Cutting The Cord And Looking For Help

[comfortably_numb]

Well WOOOT!

I put my antenna together (pretty simple) about 10 minutes and no tools.

Quickly mounted it to the top of about 15' of mast and propped it all up and eyeballed the general direction of all our towers 40-60 miles away with weak 2Edge signals.

Didn't take the time to hook up the RCA preamp yet and went inside and told the TV to scan for channels.... lo and behold it found 11 out of 22 channels that different sites thought might be possible at 30-40 feet of elevation...

Some of the channels are a bit blurry or with edge pixelation but not dropping at this time. To be fair though, it's a picture perfect evening...

Maybe now I'll head out and put a little turn on the antenna and see if I can clear up any of them.

Tomorrow I'll hook up the preamp and see what that does for picking up any more... again at only 15' elevation! I have 40' more mast coming soon. And I found it used at a fence company, so it's the good stuff!

Thanks all for the advice as of late!!

Congrats! Let us know your results after you combine it with the preamp

 

[osu1991]

Digital you either get it with a clear picture or you don't. Adjusting the antenna won't clear any blurriness. If those are 480 subchannels being upconverted, that is probably as good as they will get.

 

[harshness]

If those are 480 subchannels being upconverted, that is probably as good as they will get.

Alternatively, it if the TV is a really cheap model, its own handling of 480i content might not be that great.

 

[Ironmagz]

The TV is a 2016 LG OLED 65" E6. At least I think it's the E6 (I've slept since), flat screen, picture on glass, 3D, built in sound bar.

So I got the preamp installed, hooked up and got an additional 6 channels to come in! That is 17 total now out of 22 I was hopeful for and all at only 15' elevation.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the antenna close to the single TV or to move it to where the satellite dish and existing coax leads are to the rest of the house... I'm guessing I'll have some extra signal loss to account for in sending through a 3-way splitter.

The good thing is that the grounding point and everything is already there and therefore would simplify a lot of the final installation.

So what's the consensus on whether the preamp power will push through about 55' of coax, 3-way splitter and then up a mast height of up to 40' to the antenna?

 

[comfortably_numb]

The TV is a 2016 LG OLED 65" E6. At least I think it's the E6 (I've slept since), flat screen, picture on glass, 3D, built in sound bar.

So I got the preamp installed, hooked up and got an additional 6 channels to come in! That is 17 total now out of 22 I was hopeful for and all at only 15' elevation.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the antenna close to the single TV or to move it to where the satellite dish and existing coax leads are to the rest of the house... I'm guessing I'll have some extra signal loss to account for in sending through a 3-way splitter.

The good thing is that the grounding point and everything is already there and therefore would simplify a lot of the final installation.

So what's the consensus on whether the preamp power will push through about 55' of coax, 3-way splitter and then up a mast height of up to 40' to the antenna?

It’s under 100’ so you should be ok. Do you have the preamp up close to the antenna and the power inserter inside somewhere?

 

[boba]

The TV is a 2016 LG OLED 65" E6. At least I think it's the E6 (I've slept since), flat screen, picture on glass, 3D, built in sound bar.

So I got the preamp installed, hooked up and got an additional 6 channels to come in! That is 17 total now out of 22 I was hopeful for and all at only 15' elevation.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the antenna close to the single TV or to move it to where the satellite dish and existing coax leads are to the rest of the house... I'm guessing I'll have some extra signal loss to account for in sending through a 3-way splitter.

The good thing is that the grounding point and everything is already there and therefore would simplify a lot of the final installation.

So what's the consensus on whether the preamp power will push through about 55' of coax, 3-way splitter and then up a mast height of up to 40' to the antenna?

The splitter will cost you 7dB of signal lost, raising the antenna will increase the strength of the signal. Trial and error, What do you have for an antenna? Which pre-amp did you get how much gain does it have?

 

[comfortably_numb]

The splitter will cost you 7dB of signal lost

Signal strength yes, signal quality no (in my experience). When putting in 2-way or 3-way splitters, I usually see some loss on the signal strength side, but it usually doesn't degrade the signal quality measurement.

 

[Ironmagz]

It’s under 100’ so you should be ok. Do you have the preamp up close to the antenna and the power inserter inside somewhere?

Yes I have the amp attached up high with about a 30" coax. And the inserter is at the TV.

 

[comfortably_numb]

If you end up buying an HD Homerun, you can use the iPhone app called Signal GH to help you fine-tine your antenna. It comes in really useful, especially if there are any fringe stations you're trying to hone-in on.

 

[Ironmagz]

The splitter will cost you 7dB of signal lost, raising the antenna will increase the strength of the signal. Trial and error, What do you have for an antenna? Which pre-amp did you get how much gain does it have?

The antenna I got is Manufacturer: STELLAR LABS Manufacturer Part No: 30-2440 - a 60 mile yagi.
The preamp is the RCA TVPRAMP1Z VHF gain: 16dB and UHF gain: 22dB

My TVFOOL report is a pic I inserted within the first few posts of this thread. At 15' where I'm at now I look to be working with all 2Edge signals... I am working on moving that antenna up closer to 40', which will supposedly bring half or so back to a 1Edge signal.

 

[Ironmagz]

If you end up buying an HD Homerun, you can use the iPhone app called Signal GH to help you fine-tine your antenna. It comes in really useful, especially if there are any fringe stations you're trying to hone-in on.

I'll have to find someone's iPhone to borrow or find out what the Android equivalent is. But that does sound like a good idea since my expensive OLED (which I really really love) doesn't have a signal meter.... I guess till then I'll check to see if my little 48" mid price Samsung LED has a meter at all and maybe carry it into the room for playing with.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I'll have to find someone's iPhone to borrow or find out what the Android equivalent is. But that does sound like a good idea since my expensive OLED (which I really really love) doesn't have a signal meter.... I guess till then I'll check to see if my little 48" mid price Samsung LED has a meter at all and maybe carry it into the room for playing with.

The Android app is called "Hdhomerun Signal Meter" Hdhomerun Signal Meter - Android Apps on Google Play

It's free

 

[harshness]

Rather than making us dig through the Newark site, you should endeavor to post a more direct link to the product in question. To wit:

http://www.newark.com/stellar-labs/30-2440/vhf-uhf-hdtv-60-mile-fringe-yagi/dp/88W2140

 

[Ironmagz]

Rather than making us dig through the Newark site, you should endeavor to post a more direct link to the product in question. To wit:

http://www.newark.com/stellar-labs/30-2440/vhf-uhf-hdtv-60-mile-fringe-yagi/dp/88W2140

I for some reason didn't expect to be able to post links yet and didn't try.... that's what happened to me at the beginning of this thread....

Let's see if I can now... http://www.newark.com/webapp/wcs/st...estType=Base&partNumber=88W2140&storeId=10194

 

[Ironmagz]

How about that... I no longer have to make you dig through the Newark site! It would have been handy to know when I signed up about the limited ability to post a link.... so I wonder what post count got me over the hump?

 

[Ironmagz]

And while I'm on a roll!!

RCA Outdoor 16dB VHF 22dB UHF TV Antenna Preamplifier (TVPRAMP1R) from Solid Signal


For some reason it won't take the link to Amazon for this item...

 

[osu1991]

And while I'm on a roll!!

RCA Outdoor 16dB VHF 22dB UHF TV Antenna Preamplifier (TVPRAMP1R) from Solid Signal


For some reason it won't take the link to Amazon for this item...

remove the https://

www.amazon.com/RCA-TVPRAMP1Z-Preamplifier-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B003P92D9Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521502696&sr=8-1&keywords=RCA+Outdoor+16dB+VHF+22dB+UHF+TV+Antenna+Preamplifier

 

[comfortably_numb]

Glad you're making progress. Which 17 of your 22 target channels are you receiving?

I'm always curious, because Wichita is only a couple hours from here and I've been pondering another drive down there to do some testing for myself.

 

[harshness]

It would have been handy to know when I signed up about the limited ability to post a link.... so I wonder what post count got me over the hump?

I believe that five posts is the magic number.

 

[Ironmagz]

Glad you're making progress. Which 17 of your 22 target channels are you receiving?

I'm always curious, because Wichita is only a couple hours from here and I've been pondering another drive down there to do some testing for myself.

I need to make a better "list" of the ones I am getting and or compare with the TVFOOL report, that and the real/virtual channels still are confusing to me. But I'm pretty sure I am not receiving the ABC stations to this point. I'm pretty sure that's the only major I haven't seen yet, that and it's side channels. I'm not sure why it wouldn't be coming in... growing up it always seemed one that came it well VS the KPTS or CBS.