How far apart should 2 antennas be and how should they be combined?

[miguelaqui]

I have a UHF/vhf combiner, but my brother did not want to buy a rotator , so I used a 2 way splitter. The 2 way was losing too much signal, so I combined them with twin lead. Is this the best way to combine 2 UHF antennas?

Also, how far apart should 2 antennas be? I have heard it all from UHF and vhf can be right on top of each other to there must be 3 feet between the UHF reflector and the vhf.

 

[. Raine]

If you are trying to receive stations from more than one direction, you can stack the antennas one above the other, [stacking]. If you want more gain, you'd put them side by side[ganging]. Both antennas should be of the same type or it may not work well, also the leads to both antennas must be the same length.

Twin lead? Do you mean flat lead or dual coax? If flat lead, it won't work very well at all with digital OTA, you need to use RG6 coax. I think that there is a formula for figuring out the distance for stacking antennas, but I believe it's dependent on what channels you want to receive. Probably you should post your TV fool report here so everyone can get an idea of what stations you're trying to get.

If you're trying to pull in more stations, a pre-amp may do it, depending on what stations, how far, direction, etc. Would be easier than stacking antennas. Post your TV Fool report, if you can.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

I have a UHF/vhf combiner, but my brother did not want to buy a rotator , so I used a 2 way splitter. The 2 way was losing too much signal, so I combined them with twin lead. Is this the best way to combine 2 UHF antennas?

Are you trying to combine a UHF and VHF, or two UHF antennas?

Also post what type of antennas you're trying to use, if you know the model of them.

 

[boba]

If you are trying to receive stations from more than one direction, you can stack the antennas one above the other, [stacking]. If you want more gain, you'd put them side by side[ganging]. Both antennas should be of the same type or it may not work well, also the leads to both antennas must be the same length.

Twin lead? Do you mean flat lead or dual coax? If flat lead, it won't work very well at all with digital OTA, you need to use RG6 coax. I think that there is a formula for figuring out the distance for stacking antennas, but I believe it's dependent on what channels you want to receive. Probably you should post your TV fool report here so everyone can get an idea of what stations you're trying to get.

If you're trying to pull in more stations, a pre-amp may do it, depending on what stations, how far, direction, etc. Would be easier than stacking antennas. Post your TV Fool report, if you can.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

I have a UHF/vhf combiner, but my brother did not want to buy a rotator , so I used a 2 way splitter. The 2 way was losing too much signal, so I combined them with twin lead. Is this the best way to combine 2 UHF antennas?

Are you trying to combine a UHF and VHF, or two UHF antennas?

Also post what type of antennas you're trying to use, if you know the model of them.

According to his post on co-channel interference he has a UHF and a VHF High and a VHF low for ch.3

 

[Mr Tony]

This is his brothers setup...not his

 

[boba]

This is his brothers setup...not his

Check post #10 in his other thread he says I have.

 

[Mr Tony]

I was referring to the 1st part of the question

I have a UHF/vhf combiner, but my brother did not want to buy a rotator , so I used a 2 way splitter. The 2 way was losing too much signal, so I combined them with twin lead. Is this the best way to combine 2 UHF antennas?

 

[Mr Tony]

Also, how far apart should 2 antennas be? I have heard it all from UHF and vhf can be right on top of each other to there must be 3 feet between the UHF reflector and the vhf.

Found an old thread when I asked abd this is what someone mentioned

The general rule of thumb is 3.5 to 4 feet for VHF-Hi/UHF. I have gone as close as 1 foot with no noticable degredation on either band.

 

[. Raine]

I have a UHF/vhf combiner, but my brother did not want to buy a rotator , so I used a 2 way splitter. The 2 way was losing too much signal, so I combined them with twin lead. Is this the best way to combine 2 UHF antennas?



Boba, this is what confused me about what antennas he's actually trying to combine. He specifically asks if this is the best way to combine two UHF antennas but mentions that he has a UHF/VHF combiner. The UHF/VHF combiner wouldn't be good for two UHF antennas, and two stacked UHF's would be for more stations in different directions. If he's stacking a VHF and a UHF, then it's a whole different deal and easier. Really need to know what type of antennas he's using and what he's trying to accomplish.

 

[miguelaqui]

I wanted to know the best way to combine my stepbrother's UHF antennas. I mentioned mine just because my avatar is my setup, which is combined with a UHF/vhf combiner.
My stepbrother's antennas were either too close together or interferenceis messing them up.
The two way splitter caused too.much signal loss, so I ran twin line from one to the other before the balun.
By the way...twin line works better than coax when used correctly.. only old.farts like.me. would know.that. It is balanced and has less signal loss than Rg6...just make sure it doesn't touch any metal.

 

[. Raine]

What type of antennas are they and are you trying to receive stations from more than one direction, or get more gain to receive weak stations? It makes a difference on how to set them up, depending on what you are hoping to get from doing this.

I've never had any luck using splitters to combine antennas myself, but I've seen other people say that they have. You can buy antenna combiners/couplers for $5 -30 dollars on Amazon, etc, I've had better luck with those, using the same two types of antennas and the same length drop from each.

Connecting the two antennas together with twin lead would be essentially ganging the antennas together and increase gain, but if that's what you want you'd put the antennas side by side and not one above the other, sometimes even touch the antennas together. They pretty much have to be the same model antennas to do this and have it work.

It sounds like you want to receive stations from more than one direction by what you're saying about your brother not wanting to buy a rotor. If that's the case, then don't connect the two together with twin lead. Put one above the other, the distances that Iceberg posted are perfect starting points and then adjust to where it's best, each with their own separate RG6 drop of the same length [Very important] to a antenna combiner/coupler. Both antennas should be exactly the same or it most likely will not work well at all. If the antennas are not the same you could still try it, I wouldn't expect great results though, but sometimes things surprise you.

The issue with using twin lead nowadays I think is that it's not shielded at all and allows too much interference into the digital signal. I was thinking that you'd used it for your drop to your TV, in which case, it wouldn't have worked well at all and being 300 ohm impedance it'd have to be matched with baluns for the TV's, etc, 75 ohm inputs.

I'm really just guessing on a lot here, cause I don't know where you are and your channel situation, what antennas you have or exactly what your trying to accomplish. The type of antennas affects the distance they should be apart, what channels you'd most like to receive affect it, etc. A pre-amp, like I'd mentioned before, may help too, I don't know. Maybe do a search on stacking and ganging antennas, that might help.

 

[Jim5506]

If you are using two identical antennas pointed in different directions you are losing 1/2 of the signal for each antenna as it will be radiated out the other antenna.

Ideally you should run a separate cable to an RF switch near your TV(s).

You cannot just willy-nilly combine antennas especially if they are not pointed in the same direction.

 

[southofi-10]

Four feet ,either seperate poles or same.Us a combiner or pre amp that have the seperate uhf/vhf inputs.
The absolute best way to get the best is to us seperate pre amps and amplifiers for each antenna,then combine them using high quality combiners.This is the way cable tv does it (or used to before fiber)
I have 5 seperate antennas on 2 towers that are amplified seperately and combined.It works great.
It is costly and takes some work to build,but worth it.
Any always use a good brand name antennas like antennacraft or wineguard.Quality matters with antennas
I have all the antennas pointed at the desired location,so I get channels in three directions.I don't get anything south of me because it's the gulf of mexico,LOL

 

[renegade734]

two antennas combined:

Here's my setup ... lots of people have said this can't possibly work, but yet it does:



The preamp is on the top, the upper antenna is pointed toward the Toledo antenna farm. Next is the combiner, and the lower antenna is pointed toward Detroit. The farthest stations' towers are ~50 miles away and signals come in reliably 99% of the time.

All on a four-foot pole, 20 feet off the ground.

 

[southofi-10]

Thats a nice setup.And since they are not really over lapping each other except at the reflector,I'm sure it works great. I think what needs to be put out here is..the best way to combine 2 antennas is to amplify first,then combine. This looks like what you have done here,and it's failrly high and looks to be in the clear. I guess I was talking more about stacking twin antennas and other larger antennas Enjoyed the pic!!

 

[renegade734]

Thanks. The guy who sold that to me told me that people need to forget the old analog days. Digital TV is much more tolerant of interference than analog was.

 

[Jim5506]

Exactly the opposite is true, a ghost on analog TV translates to multi-path on digital TV and often it kills the picture totally.

Digital has a superior picture as long as the signal is clean and strong enough to be decoded - otherwise you get nothing.