I live in Sherman Tx. I finally got my local HD channels on Dish. I pointed my antenna at Dallas yesterday and got most of the stations. The only I really wanted, WFAA is only getting signal of about 58 which is not enough to hold station. Most of the others are about 65. I am using an old amp I bought from radio shack several years ago. I was wondering what would be a good amp to try. WFAA is VFH and all others are UFH.
Need antenna amp
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Try TV Fool for a starting point. In Dallas digital broadcasting is on VHF CH8/9 & 11 and if you throw in Sherman ch 12 is also used.
What are you using for a VHF/UHF antenna how high is it mounted and what are you using for an amplifier? Is the amplifier a distribution or a mast mounted signal amplifier? If your going to ask for help please give us information to work with.
What are you using for a VHF/UHF antenna how high is it mounted and what are you using for an amplifier? Is the amplifier a distribution or a mast mounted signal amplifier? If your going to ask for help please give us information to work with.
I am using a AntennaCraft C480 Colorstar UHF VHF FM TV Antenna 48 Element mounted on roof. It is mounted on a 5' mast. I really did not want to put a higher mast if I can get away with it. The amp is an very old radio shack 10db amp that has an input and output and plugs into 110. No model on it. Not sure it works. Get same signal strength without it. Mounted it before my splitter coming off antenna coax.
Do you have coaxial cabling, and how old is it? If it's more than a dozen years old or so -- or you're using twinlead ("ribbon") cable -- it's time to replace all of it with RG-6 coax. At that age, the outside run that's exposed to that hot Texas sun is probably cracked and worn out. If you get new cable, replace the $5 matching transformer used to connect the coax to the antenna -- they wear out over time, too. (You'll need it in any case if you're migrating from twinlead to coax.)
Even when working right, RS amps tend to be awfully noisy, and noise is the enemy of weak digital signals. Get a Channel Master 7777; it's among the quietest antenna pre-amps available. It comes in two parts: a module for mounting just below the antenna, and a power injector that goes into the coax cabling before the splitter, right where you have your current amp. The injector sends low-voltage DC up the coax to the pre-amp, to preclude the need for running house current outdoors.
I looked up Sherman proper (ZIP 75090) on TVFool to see whether added height would help. It won't -- higher makes WFAA's signal modestly stronger, but not enough to warrant the hassles and extra hardware involved.
That pre-amp and fairly-new coax should make a big difference in WFAA's reliability.
Even when working right, RS amps tend to be awfully noisy, and noise is the enemy of weak digital signals. Get a Channel Master 7777; it's among the quietest antenna pre-amps available. It comes in two parts: a module for mounting just below the antenna, and a power injector that goes into the coax cabling before the splitter, right where you have your current amp. The injector sends low-voltage DC up the coax to the pre-amp, to preclude the need for running house current outdoors.
I looked up Sherman proper (ZIP 75090) on TVFool to see whether added height would help. It won't -- higher makes WFAA's signal modestly stronger, but not enough to warrant the hassles and extra hardware involved.
That pre-amp and fairly-new coax should make a big difference in WFAA's reliability.
You have a neighbor 75020 Denison posts as timandpatti. On 5/16/09 they posted they were getting WFAA after much searching I found there post where they put up a Winegard HD8200U on a 24ft mast no mention of any amplifier. Your antennacraft with the suggested Channel Master pre amp may get you solid WFAA CH8. They posted the spent $159 for antenna and $249 for a DISH DTV PAL DVR, searching for DTV PAL DVR was how I found their old post.
I am getting ready to order the Channel Master 7777. Started thinking about how I am going to use it with a splitter. The splitter will be between the power supply and the amp. Do I have to have a special splitter or DC block of somekind? I have a spot just inside garage where splitter that has 110. I do not have to have a separate power supply. Is the another amp that may work better for this?
Tried the Channel Master 7777 today. Not any better than the RCA amp I currently have. After dark WFAA comes in pretty good. I am so close to getting a decent signal but does not look like its going to happen. Going to try to send pre amp back and give up.
A higher gain antenna will help you more than any amplifier will. I was looking at the gain of your antenna, and it's mediocre for it's size.
• Gain VHF Low: 5 dB VHF High: 8.6 dB UHF: 8.4 dB
I would personally go the Winegard 7698P. It has a ton more gain on channels 7-51, and is much more compact. I am assuming you aren't interested in any VHF-LO.
• Gain VHF Low: 5 dB VHF High: 8.6 dB UHF: 8.4 dB
I would personally go the Winegard 7698P. It has a ton more gain on channels 7-51, and is much more compact. I am assuming you aren't interested in any VHF-LO.
In Dallas channels 8/9/11 VHF are the permanent home for 3 digital channels. Ch 8 is the only one not admitting to having problems. Ch 9 is the new home for ch 52 who is running a crawl that they are improving equipment for better signal. CH 11 CBS is duplicating their digital broadcast on sister station as 21.2. What could be a problem for OP is channel 12 located in Sherman could be overdriven with a preamp, it is so close.
Agree 100%. More antenna & less amplification will help with WFAA-DT 8. Over-amplification is the most overlooked aspect with DTV.
I still really don't understand why UHF stations KDFW channel 4 and KXAS channel 5 are in the same area as WFAA and they are both coming in at 100% and channel 8 has more power. According to the spec's when I bought the antenna VHF High Range: 90 Miles (Ch. 7 - 13) and UHF Range: 55 Miles (Ch. 14 - 69). Looking at that I would think WFAA should be coming in better. I'm wondering if something is wrong with the VHF side of the antenna?
Brian you need to understand a Radio Shack and an Antennacraft and a Winegard VHF antenna rated for 100 miles do not mean the same thing. There is no standard for rating OTA reception. What ever advertising hype the marketing dept thinks they can get away with is what you will see for ratings. A 50 year old company like Winegard or Channel Master is going to have more accurate estimates of reception than some of the younger manufacturers. You do still get what you pay for but you need to read between the lines of hype sometimes.
Mileage specs are meaningless when deciding on the best antenna for a particular situation. The gain specs are really what counts.
Not sure of your exact TV FOOL readings, but just going by your zip code, you will need at least 10db of antenna gain to receive WFAA-DT 8.
Pre-amps don't improve VHF nearly as much as they do on UHF. The pre-amp will only make up for line loss, and there just isn't much line loss on VHF to begin with when dealing with less than 100 feet of coax.
Not sure of your exact TV FOOL readings, but just going by your zip code, you will need at least 10db of antenna gain to receive WFAA-DT 8.
Pre-amps don't improve VHF nearly as much as they do on UHF. The pre-amp will only make up for line loss, and there just isn't much line loss on VHF to begin with when dealing with less than 100 feet of coax.
Ok, thanks for all the help. I just couldn't understand while other stations in same spot coming in good while one not. All other stations went UHF wonder why WFAA didn't? Can't afford new antenna right now and they wont take amp back. Might just have to move my address with dish and be done with it. Which is another thing that gets me mad. Cable can carry dallas stations but dish can not. Damn politics.
OTA antenna and amp
The bigger the better. More antenna more gain, lowest noise added to the signal.
HD signals do not like added noise with the signal. A poor amp will do just that and kill the information from the stations information.
If you must use an amp, Pick one with the lowest noise figure.
Radio shack does not carry any.
Channel master, Blondertongue etc. make excellent low noise amplifiers. The amp located as close to the antenna as possible is the best set up.
If you have seperate VHF and UHF antennas. Get the amp with both inputs. It will do the combining better than any seperate combiner.
You might want to check out Antennas Direct antennas. The C-4 for UHF and the New C-5 for VHF. Both ave excellent gain and are small, considering.
Hope this helps. The C-5 has a built in balun and you connect the coax directly to it. It also comes with there combiner for the C-4 and the C-5.
The bigger the better. More antenna more gain, lowest noise added to the signal.
HD signals do not like added noise with the signal. A poor amp will do just that and kill the information from the stations information.
If you must use an amp, Pick one with the lowest noise figure.
Radio shack does not carry any.
Channel master, Blondertongue etc. make excellent low noise amplifiers. The amp located as close to the antenna as possible is the best set up.
If you have seperate VHF and UHF antennas. Get the amp with both inputs. It will do the combining better than any seperate combiner.
You might want to check out Antennas Direct antennas. The C-4 for UHF and the New C-5 for VHF. Both ave excellent gain and are small, considering.
Hope this helps. The C-5 has a built in balun and you connect the coax directly to it. It also comes with there combiner for the C-4 and the C-5.
I think that you are getting overloaded from an FM station. KSOC-FM is running 100 KW on 94.5. An extremely strong FM signal causes a second harmonic within a preamp. In this case that happens to fall within channel 8.
Is the FM trap engaged on your preamp?
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Your splitter needs to pass the dc power through to the pre-amp. Look for something like this. Or relocate the power inserter before the splitter. Also, as Tower Guy said, make sure the FM trap is on.
