HDTV antenna confusion: dB amplification
- Thread starter MaxDepth
- Start date
higher power is presumably better -- but I think it's fairly hit/miss on what will work best for you.
A while back my TV died. It worked well for the previous ~10years with a $12 passive amplified pole antenna that i placed horizontally on top of my tv stand.
Bought a new tv -- and reception sucked.
So I hunted for a new antenna, going from a newer pole-type, to an amplified pole-type, to a high-power amplified pole-type -- all had poor results.
Then I tried an unpowered "bowtie" type from Terk -- and it works ok.
A powered bowtie-type didn't make much of a difference. If I cranked the power up to make my poorest channel watchable, then all the other channels would be over saturated (can't think of a better term). So I went back to an unpowered bow-tie type.
Seems odd that my older TV had better reception.
A while back my TV died. It worked well for the previous ~10years with a $12 passive amplified pole antenna that i placed horizontally on top of my tv stand.
Bought a new tv -- and reception sucked.
So I hunted for a new antenna, going from a newer pole-type, to an amplified pole-type, to a high-power amplified pole-type -- all had poor results.
Then I tried an unpowered "bowtie" type from Terk -- and it works ok.
A powered bowtie-type didn't make much of a difference. If I cranked the power up to make my poorest channel watchable, then all the other channels would be over saturated (can't think of a better term). So I went back to an unpowered bow-tie type.
Seems odd that my older TV had better reception.
Look at them. Their shapes differ a lot. I think you pay for the different shape with the second one.
KB
Diamond Member
- Nov 8, 1999
- 5,406
- 389
- 126
Zenith ZHDTV1 HDTV-UHF Digital Indoor Antenna FTW!
Best antenna I have ever used.. and its cheap. http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-ZHDTV1-HDTV-UHF-Digital-Antenna/dp/B00006FXR9
Best antenna I have ever used.. and its cheap. http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-ZHDTV1-HDTV-UHF-Digital-Antenna/dp/B00006FXR9
- Jun 12, 2001
- 8,757
- 43
- 91
The loop is for UHF, same with the boxy shape. Yeah, so is it a grid in the box or more like a tuning rack? That may be the point of getting a cleaner signal for UHF but wouldn't you still want more voltage? I mean the other model has 50% less and 10 dollars more.
I'll go ask an EE...
(In my current situation I need UHF and VHF tuning as cable is outrageous here and I live amongst beautiful trees that also happen to block a satelite line of sight.)
Gibson486
Lifer
- Aug 9, 2000
- 18,378
- 2
- 0
Originally posted by: MaxDepth
The loop is for UHF, same with the boxy shape. Yeah, so is it a grid in the box or more like a tuning rack? That may be the point of getting a cleaner signal for UHF but wouldn't you still want more voltage? I mean the other model has 50% less and 10 dollars more.
I'll go ask an EE...
(In my current situation I need UHF and VHF tuning as cable is outrageous here and I live amongst beautiful trees that also happen to block a satelite line of sight.)
No, because more gain can also lead to more distortion (more gain = more sensitive, clipping, etc). It depends what is optimized in the antenna.
bought one of those too, but it doesn't work for crap for me. all my signals chop once about every 2 min.
best antenna:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103058
i have this and it works great!!!
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103058
i have this and it works great!!!
IGBT
Lifer
- Jul 16, 2001
- 17,967
- 140
- 106
..what ever ya get be shure you can shut the preamp off to avoid overloading the front end of the set. You may not need much. I connected a small jumper wire to the back of my Bravia and autoscaned 36 digital over the air channels. Try a jumper wire aprox 12" just to see what's there.
You need the input to be at a certain level.
One antena needs to boost it more than the other to get the signal to that level.
The one boosting it more, is also boosting the noise more.
One antena needs to boost it more than the other to get the signal to that level.
The one boosting it more, is also boosting the noise more.
Good antenna's don't need amplifiers. I went through three RadioShack antenna's and got OK results but they all required an amplifier.
I picked up a Channel Master 4228 locally and I pick up every Charlotte station without an amplifier. I will need an amplified splitter though because I have a 4 way splitter on it, one going to my TV, two to the HTPC and one to the FM input on my PVR-500. Causes me to lose the two higheszt channels. Straight in to the TV works perfectly though.
So I went ahead and looked at your profile and saw that you lived over in RTP, and so I looked up on antennaweb.org what you might be looking at. I used some generic RTP address and saw that all the stations are within about a 30 mile radius of you. That's good, but the bad news is that all of the digital stations are scattered from the SW, S and SE.
Antenna's are highly directional. I have about a 50 degree area I need to pick up signals from Charlotte (I'm in Rock Hill) and that's why I picked a CM4228. If they were within twenty degrees of each other a CM4221 would have been fine.
Now, your analog channels are all over the map. Every which direction, but they do seem to be fairly close to you. Everything except WRAY out of Wilson, WRPX out of Rocky Mount and WFMY out of Greensboro everything else is within thirty miles of you on the analog side.
Here is the map i snapped off of antennaweb.org so other can see what I'm talking about.
http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rtpantennaol6.png
A: 47
B: 30
C: 5, 5.1, 11, 11.1, 17, 17.1, 28, 50, 50.1
D: 22, 34
E: 40, 40.1
F: 2, 4, 4.1
G: 13
This is for your analog + digital channels. Your digitals are the direction of C, E and F. As you can see, in Triangle Park, you're in the middle of everything.
You have no choice but to pick up a Omni-directional antenna. RadioShack sells one:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062075
Channel Master also has one:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/3000.htm
It's rated for 30 miles UHF and 45 miles VHF. That is of course under ideal conditions. Honestly, after using the RadioShack omni directional I would go with the Channel Master. I would try these guys:
O'Rourke Bros. Distributing
326 West Lane St.
Raleigh, NC 27603
Phone: 800-772-3947
They are distributors and don't HAVE to sell to customers but some do. You could also try:
Dow Electronics
301 Pomona Dr. Suite D
Greensboro, NC 27407
Phone: (800) 627-2900
Phone Number 2: (800) 627-2910
These are the people I boght mine from in Charlotte. The 4228 is eighty bucks retail, but by getting it from the distributor got me a massive discount. I guess it depends on the employees at the distributor.
Lastly, you should also skim this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=147473&page=1&pp=30
Other people in your area will be able to give you the best advice b ut just looking at antenna web you don't seem to have any other choice but an omni directional antenna or constantly reposition your antenna to pick up various channels.
I picked up a Channel Master 4228 locally and I pick up every Charlotte station without an amplifier. I will need an amplified splitter though because I have a 4 way splitter on it, one going to my TV, two to the HTPC and one to the FM input on my PVR-500. Causes me to lose the two higheszt channels. Straight in to the TV works perfectly though.
So I went ahead and looked at your profile and saw that you lived over in RTP, and so I looked up on antennaweb.org what you might be looking at. I used some generic RTP address and saw that all the stations are within about a 30 mile radius of you. That's good, but the bad news is that all of the digital stations are scattered from the SW, S and SE.
Antenna's are highly directional. I have about a 50 degree area I need to pick up signals from Charlotte (I'm in Rock Hill) and that's why I picked a CM4228. If they were within twenty degrees of each other a CM4221 would have been fine.
Now, your analog channels are all over the map. Every which direction, but they do seem to be fairly close to you. Everything except WRAY out of Wilson, WRPX out of Rocky Mount and WFMY out of Greensboro everything else is within thirty miles of you on the analog side.
Here is the map i snapped off of antennaweb.org so other can see what I'm talking about.
http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rtpantennaol6.png
A: 47
B: 30
C: 5, 5.1, 11, 11.1, 17, 17.1, 28, 50, 50.1
D: 22, 34
E: 40, 40.1
F: 2, 4, 4.1
G: 13
This is for your analog + digital channels. Your digitals are the direction of C, E and F. As you can see, in Triangle Park, you're in the middle of everything.
You have no choice but to pick up a Omni-directional antenna. RadioShack sells one:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062075
Channel Master also has one:
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/3000.htm
It's rated for 30 miles UHF and 45 miles VHF. That is of course under ideal conditions. Honestly, after using the RadioShack omni directional I would go with the Channel Master. I would try these guys:
O'Rourke Bros. Distributing
326 West Lane St.
Raleigh, NC 27603
Phone: 800-772-3947
They are distributors and don't HAVE to sell to customers but some do. You could also try:
Dow Electronics
301 Pomona Dr. Suite D
Greensboro, NC 27407
Phone: (800) 627-2900
Phone Number 2: (800) 627-2910
These are the people I boght mine from in Charlotte. The 4228 is eighty bucks retail, but by getting it from the distributor got me a massive discount. I guess it depends on the employees at the distributor.
Lastly, you should also skim this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=147473&page=1&pp=30
Other people in your area will be able to give you the best advice b ut just looking at antenna web you don't seem to have any other choice but an omni directional antenna or constantly reposition your antenna to pick up various channels.
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