Has Running 2 lines to a Box Fixed OTA Problems For Anyone?

[kirkdj]

I was wondering if there are people that were installed with 1 line and diplexors......had OTA Problems (i.e. no signals, pixel breakup, loosing signals, no signals on just 1 or 2 stations while others come in great)........then when an installer ran 2 lines to each box that solved all your problems?

I live approx. 30-35 miles from all my stations which are all in the same direction, I have the biggest antenna(190 mi. range) and a booster.....will running those separate lines solve all my problems? Will a swaying antenna (it sways just a bit) affect signals?

 

[madpoet]

Several people on several threads have reported that the second line significantly improved their OTA reception.

-MP

 

[Mr. Biggles]

Will a swaying antenna (it sways just a bit) affect signals?

It just might if the antenna your using is highly directional.

When it 'sways', are we talking a few inches or a foot or so?

And why is it swaying?

Bill

 

[Ken F]

kirk,

Running a separate line will get you a few dB of gain. In some cases, that can make the difference between stable reception and no reception. In other cases, the extra gain still may not be adequate; then you'd need a better antenna. Neither off-air antenna supplied by Voom is a particularly good performer; both are picked more for aesthetics than actual reception performance, imo.

Also make sure the antenna is pointed in the right direction. Most installers don't bother to check which way the antenna should point, which probably creates it's fair share of problems, particularly if the customer doesn't test those signals while the installer is still present.

 

[kirkdj]

Antenna Swaying

It only sways an inch or two when the wind blows hard......it's such a large antenna.........190 mi. range.....it's about 12 ft. long, 6 ft. wide....it's the biggest radioshack had.....with a 15 db booster in the attic as signal comes in.....


I think I'll wait and see what the new installer fixes tommorow with the new wiring.....

 

[DarrellP]

I used my existing diplexers, a high quality pair, and have not had any issues. I also used my existing antenna.

 

[rang1995]

30-40% improvement in OTA signal #'s as soon as diplexer was gone

 

[DarrellP]

30-40% improvement in OTA signal #'s as soon as diplexer was gone

Did you use the supplied diplexers? The ones my installer had looked very cheap.

 

[rang1995]

supplied.with the voom box

 

[Seanb61]

Another possible solution to problems such as these would be to remove the pre-amp from your system....perhaps you are over powering the signal. This is what was hapening to me. why not try that first? Then if that does not work, try without the diplexers. diplexer or not diplexer if you over power the signal you will have all the typical signal drops and such that you report.

 

[andrzej]

Another possible solution to problems such as these would be to remove the pre-amp from your system....perhaps you are over powering the signal. This is what was hapening to me. why not try that first? Then if that does not work, try without the diplexers. diplexer or not diplexer if you over power the signal you will have all the typical signal drops and such that you report.

Seanb61,
how can you tell that you are overpowering the signal?

 

[Seanb61]

Seanb61,
how can you tell that you are overpowering the signal?

Well i don't know of any way to do this, but if you remove the amp, and your signal gets better, then you were over powering. When i had my amp hooked up the signal on my trouble station (CBS) would fluctuate wildly from 60+ down to 19 or less while watching the numbers via the voom box. after removing the amp CBS numbers held steady at 90+ and all oter channels got a boost as well.

 

[kirkdj]

Used Supplied Diplexers

Yep I have the cheap diplexers installed......my signals are pretty steady all the time, varies up or down 2-4 numbers...I killed the power to my booster in the attic and I immediately lost the signal on all my OTA channels, so I know I need the booster....I may be borderline on my db signal ....maybe new wiring and getting rid of diplexers will solve my problem........I checked the signals:

sat. signal quality........97
sat. signal power.........65
off air signal quality.....67 (but its cloudy now....usually 79 steady)
off air power.......81


It's the strangest thing....my NBC station which is on 24/7 never works in the a.m.......then in the afternoon 1-3 pm it starts working.....channel 8 was added to my map today, I haven't gotten that one at all yet......2 others aren't working today.......others have worked fine all day.

What's the difference in the 2 readings? quality vs. power? Is there a min. signal needed for the box to tune the station in?

 

[Lem52]

My installer just shoved on a stealth, didn't adjust anything and said to call Voom and they would send someone back out to fix it. Man, I thought, what did you come here for? Now have to wait until April 12th to get another antenna installed.

Lem52

 

[slffl]

My installer just shoved on a stealth, didn't adjust anything and said to call Voom and they would send someone back out to fix it. Man, I thought, what did you come here for? Now have to wait until April 12th to get another antenna installed.
Lem52

Sounds like my install. He installed a Stealth on my roof, of course exactly where I did not want it. He said he was going to install an amp, but if he did it's not powered. So now I get no OTA reception from my stealth. I get better reception using a cheap UHF/VHF wal-mart antenna indoors than the stealth can get on my roof!

 

[wasch_24]

My installer just shoved on a stealth, didn't adjust anything and said to call Voom and they would send someone back out to fix it. Man, I thought, what did you come here for? Now have to wait until April 12th to get another antenna installed.

Lem52

Odds are that the same guy was the one sent back out to do the fixing. Does the new one work better?

 

[DarrellP]

slffl, if you are getting a signal indoors, your Stealth should work fine, it is actually a very good antenna. You may need to tweak the Stealth or add/remove the amp that was supplied with it. I used my existing antenna and took my Stealth, connected it to my TV indoors without the amp, held it up and got all of my local Analog channels with an excellent picture. The towers are about 25 miles away.