knock them all out, though. The lobes pick up the two high powered UHF that are 72 degrees to the right. It'll also grab the lower power stations that are about 90 degrees to the left. The problem that I run into is the "dead spots" between direct LOS and the lobes. I can easily pick and choose which of the high power UHF stations to knock out of the lobe just by twisting it a few degrees.

Seems to me that this antenna is great up to about 50 miles for UHF LOS and 40 miles Hi-VHF LOS. It'll backside most channels pretty well, but I don't have any mid-range stuff to toy with. I know it won't come close to 40 miles, though. Really good antenna if you just have several within about a 8-10 degree spread, but the dead spots to the right and left just seem to be huge.
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne


Get it?


An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68656 Replies · 2680145 views
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FTA4PA
Detroit Rock City - Kiss
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sdfntx
I Care About Detroit - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
dishstaller
I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
Bobby
98.6 - Keith
harshness
I'm Easy - Keith Carridine
R
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.
2 Replies · 37 views
arlo
A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.
dishstaller
That's all I got.
That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks
TRG
TRG
Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
5 Replies · 274 views
b4pjoe
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.
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HipKat
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc
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Foxbat
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.
harshness
If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

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Foxbat
Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
2 Replies · 44 views
dishstaller
Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

2 Replies · 49 views
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Jimbo
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.
dishstaller
Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.