About the only thing the ohm meter is going to help you with is checking for shorts or opens.For anything else you'd need one of those fancy analyzers the cable guys have,$$$$.
Balun Info?
- Thread starter Lone Gunman
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To test cable, I believe they put a load on one end and tone the line with certain frequencies from the other end to see if they echo back properly. Similar to testing CAT-5 etc.
When I had the H3 installed the tech toned my lines because the guy that put steel siding on my house had covered all the coax up in the process, it may have been just to find which cable went where...
When I had the H3 installed the tech toned my lines because the guy that put steel siding on my house had covered all the coax up in the process, it may have been just to find which cable went where...
I have a device like that, just for determining which is which, as you said.
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I personally wouldn't sweat coax. Just grab a new length. "Replumb " it. Great luck using compression fittings and a good crimping tool from Home Depot. A dab of silicone before the crimp assures 100% seal.
Your balun. I dont know. They all do the same thing (75>300 ohm). Quality is the key.
I live in the deep fringes. Too deep to get good TV. But am getting good FM from around 90 miles away as the bird flies. IF you throw on the throttle and pull the yoke back.
Anyway am using a Channel Master CM-7777 amplifier. Works sweet. My balun (nothing fancy) is stuck inside a PVC LB and the cable is siliconed in on the ends. Stuck up there by the antenna with the amp.
Your balun. I dont know. They all do the same thing (75>300 ohm). Quality is the key.
I live in the deep fringes. Too deep to get good TV. But am getting good FM from around 90 miles away as the bird flies. IF you throw on the throttle and pull the yoke back.
Anyway am using a Channel Master CM-7777 amplifier. Works sweet. My balun (nothing fancy) is stuck inside a PVC LB and the cable is siliconed in on the ends. Stuck up there by the antenna with the amp.
Yeah Trip, I scan every day to see if they are back and about 2 weeks ago I found a phone number for them online and called. What I got was an automated reply explaining that they were in the process of installing a new antenna?? I thought someone else was doing that and hadn't freed up 19 for WDBJ?
Ennywho, looks like some poor planning on someone's part because I suspect they knew well ahead of time what they needed to do but waited until the last minute to get it done? At least that's what it looks like to me. [/rolleyes] Bet their advertising dept is also taking a real hit on this one!
RE: "Replumb".................THAT is what I'm trying to avoid cuz it's a pain in the arse any way you go about it. Like I said, if/when WDBJ/WZBJ come back I'll see how it works. IIRC, the broadcast antennas for the furthermost stations I'm getting now are about of 65 miles or so from me, and, last week on a moderate tropho day I did scan in WGHP TV in High Point, Nc, which is about 125 miles due south of my location.
Hey, thanks all for the help and comments!! I'm in uncharted territory with this stuff but it's something I need to get myself up to speed on since I'm on my last leg with FTA satellite TV, ie, I'm planning for the worst with the 5G crap that's coming down the pipe and I want to have as much OTA TV that we normally watch on satellite now to fill the void!
Ahh. 125 miles. You need an amp. Definitely. Think it's a pain now? Try in another month or so.
We both live in the sticks, so I feel your pain. What coax are you using? dB loss per 100ft ?
Get the amp. Even if for the time being you have to use it inside. Closer to the antenna the better though.
Good luck, "Mr Fringy". lol.
You don't need a better antenna or a pre-amp, you need PRAYER!
125 miles is almost impossible unless it is from mountain top to mountain top.
He wasn't saying he was trying to get WGHP at 125 miles, just that he did on a good reception day.
- Trip
- Trip
Without reading all the way back. Not knowing how many cities you're trying to shoot for.
A nice, tight beamed yagi or log periodic with lot's of gain, a high gain mast mounted preamp. Once the signal "is there" even OK coax to the house would work.
Back in the day my dad and me set a 30 foot phone pole up on the hill and ran a couple hundred feet of commercial foam core coax and a Blonder-Tongue commercial preamp to the house. Buffalo (90 miles away) came in pretty darned good at 90 miles away peeking over hill tops.
I remember we put the antenna on a pole (a monster) and had a Sony battery powered TV up there. Moved around until we found that sweet spot.
Then it was pole hole digging time.
Anyhoo. In the middle of the winter on a clear night and cold as you know what out. Occasionally Wisconsin and Detroit would fade in for a bit. The antenna was fixed at Buffalo.
A nice, tight beamed yagi or log periodic with lot's of gain, a high gain mast mounted preamp. Once the signal "is there" even OK coax to the house would work.
Back in the day my dad and me set a 30 foot phone pole up on the hill and ran a couple hundred feet of commercial foam core coax and a Blonder-Tongue commercial preamp to the house. Buffalo (90 miles away) came in pretty darned good at 90 miles away peeking over hill tops.
I remember we put the antenna on a pole (a monster) and had a Sony battery powered TV up there. Moved around until we found that sweet spot.
Then it was pole hole digging time.
Anyhoo. In the middle of the winter on a clear night and cold as you know what out. Occasionally Wisconsin and Detroit would fade in for a bit. The antenna was fixed at Buffalo.
Well, on a low tropho ducting day today it looks like 3 channels on WZBJ 24 have finally come up to full power as I scanned that one in today. In the process though WFXR 27 was "come and go", ie, this morning only got a pixelating channel 27.4 but this afternoon all 4 channels scanned in? Ennywho, at this point the only one that's missing is WDBJ, which used to be on channel 7 but IIRC it's suppose to reappear on channel 19 with the new antenna that's being built??
So today I have 20 channels and if WDBJ comes back that will make it 22 and I'll be able to live with that. So for now I'm going to say I'm done with the antenna work but I am going to fix that original balun that came on that antenna so I can put it back if needed. You just can't have too much "stuff"!!
So today I have 20 channels and if WDBJ comes back that will make it 22 and I'll be able to live with that. So for now I'm going to say I'm done with the antenna work but I am going to fix that original balun that came on that antenna so I can put it back if needed. You just can't have too much "stuff"!!
UPDATE: Well, after reworking the original balun and reinstalling it on the antenna I could only depend on getting about 11 channels regularly. So last weekend I finally "bit the bullet" and changed out the coax and during that process I found out that the roofing ppl that replaced my roof 2 years ago had probably run roofing nails through the origional cable when they put the ridge vent back on??? Another WTF moment!! Ennywho, I replaced that coax and for the past 3 days I've had 34 channels. Here's the list and there's several there that are transmitted 66+ miles west of me.
OTA Channel scan with NEW coax cable installed.
WDBJ channel 7. 1 thru 4
WSLS channel 10. 1 thru 5
WSET channel 13. 1 thru 4
WCAV channel 19. 1 and 4 only
WWCW channel 21. 1 thru 4
WZBJ channel 24. 1 thru 3
WFXR channel 27. 1 thru 4
WZBJ ? channel 30. 1 only x not all TVs scan this one in
WFXR ? channel 36. 1 only x not all TVs scan this one in
WPXR channel 38. 1 thru 6
34 channels
Now lets just hope it stays like that for a long time cuz most ALL the TV that I record from satellites for viewing at a later time/date is now available on these OTA channels I currently have available!!
OTA Channel scan with NEW coax cable installed.
WDBJ channel 7. 1 thru 4
WSLS channel 10. 1 thru 5
WSET channel 13. 1 thru 4
WCAV channel 19. 1 and 4 only
WWCW channel 21. 1 thru 4
WZBJ channel 24. 1 thru 3
WFXR channel 27. 1 thru 4
WZBJ ? channel 30. 1 only x not all TVs scan this one in
WFXR ? channel 36. 1 only x not all TVs scan this one in
WPXR channel 38. 1 thru 6
34 channels
Now lets just hope it stays like that for a long time cuz most ALL the TV that I record from satellites for viewing at a later time/date is now available on these OTA channels I currently have available!!
In the absence of test equipment, troubleshooting becomes trial and error. Swaptronics if you will. There are differences between baluns when it comes to insertion loss and efficiency. A "round balun" could be just about anything when it comes to performance and loss. Also, all coax is not created equal either, in general you get what you pay for there is a reason the good stuff is expensive. You recall right about testing coax, you would need to sweep test it up to 600 Mhz. A DC check will only tell you if there is continuity in the conductors, it could pass that and be completely trashed at UHF frequencies.
Either a network analyzer, or a signal generator with spectrum analyzer. Total overkill for OTA, if in doubt, it may be better to just replace the coax.
Wkbn Youngstown ohio put up a new transmitter last year and the lower tier channels were broadcast at low power for a few months before they uped the power and give the channels new channel numbers. I agree with the pa guy. I am a western pa guy too.
OTA broadband baluns suck! LOL. Always some variation. But what I do is buy Channel Master outdoor baluns at around $6/each. A guy on one OTA forum by the username "rabbit73" tested some baluns. Older ChannelMaster baluns worked best, but the new ones could perform nearly as well if you cut the 300 ohm leads down to 2.5" long. That keeps insertion loss down.
I was pondering this. Are you sure the 27.1 you're scanning in is WFXR and not WCAV? And that WFXR hasn't been kicked over to 36.1?
It also could be that the duplicate WZBJ on the WDBJ signal is being kicked over to 30.1, while the WZBJ-CD RF19 signal is showing as 24.1...
- Trip
Just because. What says the antenna was designed to be 300 ohms and using a standard off the shelf 300/75 ohm balun is correct? Not knowing the antenna specs right off hand could it be the balun is a custom one designed to match the antenna for coax. Not a question, a statement.
I could be wrong.
I could be wrong.
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