Low Band VHF

[LoTech]

I live in a hole (signal wise). So far I have been able to get a local CBS station and a local PBS affiliate fairly reliably. The one channel I would like to get that still eludes me is WCYB-TV. It is broadcast on channel 5 vhf. I've worked all possible scenarios at TV Fool, and the best possible signal I can get on my property is -6 NM/dB at a distance of about 300 feet from my house.

Would it be possible to use a VHF Low antenna (and if so which one) and a huge pre-amp to get the signal that far to my house?

TV Fool Report

 

[Mr Tony]

I live in a hole (signal wise).

looking at the tvfool report I have two words..."no sh*t"
I havent seen that small of a channel list in a long time

as for an antenna, this is the biggest VHF Low antenna solidsignal has
Winegard YA 6260 Prostar 1000 6 El. Lo-Band TV Antenna (YA-6260) - Winegard - YA-6260 - 615798304874

as for can you get it? 63 miles away on VHF5 might be tough. I know there is lots of interference on VHF Lo and thats why **most** stations vacated that digital wise.

 

[LoTech]

looking at the tvfool report I have two words..."no sh*t"

Until a couple years ago when WYMT upped their power I couldn't even get that.

Assuming I can pull in the signal at this location with an antenna with enough gain, could I use let's say a 25 dB pre-amp to get the signal reliably along the 300 foot cable run?

 

[Mr Tony]

how come you have a 300 foot cable run?

I would try without the amp first....you can always add it in later

 

[No Static At All]

Assuming I can pull in the signal at this location with an antenna with enough gain, could I use let's say a 25 dB pre-amp to get the signal reliably along the 300 foot cable run?

Unfortunately a lot more signal is needed at the antenna before this VHF-LO channel is possible. VHF-LO requires a higher noise margin on the TV FOOL chart than VHF-HI or UHF to be receivable. A preamp cannot amplify what it doesn't see.

 

[LoTech]

how come you have a 300 foot cable run?

I've looked at TV Fool for the area all around my house, and the closest place that has any signal is about that far away. I could go about another 75 feet up the hill and probably get a noise margin of about -2 to 0, but that's not on my property. On top of the hill the noise margin is about 5-6, but that would be about a thousand feet. Apparently channel 5 doesn't bend as far into the valleys as VHF High and UHF.

 

[Jim5506]

It bends, it's just that it does not bend enough for your purposes at your house.

Have you considered a passive repeater on top of the hill to your NW.

Signal up there is in the mid teens (14.4), so placing two channel 5 yagis up there connected by a short piece of 300 ohm twin lead or RG-6, one pointed at the station and the other pointed at your house, might get you a usable signal.

Unfortunately there are no usable ABC or FOX signals in the area.

PS - There is a peak across the valley from the other one (to the SE that has TVFool signal from WCYB in the upper 20's (28.4).

With the passive repeater idea you are not limited by cable runs, just by the harmonics of the two antennas and the short cable between them.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080328024851/http://www.shol.com/kuggie/cttip/passive.html

 

[LoTech]

With the passive repeater idea you are not limited by cable runs, just by the harmonics of the two antennas and the short cable between them.

I've been pondering the idea of the passive repeater. The peak to the southeast is on my property, but the thing holding me off is that it has no electricity. No houses, buildings etc... and I think that this idea would work best if I used a signal amplifier between the two antennas. That would give the best results at my house. Does anyone know of any type of solar/battery powered amp?

 

[Jim5506]

Try it unamplified, you can always add an amplifier later.

You could be watching NBC while planning your next move.

Has your neighborhood ever considered forming a co-operative cable system?

Man, that ridge about 4 1/2 miles SE of you is really a signal killer.

 

[danristheman]

I use the DTV.gov to find the best signals it does help.

 

[Bob2011]

What is amazing is that if you put in the maximum height of 500 feet you still have no LOS stations. At least that station gets up to 13.8 with 2 edge

I'm sure you must have some reason for not going to satellite.

 

[stardust3]

I live in a hole (signal wise). So far I have been able to get a local CBS station and a local PBS affiliate fairly reliably. The one channel I would like to get that still eludes me is WCYB-TV. It is broadcast on channel 5 vhf. I've worked all possible scenarios at TV Fool, and the best possible signal I can get on my property is -6 NM/dB at a distance of about 300 feet from my house.

Would it be possible to use a VHF Low antenna (and if so which one) and a huge pre-amp to get the signal that far to my house?

TV Fool Report

I live on the same mountain as wcyb's tower and cannot get above 65% or so using the built in digital tuner on a 722 & have a clear LOS to tower. When they were broadcasting on 28 uhf it was just peachy, dang near 100% signal. Then when they switched to channel 5 vhf on the transition date everyone in this entire area suffered signal issues. I'm not convinced any antenna can correct this.

 

[LoTech]

I'm sure you must have some reason for not going to satellite.

I do have satellite. I just want WCYB, and it's out of market. I grew up watching channel 5 on analog. We also got WJHL and WBIR, but since the digital transition --Nothing.

 

[TheKrell]

I live on the same mountain as wcyb's tower and cannot get above 65% or so using the built in digital tuner on a 722 & have a clear LOS to tower.

I believe you are overloading that tuner. Try an attenuator or rabbit ears or something to see if that fixes it. I'm living within 2.5 mi of the WNVC tower, and when they came back on after the transition they wiped me out until I got serious nulling them with my antenna and adding a trap. I had the same symptoms. I think the meter on our 722's is more like an inverse digital error rate than it is a signal strength meter.

 

[LoTech]

Have you considered a passive repeater on top of the hill to your NW.

Signal up there is in the mid teens (14.4), so placing two channel 5 yagis up there connected by a short piece of 300 ohm twin lead or RG-6, one pointed at the station and the other pointed at your house, might get you a usable signal.

There is a spot on top of a little mined out plateau at 37.149474,-82.844778 (you have to look at the satellite imagery because the terrain features aren't exactly correct). If I set the antenna height at 1 foot it shows that I could get WCYB at a noise margin of about 9. With the antennas that Iceberg mentioned, would this be enough signal to set up a passive repeater to beam the signal back down into the valley below about 1000 feet LOS? If so, where would I place the transmitting antenna? The problem I see is that I would have to put the transmitting antenna almost in the same direction as where the signal is coming from.