kevinw
11-20-2002, 11:31 AM
For those who read my post about bad baluns and the infamous drip loop fiasco.
I was back on my roof, with a grade slightly less than Mt Everest and shingles with the grip of teflon. I pulled off the balun to find it full of moisture, well really filled with about 2 oz of rainwater-short ciruit city.
BAD BALUN (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F004%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1108)
So off to Radio Shack with old parts in hand. As usual the staff at my local RATSHACK( not to be confused with Ratman's place) were happy to replace it with the next model up due to my old one being out of stock and at no cost to me(I love Radio Shack)
New Balun and Amp. (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F004%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1109)
As evening approaches, I climbed again up 2 stories and again went to the mountain top. I quickly connected the new amp-WITH DRIP LOOPS.
Soon a crowd of my beer drinking neighbors gathered in the dark to watch me re-point the antenna using auditory clues from my nine year old yelling " 20% no 60, no 20 Dad I gotta pee.."
Finally settling with a solid 20% usless lock on the signal I climbed down.
Scanning for channels produced 3 out of 7 with 100% lock. But these 3 used to be only 90 and what about the rest that were formally 100 but now non-existent. My drip loop could not possibly keep the electrons from flowing..Turned down the gain and Voila between 90 and 100 on all 7 channels.
I HAVE HD TV...and Driploops.
Moral to the story Radio Shack is great and DO NOT forget your driploops
:D
I was back on my roof, with a grade slightly less than Mt Everest and shingles with the grip of teflon. I pulled off the balun to find it full of moisture, well really filled with about 2 oz of rainwater-short ciruit city.
BAD BALUN (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F004%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1108)
So off to Radio Shack with old parts in hand. As usual the staff at my local RATSHACK( not to be confused with Ratman's place) were happy to replace it with the next model up due to my old one being out of stock and at no cost to me(I love Radio Shack)
New Balun and Amp. (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F004%5F004%5F000&product%5Fid=15%2D1109)
As evening approaches, I climbed again up 2 stories and again went to the mountain top. I quickly connected the new amp-WITH DRIP LOOPS.
Soon a crowd of my beer drinking neighbors gathered in the dark to watch me re-point the antenna using auditory clues from my nine year old yelling " 20% no 60, no 20 Dad I gotta pee.."
Finally settling with a solid 20% usless lock on the signal I climbed down.
Scanning for channels produced 3 out of 7 with 100% lock. But these 3 used to be only 90 and what about the rest that were formally 100 but now non-existent. My drip loop could not possibly keep the electrons from flowing..Turned down the gain and Voila between 90 and 100 on all 7 channels.
I HAVE HD TV...and Driploops.
Moral to the story Radio Shack is great and DO NOT forget your driploops
:D
