Having more than one antenna?

[jrfuda]

custom, you have what you need for an attempt!

Make sure you have a splitter/combiner.. some splitters only work in one direction and/or are very lossy. You need something that will let you split OR combine your signal.

However, I say, give what you have a try. You may be pleased with the results.

You're using indoor antenna's, right? What kind are they? I tried a Terk HDTVa before I moved to attic mounted antenna and it worked really well.

 

[Minsk1]

Thats interesting.... To sum it up all I need is a splitter, 2 antennas and a cable? Becasue I have all that? but there must be something I am missing. And I am not up to speed with all the fancy equipment thats needed. So a like or something would always be nice!

You also need a compass

 

[Customgamer1]

You also need a compass

Well don't have one of those..... I guess I will just have to free hand it. And I kind of have an idea where the channels are coming from!

I will give it a shot!

 

[dougruss]

Well you see thats a good antenna but what if your stations, but I can still see that being a problem if channels are coming in at different locations where a moving antenna can't even pick them up.

HUH ????

 

[Customgamer1]

I was just saying if you have to move the antenna a lot to pick up the channels that antenna is not going to work.

 

[Customgamer1]

ok well my splitter did not work all that well. I will just stick with what I have becasue I have tried every thing with that damn antenna. I just might go out and buy another one to see if it's any better!

 

[Rick0725]

gamer relax...have a beer

* WPXE-DT 55.1 i KENOSHA WI 41° 17.5 40
* yellow - uhf WTMJ-DT 4.1 NBC MILWAUKEE WI 42° 17.3 28
* yellow - uhf WMVT-DT 36.1 PBS MILWAUKEE WI 41° 17.5 35
* yellow - uhf WISN-DT 12.1 ABC MILWAUKEE WI 36° 17.6 34
* yellow - uhf WJJA-DT 48 IND RACINE WI TBD 43° 17.2 48
* green - uhf WDJT-DT 58.1 CBS MILWAUKEE WI 36° 17.6 46
* green - vhf WMVS-DT 10.1 PBS MILWAUKEE WI 41° 17.5 8
* lt green - uhf WVTV-DT 18.1 WB MILWAUKEE WI 41° 17.5 61 /***going back to ch 18
* red - uhf WCGV-DT 24.1 UPN MILWAUKEE WI 41° 17.5 25
* violet - uhf WVCY-DT 30.1 REL MILWAUKEE WI 41° 17.5 22


you are 17.5 miles from the towers ...im 16-20 miles.

Just opened the pool and the water looks like crap...so I said screw it.

-Grabbed a cm 4228
-a decent vhf that I had around (for my ch 9)
-a cm 0549 combiner
-a 3' tripod
-5' mast
-50' coax
-and a beer

slapped it together in my attic, aimed the sucker, and ran a wire to the tuner.
scanned and all the channels came in 89-95 .

But

-I used decent stuff not garbage.
-my attic is antenna friendly...no foil insulation, no aluminum siding, line of sight to the towers

So whats the problem???? All your towers are 6 degrees apart.

Mine are all over the place.

WNYS-DT 44 WB SYRACUSE NY TBD 195° 20.4 44
* yellow - uhf WTVH-DT 47.1 CBS SYRACUSE NY 182° 16.3 47
* yellow - uhf WCNY-DT 24.1 PBS SYRACUSE NY 181° 16.2 25
* yellow - uhf WSYR-DT 9.1 ABC SYRACUSE NY 166° 17.8 17
* green - uhf WSTM-DT 3.1 NBC SYRACUSE NY 181° 16.3 54
* green - uhf WSYT-DT 19.1 FOX SYRACUSE NY 195° 20.4 19
* red - uhf WFXV-DT 27 FOX UTICA NY TBD 117° 38.3 27
WSYR 9 ABC SYRACUSE NY 166° 17.8 9

Since you have a digital ch8 suggest a HD7082P see picture below)...outside ...since you are having problems in the attic

or combine a cm4228 with one of your crappy vhf antennas to get ch 8. you can use a jointenna for ch 8 or a cm0549 to get all the vhf in that direction. ..about 40 degrees.

 

[dougruss]

I was just saying if you have to move the antenna a lot to pick up the channels that antenna is not going to work.

Ahhh....Ok.....I'm " 10-32" !!

 

[Customgamer1]

Rick I like your setup but I may have forgot to say that I am using in door antenna's and I know thats part of my problem. I think if I buy a better antenna it will solve all my problems!

I might have to change my screen name to "pissedoffwatcher" lol

Also if anyone could go on to www.radioshack.com and pick what they think is the best indoor antenna that would be a great help!

 

[Rick0725]

#15-1878 $29.99 radio shack uhf/vhf/fm

Also like the silver sensor but it is uhf only ...you will need vhf there.

or you can combine vhf rabbit ears with a silver sensor into a cm7777 preamp,,,bet that would kick some butt.

did you read my post from last week here?

"A beer solved my reception problems"

 

[Customgamer1]

A beer would solve the problems. I guess if I drink to much then everything looks HD LOL

Also thanks I will check into that antenna

EDIT: 15-1878 Thats the one I bought and well I must have some thick walls because it sucks! Thats the one I moved around in every square inch of my room.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103916&cp

 

[Customgamer1]

Would you think this one would do a better job?

It's $50 and it looks like it might do a better job?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...kw=tv+antenna&kw=tv+antenna&parentPage=search

I would ask the guy at radio shack, but I would guess the remote just makes it easy to rotate incase you lose your signal and not have to push the button to make it move every time you want to switch a channel?

 

[Rick0725]

silver sensor is good, tried one myself ...so is the db-2 antenna direct which you would need to figure out how to mount....both are uhf only though. vhf is going to be tough inside...requires a rabit ear type design.

you can combine the 2 (silver sensor for uhf, rabit ears for VHF) into a preamp...the cm7777 may overload though...or combine with a cm0549 vhf/ uhf combiner ($7.50) then to a lower gain amp winegard hdp-269 ($55). but dont you think that this going a bit too far just to force a tv signal from an inside antenna???

have read bad reports on one you choose above...would make a great modern looking decoration though on the home theater cabinet.

you may also have difficulty in the attic if you are having problems down stairs.

outside is best...and you have already tried options inside that did not satisfy you.


if you are having difficulty inside with antennas...it may be time to move on because it will be probably more of the same.

you guys spend all that money on the tv and home theater and then go lame with an inside piece of garbage trying to force it to work....some are successful though. It is difficult to determine the losses inside and you usually do not know if it will work inside till you try. there are so many variables...home construction materials, line of site to towers, terrain, etc.

On average expect to loose at least....that's a good question and not easy to calculate.

Do you want ota or are just waiting for another option to come along. My neighbors always ask why I have the antenna outside...

I tell them..."it's because I want it."

 

[bhelms]

A beer would solve the problems. I guess if I drink to much then everything looks HD LOL...

That's what I thought. Came home one evening after having a few and proceeded to drop a few more on top of those for good measure. Went to figure out why I didn't have any sound on the HD Demo channel and realized I had been watching my 55 gallon tank for about 15 minutes...! (Well, it's ALMOST 16:9...!)

 

[jrfuda]

I'd get the CM 4228 if I were you.

- It's one of the highest gain antennas you can buy.
- It's not as directional as a yagi-style antenna, so it'll pickup your 6 degree spread better than a yagi
- Its design makes it very attic freindly... Just ry aiming a yagi in a stud-dense attic and you'l see what I mean
- Although it's a UHF antenna, it can pickup some VHF, especially the higher channels... Only your PBS channel is PBS on ch 9, so you may be OK with just a 4228
- It is an easy antenna to "stack" if you need more than one to increase signal strength
- Lowes carries CM products, so you should be able to get one locally
- If Lowes does not have it, Warren Electronics has them for a great price (though the shipping may be in the $teens) In the end, though, Lowes price + tax will probably be about the same as warren + shipping.

I recommend using a CM7777 preamp as well. It's a great amp, and may actually be too much for how close you are to the towers (we'll address that in a moment), but it will ensure yuo get a strong, low-noise signal from your antenna to your receiver. You can get one of these from Warren as well, I think Lowes only sells CM's cheaper amp models, but it wont hurt to check.

Now, here's something else to try... Go to radio shack and but a variable (0-20db) attenuator. Buy this before you buy anything else. There's a small changce you're overloading your receiver and getting "false" low signal strength reading. If I directly connect my amp'd antenna array to my receiver, I get sub-80's all around. If I connect the attenuator between the amp and receiver, and dial in about 8db of attenuation, I get 97-100% on nearly all my channels. This even increased the reception of my own PBs VHF station from a shaky mid-60's to a stable 80's. An attenuator may solve your problems with your current antenna, and will probably come in handy in your future endevours.

Finally, the other good thing about a CM7777 preamp is that you can use it in a combined input or seperate UHF/VHF input mode. The nice thing about this is you can have seperate UHF and VHF antenna if you want (configurable by a switch inside the amp, as is the FM trap). So, you could first try the 4228 has a combo antenna, connected to the unified input, and later, if you have trouble with PBS, hook up some rabbit ears. lke Rick suggested (with a balun/matching transformer) to the VHF input to get channel 9. You could adjust the length of the rabbit ears to perfectly match the wavelength of channel 9 (There's a website somewhere with these figure, I'll have to post it) since it's the only VHF you need.

 

[NightHawk]

- It's one of the highest gain antennas you can buy.
- It's not as directional as a yagi-style antenna, so it'll pickup your 6 degree spread better than a yagi

If it's less directional is has less gain, period. Gain and directivity are the same thing.

 

[C64C64!!]

I have a stratigy for this. This is for outdoor antennas, becase a UHF anntena is Very directional. It seys that you point the two outdoor antennas in the needed direction and use a splitter (or combiner) to put them together. You need to use RG6 cable and need to have the too langths of cable from the two antennas the same langth. For instance I would use 2 outdoor uhf only antennas 2 6foot RG6 cables and a spliter. It is important that the two cables be of the same langth and should be RG6. If you would like me to i am willing to post all of the information. Feel free to tell me if i am wrong, just don't flame me.
Ben

 

[NightHawk]

Well Ben it's a little more complicated than that. While stacking UHF antennas for more gain is possible you must be careful how you do it. You are basicly creating an antenna array and if you don't maintain the correct antenna/element spacing the two antennas can add out-of-phase and make reception worse. Even when you are careful about proper antenna spacing it's becomes increasingly difficult to maintain proper phasing over the entire UHF spectrum with increasing array size.

 

[internetuser]

For information about why a splitter works as a combiner, search google for hdtvprimer merging feedlines.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Thats interesting.... To sum it up all I need is a splitter, 2 antennas and a cable? Becasue I have all that? but there must be something I am missing. And I am not up to speed with all the fancy equipment thats needed. So a like or something would always be nice!

Using two antenna's with a reverse connected splitter MAY work out for you. It MAY NOT, it depends on your local conditions. You WILL loose 3 db of signal
(50%) from each antenna going through a splitter. No free lunch.

Radio propagation and antenna design has been around a long time, there are tried and tested ways of getting more signal. Bigger is almost always better for both VHF and UHF. Highly directional antenna's pointed in different directions are easier to combine without serious degradation provided you seperate them by a couple of wavelengths of the lowest frequency desired. This comes at the expense of a smaller beamwidth, again no free lunch. Combining omni's will usually result in crash and burn, the result being worse than either alone. Weather is the variable no one can predict, a signal that comes in great at night may suck during the day and vice versa.

The pro's in this area are rocket scientist type people, some heavy duty math and theory is involved. Computer modeling has greatly improved DIY antenna design.

Google Hoverman. The Canadians have come up with some great workable designs that a person can build for almost nothing.