TV ANTENNA USE

[OnTexasTime]

TV ANTENNA USE

Calling on those with the knowledge for some advice on television reception using a TV Antenna. I just moved and the local cable system, decided not to extend cable 1500 feet to service me. I am located in Navarro County.

For the time being I bought a $30.00 Radio Shack Antenna and set it on top of a 19 inch RCA. I can pick up 4,5,8,11,13,21,23,25,27,29,33,39,49,52,58 and 68 fairly clearly most of the time. There are also a few others trying to come in slightly.

My question is, what type of outside antenna do you think will work with my RG6 wiring and give me good service? What other channels might I expect to pick up from my location? Other than not having the cable news, I think I could be happy with a good antenna system. Any and all advice will be appreciated.

 

[CW]

> TV ANTENNA USE
>
> Calling on those with the knowledge for some advice on
> television reception using a TV Antenna. I just moved and
> the local cable system, decided not to extend cable 1500
> feet to service me. I am located in Navarro County.
>
> For the time being I bought a $30.00 Radio Shack Antenna and
> set it on top of a 19 inch RCA. I can pick up
> 4,5,8,11,13,21,23,25,27,29,33,39,49,52,58 and 68 fairly
> clearly most of the time. There are also a few others trying
> to come in slightly.
>
> My question is, what type of outside antenna do you think
> will work with my RG6 wiring and give me good service? What
> other channels might I expect to pick up from my location?
> Other than not having the cable news, I think I could be
> happy with a good antenna system. Any and all advice will be
> appreciated.
>
Most of the TV channels you are watching now are in the Cedar Hill area...so its not surprising you can pick them up with what you have...Any good outside antenna will be ok...IF you go with a higher gain antenna with a narrow beamwidth, you would have to get a rotor to move the antenna one way or the other for best reception plus allow you to pick up those stations south, east and west of you. CATV systems use cut-to-channel antennas and filters for the off air signals and then feed a remodulator..which gives the best performance but costs the most.

 

[arnoldevns]

> TV ANTENNA USE
>
> Calling on those with the knowledge for some advice on
> television reception using a TV Antenna. I just moved and
> the local cable system, decided not to extend cable 1500
> feet to service me. I am located in Navarro County.
>
> For the time being I bought a $30.00 Radio Shack Antenna and
> set it on top of a 19 inch RCA. I can pick up
> 4,5,8,11,13,21,23,25,27,29,33,39,49,52,58 and 68 fairly
> clearly most of the time. There are also a few others trying
> to come in slightly.
>
> My question is, what type of outside antenna do you think
> will work with my RG6 wiring and give me good service? What
> other channels might I expect to pick up from my location?
> Other than not having the cable news, I think I could be
> happy with a good antenna system. Any and all advice will be
> appreciated.
>

Let me throw another option at you: There's a new wireless cable service available that's transmitting from the digital TV stations at Cedar Hill. It's called USDTV. There's more info on their website at usdtv.com.
They sell a set top box at some Wal-Mart stores and charge 19.95 a month for about 12 cable channels. (and I think they're looking to add more) You also get the DTV signals of all the local stations at Cedar Hill, including the multi-plexed signals. You do not need an HDTV for this service. I would imagine you will need a good high gain antenna pointed at Cedar Hill to receive this, or any other signal, in a useable form.

 

[OnTexasTime]

>
> Let me throw another option at you: There's a new wireless
> cable service available that's transmitting from the digital
> TV stations at Cedar Hill. It's called USDTV. There's more
> info on their website at usdtv.com.
> They sell a set top box at some Wal-Mart stores and charge
> 19.95 a month for about 12 cable channels. (and I think
> they're looking to add more) You also get the DTV signals
> of all the local stations at Cedar Hill, including the
> multi-plexed signals. You do not need an HDTV for this
> service. I would imagine you will need a good high gain
> antenna pointed at Cedar Hill to receive this, or any other
> signal, in a useable form.
>

THANKS, for that thought, just checked and they say I am outside their coverage area at this time.

 

[OnTexasTime]

> Most of the TV channels you are watching now are in the
> Cedar Hill area...so its not surprising you can pick them up
> with what you have...Any good outside antenna will be
> ok...IF you go with a higher gain antenna with a narrow
> beamwidth, you would have to get a rotor to move the antenna
> one way or the other for best reception plus allow you to
> pick up those stations south, east and west of you. CATV
> systems use cut-to-channel antennas and filters for the off
> air signals and then feed a remodulator..which gives the
> best performance but costs the most.
>

Thanks for that info -- question -- can an individual put more than one antenna on a pole and tie them both back into the same wiring feeding the TV's?

 

[_Jim]

.
.
> can an individual put more than one antenna on a pole
> and tie them both back into the same wiring feeding the TV's?

Whoa!

I suppose you could use a 1:2 splitter (2-way hybrid) as
a 2:1 combiner and 'sum' the signal output from two antennas
together.

Do you have a degree in electrical engineering or any
practical experience as a ham? In going into a venture like
this, you have to consider such things as impedance matching,
insertion loss, combining losses and so forth and be able to
interpret results sometimes (things are NOT always as they
seem when working with RF).

I don't know how low in loss today's splitters are, and this
will affect your results to some degree. Without any access
to test equipment like signal strength meters, signal generators
and spectrum analyzers, if you hit a snag you won't be able
to perform any tests and deduce what's happening. Heck, most
TV techs may only have TV signal strength meter (and even
the cheap ones like my old Sadelco FS-3D VS can read absolute
signal level and I can easily see a dB or so difference in
signal strength when performing tests.

I did some antennna pattern 'cutting' a few years ago, used
a 10 turn potentiometer as a shaft angle encoder, A/D's that
into a PC along with A/Ding the DC output voltage from a
spectrum analyzer used as a zero span receiver. I tested
straight-out element Jerrold 933 and Channel Master swept
element log periodic antennas; this was to settle a bet as
to what 'sweeping' the elements back did in the real world
as opposed to the scuttlebutt passed on down from old wives
tales.

I'd have to go back and check my notes, by the gist is the
gain falls off just a little by sweeping the elements BUT it
relieves the sharp nulls usualy seen off to the sides of the
antenna (off or in the direction of the dipole).

 

[DXER1]

> > Most of the TV channels you are watching now are in the
> > Cedar Hill area...so its not surprising you can pick them
> up
> > with what you have...Any good outside antenna will be
> > ok...IF you go with a higher gain antenna with a narrow
> > beamwidth, you would have to get a rotor to move the
> antenna
> > one way or the other for best reception plus allow you to
> > pick up those stations south, east and west of you. CATV
> > systems use cut-to-channel antennas and filters for the
> off
> > air signals and then feed a remodulator..which gives the
> > best performance but costs the most.
> >
>
> Thanks for that info -- question -- can an individual put
> more than one antenna on a pole and tie them both back into
> the same wiring feeding the TV's?
>
I have a VU 75 XR antenna from Radio Shack and can pull stations with in about a hundred mile radius. From Carrollton wich is north of Dallas if I aim my antenna to the north I can pick up 10 and 12 out of Sherman if I aim it to the north east I can sometimes pick up Wichita Falls stations I have my antenna about 10 feet above the ground and can see all the Dallas stations plus some. A friend of mine near Corsicana using that antenna about 20 feet in the air can pick up all of the Dallas, most of the Waco stations (6,10,25,34,and 44), Tyler Lufkin(7,9,19,51, and 56) and sometimes Houston depending on time of day (2,8,11,13,20,26, and 39) Austin occasionally makes it into his place(7,24,36,42, and 54) but he has a rotator to rotate at the stations. FM is like wise<P ID="signature">______________
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[CW]

> Thanks for that info -- question -- can an individual put
> more than one antenna on a pole and tie them both back into
> the same wiring feeding the TV's?

You COULD BUT there are issues---
1) The "other" antenna not looking at the signal in question may pick up noise you would not see on the proper antenna...thus adding noise into the signal.
2) The "other" antenna may cause cancellation of the desired signal off the main antenna...key word is MAY....it may NOT either but also allows interference on the channel in question to come in from another station on the same channel...not good in either case.

Best thing to do in your case is put up a single large antenna and use a rotor...so you can look in other directions or null the undesired signal...
cant do that with two antennas tied together...unless you get real creative with the spacing, coax lines, etc to create a RF Null....but that changes from channel to channel and for your use would be a royal PITA

 

[cc-hou-sucks]

i seam to remember reading some-where that you could stack 2 identical antennas on top of each other pointing in the same direction (separated by a few feet don't remember the exact distance) that they would work together and improve the signal

> > Thanks for that info -- question -- can an individual put
> > more than one antenna on a pole and tie them both back
> into
> > the same wiring feeding the TV's?
>
> You COULD BUT there are issues---
> 1) The "other" antenna not looking at the signal in question
> may pick up noise you would not see on the proper
> antenna...thus adding noise into the signal.
> 2) The "other" antenna may cause cancellation of the desired
> signal off the main antenna...key word is MAY....it may NOT
> either but also allows interference on the channel in
> question to come in from another station on the same
> channel...not good in either case.
>
> Best thing to do in your case is put up a single large
> antenna and use a rotor...so you can look in other
> directions or null the undesired signal...
> cant do that with two antennas tied together...unless you
> get real creative with the spacing, coax lines, etc to
> create a RF Null....but that changes from channel to channel
> and for your use would be a royal PITA
>
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