OTA antenna combiner

[tcpuccio1]

Hello:
I'm a satellite TV subscriber (Dish) I don't buy the local channel package. Looking for some advice for you OTA antenna geeks.
I live just outside of Buffalo NY zip 14086 I'm just to the south and east of the city. We built our house new in 2000 have always had satellite either dish or direct never buy the local package. when the house was built I put an omni directional antenna in the attic (2 story house) I live at the end of the street and when I put the antenna in, I could get channels from Toronto and get hockey night in canada (Buffalo is a hockey town) Cough Sabres... that aside after our house was built they built more houses around us. so, I can't get Toronto and a lot of other stations on the Omni antenna that came from Radio shack of all places it has an amplifier in it to make it work. that omni antenna works pretty good for the lower band station and not so great for the higher band. I actually have that antenna as a direct feed split off to 6 TV's in the house the RF signal in to each of the TV's. I bough this antenna Xtreme Signal 8-Bay Bowtie Outdoor HDTV Antenna 65 Mile VHF/UHF (HDB8X) . and it feeds the OTA adaptor on the back of my hopper TV and the main TV in the family room is where that it and I have 4 joey's that are in the bedrooms and kitchen. Tat antenna strictly feed the Dish receiver OTA dongle thing on the back of the hopper. it works okay but channel 2 (nbc) here in buffalo has the weakest signal it is at about 88 % signal strength on a clear day. I have the bays on the thing to they are getting the highest signal I can get mixed across low to high.. when we have 4' of snow on the roof (again buffalo NY) LOL I lose channel 2 first because it has the weakest signal and NBC has NFL (Buffalo Bills) "Good team" Sunday night football. So..... I get a bit miffed. I can switch the omni and the bay antenna in my basement and get 2 better but lose 29 which is Fox NFL also.. so, in a nutshell am I over thinking about a 3'rd antenna in the attic and combine it with the bowtie antenna and point it directly at the signal for channel 2 so the question is this what kind of antenna and what do I use to combine 2 different kinds of antenna to not make matter worse for my dish antenna dongle thing. Oh that bowtie antenna I have a RCA vh240R vhf/uhf/fm amplifier. I'm only using 1 port of it the other 3 are capped off. would a different amplifier work better or is a 2'nd antenna with some kind of a combiner my best option. Maybe I'm over thinking it Maybe I'm just in a bad place for picking up all the stations I want I don't want an antenna outside they are ugly and take away from the look of the house.

 

[primestar31]

Hello:
I'm a satellite TV subscriber (Dish) I don't buy the local channel package. Looking for some advice for you OTA antenna geeks.
I live just outside of Buffalo NY zip 14086 I'm just to the south and east of the city. We built our house new in 2000 have always had satellite either dish or direct never buy the local package. when the house was built I put an omni directional antenna in the attic (2 story house) I live at the end of the street and when I put the antenna in, I could get channels from Toronto and get hockey night in canada (Buffalo is a hockey town) Cough Sabres... that aside after our house was built they built more houses around us. so, I can't get Toronto and a lot of other stations on the Omni antenna that came from Radio shack of all places it has an amplifier in it to make it work. that omni antenna works pretty good for the lower band station and not so great for the higher band. I actually have that antenna as a direct feed split off to 6 TV's in the house the RF signal in to each of the TV's. I bough this antenna Xtreme Signal 8-Bay Bowtie Outdoor HDTV Antenna 65 Mile VHF/UHF (HDB8X) . and it feeds the OTA adaptor on the back of my hopper TV and the main TV in the family room is where that it and I have 4 joey's that are in the bedrooms and kitchen. Tat antenna strictly feed the Dish receiver OTA dongle thing on the back of the hopper. it works okay but channel 2 (nbc) here in buffalo has the weakest signal it is at about 88 % signal strength on a clear day. I have the bays on the thing to they are getting the highest signal I can get mixed across low to high.. when we have 4' of snow on the roof (again buffalo NY) LOL I lose channel 2 first because it has the weakest signal and NBC has NFL (Buffalo Bills) "Good team" Sunday night football. So..... I get a bit miffed. I can switch the omni and the bay antenna in my basement and get 2 better but lose 29 which is Fox NFL also.. so, in a nutshell am I over thinking about a 3'rd antenna in the attic and combine it with the bowtie antenna and point it directly at the signal for channel 2 so the question is this what kind of antenna and what do I use to combine 2 different kinds of antenna to not make matter worse for my dish antenna dongle thing. Oh that bowtie antenna I have a RCA vh240R vhf/uhf/fm amplifier. I'm only using 1 port of it the other 3 are capped off. would a different amplifier work better or is a 2'nd antenna with some kind of a combiner my best option. Maybe I'm over thinking it Maybe I'm just in a bad place for picking up all the stations I want I don't want an antenna outside they are ugly and take away from the look of the house.

Ok, you really need to break up that post into smaller paragraphs, as it's REALLY hard for a person to wade their way through it.

That said, THIS is the best 3-antenna combiner out there, by far, and has a built in preamp, yet can also power outboard preamps, as long as they are +12vdc: Televes SmartKom 531981, "Rotor Killer" Antenna Combiner/Preamp

Here's some reading on it: SmartKom New Technology For Combining Antennas & Arrays

 

[Jimbo]

Ok, you really need to break up that post into smaller paragraphs, as it's REALLY hard for a person to wade their way through it.

That said, THIS is the best 3-antenna combiner out there, by far, and has a built in preamp, yet can also power outboard preamps, as long as they are +12vdc: Televes SmartKom 531981, "Rotor Killer" Antenna Combiner/Preamp

Here's some reading on it: SmartKom New Technology For Combining Antennas & Arrays

So, the Combiner cost as much or more than the Antenna itself ???

 

[primestar31]

So, the Combiner cost as much or more than the Antenna itself ???

It's worth it, hands down, and it's a ONE-TIME cost, versus paying cable tv every month forever. Best combiner in existence, and I only wish it had been available 40 years ago. This is what I combine with it. Each pointed at a different DMA

:

 

[Jimbo]

It's worth it, hands down, and it's a ONE-TIME cost, versus paying cable tv every month forever. Best combiner in existence, and I only wish it had been available 40 years ago. This is what I combine with it. Each pointed at a different DMA


View attachment 171344:

A GREAT reason to never live in an HOA ...

 

[primestar31]

Jimbo

Smartkom manual, if you want to read on it a little.

 

[tcpuccio1]

Ok so that being said, I'm in need of a better VHF antenna for the low channel primarily channel 2.1 here in Buffalo I'm thinking that and the 8 bay is what I need for the dish input and just keep the RF into the TV's off the Omni. What is a good brand and choice. so that would just be 2 antennas combined to make the dish input work. Id that thing you suggested over kill for just 2?

is another Omni a good choice or some kind of a big contraption? I have plenty of attic space and should what ever I use as a combiner be up in the attic or can it be in the basement where I have the RCA amplifier for the 8 bay antenna. Kind of Pissed as big as the 8 bay thing is it's performance is well over all less than the 20 year old Omni from radio shack that still works however be it for the upper channels

 

[mikekohl]

Ok so that being said, I'm in need of a better VHF antenna for the low channel primarily channel 2.1 here in Buffalo I'm thinking that and the 8 bay is what I need for the dish input and just keep the RF into the TV's off the Omni. What is a good brand and choice. so that would just be 2 antennas combined to make the dish input work. Id that thing you suggested over kill for just 2?

is another Omni a good choice or some kind of a big contraption? I have plenty of attic space and should what ever I use as a combiner be up in the attic or can it be in the basement where I have the RCA amplifier for the 8 bay antenna. Kind of Pissed as big as the 8 bay thing is it's performance is well over all less than the 20 year old Omni from radio shack that still works however be it for the upper channels

Buffalo's channel 2 (NBC) transmits from Colegrave, NY and is actually on UHF channel 33.
Try a simple UHF antenna on your roof, pointing east of Buffalo and see if there is a good signal.
You might be OK with the 8 bay, but try it directly from an outdoor location to make sure you have signal in the first place...then figure out how to mix things into your system.

 

[dishdude]

Buffalo's channel 2 (NBC) transmits from Colegrave, NY and is actually on UHF channel 33.
Try a simple UHF antenna on your roof, pointing east of Buffalo and see if there is a good signal.
You might be OK with the 8 bay, but try it directly from an outdoor location to make sure you have signal in the first place...then figure out how to mix things into your system.

Yeah a lot of times the antenna can be hidden from the street, and he'll get much better results than an attic antenna. Mine is in the attic but I'm only 12 miles from the towers and they're all located on the same mountain so I have an ideal scenario.

 

[tcpuccio1]

Buffalo's channel 2 (NBC) transmits from Colegrave, NY and is actually on UHF channel 33.
Try a simple UHF antenna on your roof, pointing east of Buffalo and see if there is a good signal.
You might be OK with the 8 bay, but try it directly from an outdoor location to make sure you have signal in the first place...then figure out how to mix things into your system.

any suggestion on an antenna and that big multi switch combiner seems like overkill If I'm only going to merge 2 into 1. are the little thing that look like a splitter actaully work or at the bigger things actually needed? Thank you for the suggestion guys keep them coming!

 

[Jim5506]

Using a splitter as a signal "combiner" is only effective for relatively strong signals because 1/2 of the signal from each antenna i goes down to your TV while the other half is re-radiated out the other antenna unless they are both pointed in the same direction.

This is the multi-antenna problem that the Smartkom antenna combiner helps with, blocking the radiation to the other inputs keeping the greater portion of the signal going down the wire.

If you have two identical antennas with equal length cable to the combiner, pointing them in the same direction nearly doubles the signal strength (small losses on the combining).

 

[Tvland1]

Been using this for years now with 2 televes datboss mix antennas and works fine..

Televes Mast amplifier with BOSS-Tech and “F” Power Supply Unit - 2 inputs (560483)

Televes Mast Amplifier with BOSS-Tech and Power Supply Unit - 2 inputs (560483)This mast-mounted preamplifier features two inputs covering the entire TV band, combine any two TV antennas (two VHF, two VHF/UHF, one VHF and one UHF, two UHF). Unique to Televes, the new T-Force preamplifier family...

www.solidsignal.com

 

[telstar_1]

Been using this for years now with 2 televes datboss mix antennas and works fine..

Televes Mast amplifier with BOSS-Tech and “F” Power Supply Unit - 2 inputs (560483)

Televes Mast Amplifier with BOSS-Tech and Power Supply Unit - 2 inputs (560483)This mast-mounted preamplifier features two inputs covering the entire TV band, combine any two TV antennas (two VHF, two VHF/UHF, one VHF and one UHF, two UHF). Unique to Televes, the new T-Force preamplifier family...

www.solidsignal.com

OK, but this would seem to require that all channels on each band come from same direction and doesn't allow for combining, say, 2 UHF antennae.

 

[Tvland1]

OK, but this would seem to require that all channels on each band come from same direction and doesn't allow for combining, say, 2 UHF antennae.

I'm not sure why you are thinking that?
Read the description.You can combine any 2 antennas.I wouldn't try using one that has a built-in pre-amp and one that doesn't..I even use this on my camper that has the crank up pre-amp antenna along with a televes built-in pre-amp

 

[tcpuccio1]

I wound up buying a "5 star" long range UHF/VHF antenna and the 3 way antenna combiner mentioned at the top of the thread. this extra antenna I'm going to aim right at the tower that gets the crappy signal right now and hope for the best. bought an "open box" splitter/combiner thing off ebay and the antenna off Amazon. I'm probably going to keep the Omni antenna to just keep it to feed the base TV's and the 8 bay and the new antenna feed my Dish antenna dongle thing. And see how it goes. Football season is just around the corner and so it the hot weather so the sooner I can go up there and do it before I melt frosty the snowman in the TV special the better!

 

[tcpuccio1]

success! thanks guys long story short it works awesome. I bought the Televes combiner off Ebay "open box" it was missing the amplifier sent it back and bought a more simplified version just a 2 antenna combiner off Amazon Televes works fantastic. my NBC ,CBS, Fox feeds all read 100% signal strength! so should be able to watch sports in the fall without it is getting pixilated and glitchy!
NBC was the weakest signal on a good day no bad weather maybe 85% signal. the second antenna is pointed directly at the NBC local tower I didn't have to tweak the degrees put it right dead on the compass reading and wham a happy camper!!!

 

[sktn77a]

That's great news. The 8-bay bowtie antennas are pretty good with UHF and Hi-VHF but not so much for Lo-VHF. They are relatively good omnis, too. I have the same issues with my ChannelMaster 80 - gets good 360 UHF/Hi-VHF reception in a relatively poor area but Lo-VHF is iffy. I might try a lo-VHF antenna and the combiner you got. Do you have a link to that combiner?