3 TVs - what to do

[techno935]

Considering I have 3 TVs, and the "mast amplifier" idea only seems to work with one TV. Is it best to have a "distribution" area or room where I have the down lead arrive and and then do the split.

Basically, what I'm saying is I don't know what I'm saying! HELP!

I'm at a point where there are 2 channels I'm not getting and I know I can get them but I'm not sure if it's worth amping up or moving from the small mast to the larger mast. If I have to take the large mast down, down comes the FTA satellite and motor for a while and it's such a pain in the a** to lower that mast.

I wanna receive WTVX-DT and WPBF-DT, the rest of the channels I care to receive are in the "green" section.

My coordinates are 26.239288 latitude North and -80.11777 West (decimal format for TV fool)

Here are the TVfool.com pictures of my situation. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Anole]

As a result of studying your post, and the TvFool site, I see several things . . .

- you are trying to get signals from two directions, so you need two antenna, and a way to combine them without causing interference.
(how do you feel about a switch or a rotator?)

- you have an adjacent channel problem with WFGC being stronger on 49, than WTVX on channel 50.
(turn your antenna toward channel 50)

- there are already CW and ABC stations south of you, but you also want the northern channels.
(... uhhhhh .... why?) -

- there is some sort of obstruction north of you (that 2-edge diffraction) but raising your antenna to 65' would clear it.
(probably not necessary, but it would help. Can you do it?)


That's quite a wish list ya got there. And enough to be pretty discouraging.
Makes my TvFool printout pale by comparison. -
I'll be watching the thread to see what solution is found.

 

[techno935]

- you are trying to get signals from two directions, so you need two antenna, and a way to combine them without causing interference.
(how do you feel about a switch or a rotator?)

Switch? Could use a rotor for one antenna on the UHF department. Do the antennas have to be on the same mast? It's a line of sight issue. That's all. Is it possible to have the antennas on different masts on different sides of the house? That should hopefully work. One would think it does.

- there are already CW and ABC stations south of you, but you also want the northern channels.
(... uhhhhh .... why?) -

RTN is on the West Palm CW and the ABC up north shows weekend Wheel of Fortune. Pretty well upset that there is no RTN in my DMA yet. I figured I'd aim for WTVX.

- there is some sort of obstruction north of you (that 2-edge diffraction) but raising your antenna to 65' would clear it.
(probably not necessary, but it would help. Can you do it?)

Yea I can do it, I just don't wanna put an antenna rig on the bigger mast and then find out it makes no difference. The mast only goes up 40'

That's quite a wish list ya got there. And enough to be pretty discouraging.
Makes my TvFool printout pale by comparison. -

The green ones come in fine, the only red ones I'm after are the 2 aforementioned stations. WTVX (CW with the RTN subchanel) and WPBF (with the weekend Wheel of Fortune)

This is the dilemma of living in the midst of 2 DMAs. :/ I spend more time twirling the antennas on an untightened mast just to fix the signal strength for both directions. Only problem is that the 2 antennas are NOT identical. One is a standard style VHF/UHF combo aimed for Miami-Dade (south) stations. The UHF yagi is meant for the north. Guess it doesn't really help having a huge pine tree in the front yard blocking the view of the UHF.

If I move the UHF yagi to the larger mast, there is no issue on LOS. I just don't wanna rely on a rotator. I wanna have fixed positions.

 

[Anole]

I agree that fixed antenna makes more sense (at least to me).
Dial 'em in once and be done with it.
Just that some folks have the hots for rotators, and can't be talked out of 'em.

Say, as an alternate solution . . . can't you get the programming you want on FTA satellite?
You're already equipped. -

 

[techno935]

Yea Yea yea I know. Was kind of hoping to get some RTN locally so grandma doesn't have to press a bunch of buttons. WTVX does have a pretty good RTN schedule.

 

[Anole]

Whole different approach.
I like the solution that I know will work and work well.
Here is one:

FTA receiver tuned to RTN, connected to a modulator , set to a spare channel, and combined with the other incoming TV channels.
The choice of channel, and the method of combining is critical, but still a slam-dunk.

Couple of years ago, a buddy set up some now-obsolete Radio Shack modulators on three UHF channels, and combined them with his cable TV, feeding the house with three extra dedicated channels.
His folks loved it.
Another buddy, used some semi-pro equipment to put his channels down in the 7 - 13 range, but he's an ex TV station engineer.

 

[techno935]

That sounds sweet!

One other question, if I get a successful signal strength from those 2 channels on a separate mast, could that be combined with another mast on the other side of the roof without problems? I think I may try that route.

 

[Anole]

... if I get a successful signal strength from those 2 channels on a separate mast, could that be combined with another mast on the other side of the roof without problems?

"could be combined" ? sure
"without problems" ? . . . welllllllll

I don't build community antenna systems, but I do think you'll probably need some semi-professional equipment to get the job done, given your non-optimal circumstances.
First, ya gotta -get- the signals, and they've got to be clean.
You haven't demonstrated that, yet.

Some of your hard-to-get signals are 25db down from the rest.
If you were to get bandpass filters for just those weak stations, you'd also have to research whether they will change frequency come Feb 2009.

I have an ex-TVstation engineer buddy who pre-amps and pre-filters the off-the-air stations at his house, then recombines them with commercial modulators fed by a bank of Dish receivers , throughout his house.
Next time I chat with him, I'll try to get refreshed on exactly how he did that.

In the mean time, I think you need to find an expert in the field.
But once you have a workable plan, it's possible to get much of the equipment surplus, so cost need not be astronomical.