Antenna problems

[Wolfpacker96]

I'm having a lot trouble getting HDTV reception. I just put up a Radio Shack VU-120 (they were out of the 160) and it doesn't pick up hardly anything. I live about 30-50 miles from most of the stations (Charlotte) and the terrain is fairly flat. The antenna is mounted on my chimney on a 10' pole and my single story house is on a small hill. Behind my house (in the opposite direction of the TV stations) are three tall towers that I think are used for two-way radios. I purchased a rotator but haven't installed it yet. I've been trying to turn it by hand for now until I finalize what antenna I need (most of the stations are in the same direction according to antennaweb.org). I have a 10db amplifier on the line. The oddest thing is that I found one of those Radio Shack bow-tie antennas for $2 and it picks up better than the roof antenna!

I just find it really hard to believe that I can't pick up these station easier. Especially after reading a lot of your testimonies on this site. According to antennaweb.org I should be able to get 16 digital stations with my antenna and I can only get one that has a high enough signal strength to show up on HDTV. I can get three with my bow-tie, but with a lot of turning and signal drops a lot. Even when I switch over to analog signals I can only get about 4 or 5 stations and most look really bad.

I also use Dish Network and am running a 25' cable over to the dish and have a splitter installed there and use the single line back into the house. I was going to put another spitter behind my TV to split the signals to the two receivers but haven't installed it yet. Just been unhooking my satellite. The satellite has had no signal degradation since I installed the splitter.

My question is this. Do ya'll think I should run a single coax cable from my antenna to the HDTV box? The way I have it hooked up is the way Radio Shack recommended, but I wonder if I'm losing signal strength somewhere. Seems to me that if I was losing signal in the splitter that the satellite signal would be affected to. Could the towers behind my house be screwing my reception? I did put that information in the antennaweb.org site and all the info about the stations that I have said is based on that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[Ratman]

You cannot use a 'splitter' to combine satellite and OTA signals. You must use a pair of "diplexers". One the the dish side (to combine) and one at the TV end (to uncombine).
Regular 'splitters' will not work.

The best way to go is a direct coax run from the antenna to the STB.

[aerialist]

First of all if the 10 db. amplifier is the bullet type or the distribution type at the end of the co-ax run remove them. Next find out if the digital stations are on vhf and uhf then use a Winegard hd8200p and select a pre-amp that fits in the cartridge housing. You may need help on this. If the towers close to you are fm radio transmission towers then you must use a fm trap before the pre-amp Winegard ft7500 if you do this then you cannot use a cartridge pre-amp you must select the Wine gard chromestar 2000 series pre-amp types. If the digital stations are uhf only the go with a Channelmaster 4228 bow tie style with a Low noise Channelmaster or winegard pre-amp. And please do not use cheep rg6 wire the kind Lowes, Best Buy, Home Depot, or radio shack brands. Get some Belden, Commscope. Or Times wire and cable type. Thier is a difference! Winegard has the most selection of pre-amp types. Some amplify vhf only and by pass uhf. Or just the opposite. Some have high input levels and some flat out high gain with low level inputs. Winegard use to have a pre-amp called the pa series the were housed in a metal shielded box with a noise level of 1db! What happened to them I do not know. Installation of antennas is another matter and the art of it wouls take a seminar to explain to you. I have been installing since 1968 and have had many surprises. John L.

[Wolfpacker96]

Ratman, it actually is a diplexer not a splitter. I will try removing the 10db amplifier too in case that is the problem.

Aerialist I'm sure all the info you gave me is the best way to go, but I haven't found any local dealers that carry a decent selection of antennas. All my digital stations are uhf, and I could care less about getting them with analog. I have no idea what frequency the towers are behind me except that is it an industrial distribution facility that likely uses two-way radio communications. I just don't understand why my indoor antenna picks up better. I check around and see if I can find better cable.

[Wolfpacker96]

One other thing aerialist. Is that Channelmaster 4228 a multidirectional antenna or would I need a rotator? Most of the stations are in the same direction (within 20 degrees or so). I've never used that type of antenna.

[Ratman]

The 4228 should work fine. You either have a cable/connector problem, bad diplexer(s), or the amp is not properly getting DC power.

Start simple...
Do a temporary run from the 4228 to the STB (no amps/splitter/diplexer). Depending on what you get, work from there. Then add in the diplexer(s) and see what you get, then add the amp if necessary.

If you can get a lock using the RSDBT, the 4228 should work.

[aerialist]

Try Warren electronics and stark electronics both on the internet also it may be Warren radio try both. Yes the 4228 is directional and Channel Master has even a more directional model the 4248 you may need a rotor for this one . I agree with ratman . Get the items out of the line from aerial to stb. And please use an outdoor balun or transformer as they are called. I CANNOT tell you how many times I removed the incorrect transformer because it was made for indoor use only. Modifacations can be made to the 4228 and the 4248 to null rear signal ingress through the reflector on both aerials and it works well. Remember when you amplify you are raising more than just vhf or uhf signal levels. Many out of band things go into the factor also. I wish i was closer to help you out . This weekend I will travel to far north western Chicago land to gather digital information and signal levels on an installation I did last summer. I hope to get digital 3 WBBM CBS . This station has some sad issues and thier signal , well it just plain sucks. John L.