Hi there!
As my title states, I have recently came into the world of OTA. My household has been on some hard times just lately (I know, who hasn't, right?), and I've been unfortunately forced to let my Satelitte service lapse. For the time being, I am unable to afford the $130/mo luxury of Directv. So we went a few days with no tv broadcasts at all, but then I remembered about the old set of RCA rabbit ears stashed in a closet. The little indoor antenna had a very short cord length, so I added a run of unused RG6 coax cable to it, so I could start experimenting with placements for reception. I wound up running the coax all the way into the kitchen, up high on a shelf. That yielded me 11 stations.
I stumbled on a site where someone had mounted an outdoor yagi type antenna to their Directv dish, and thought this might be a good idea. So I went to Walmart looking for the RCA type shown on that site, but only could find one made by GE. It stated that it had a 60 mile range, so I figured I would give it a try. At least if it was a no-go, I could possibly return it. I removed the LNB as prescribed, mounted the yagi to the arm and connected it up to the existing Dtv house wiring. The line runs across and in under my bedroom window sill, to a SWM 4 way splitter that has a power pass on one port. Three of the ports are being used, with one capped off. I was able to get 11 stations on our bedroom tv, as well as my son's tv in his bedroom at about 35' more cable run. The last port runs an appoximate additional 40-50 foot around to the living room tv, so that long run only got us 4 stations. So for the moment, I had left the living room tv still hooked up to the indoor antenna.
Just recently purchased Winegard LNA200 preamp and installed on the (almost nonexistent) dtv mast. With the amp hooked up right before the splitter, I'm happily getting 23 stations to all three tv's now. As stated, I'm pretty pleased that with spending less than one month's directv bill to finally have some stations to watch.
Now here's where some issues and questions come in. It seems on sunny days, there are signal dropouts. I've watched the signal go from 30pct to zero and back pretty steady while sunny. At night, and/or when cloudy I'm not seeing the same dropoffs in signal. I tested my theory about the dish possibly being the cause, by covering it with a towel yesterday while it was sunny. The dropouts stopped, and I had a consistent signal.
Aside from the signal dropout issue, there is also one station I am very interested in getting that is in the same range, distance, power rating, and location as another I am receiving. These stations are both listed as high vhf, about 32 miles away ssw 224degrees (mag). I have a TV Fool signal status that I could share, but I don't think it will allow me to post with the link included?
I am receiving WBAL and WMAR, but would also like to get WJZ. My other northern stations come in close to 100pct, even with the yagi turned to 224 degrees ssw, so I am thinking if I were to try a powered splitter, it may overmodulate and wind up losing those good signals. This would actually be acceptable if I were able to receive the Baltimore stations I'm looking for though. I am also considering purchasing about a six foot fence rail top post to use as an extended mast, but unfortunately this antenna's u-bolt setup will only accommodate 1 inch pipe. So then I may have to think about another antenna. I've read decent reviews on the Channel Master Stealth 50 yagi type, but wonder if I should just bite-the-bullet and try for an even better setup? Any recommendations?
Btw, there happens to be an old looking rusty antenna on the peak of the higher roof, about 20 foot up. It looks to have a rotator base, but wiring is cut off about halfway to the ground, and I don't have any of the other inside pieces. I do see that it is facing at pretty much the exact heading I would be wanting though. This would be a very precarious climb up overtop the peak of an old slate shingled roof, in order to try to install the coax adapter and then run RG6 down to the lower roof. I would most likely have to go up the side of the house to the peak, as I would not trust the nails holding those old slate shingles.
Suggestions and/or comments very much welcomed
As my title states, I have recently came into the world of OTA. My household has been on some hard times just lately (I know, who hasn't, right?), and I've been unfortunately forced to let my Satelitte service lapse. For the time being, I am unable to afford the $130/mo luxury of Directv. So we went a few days with no tv broadcasts at all, but then I remembered about the old set of RCA rabbit ears stashed in a closet. The little indoor antenna had a very short cord length, so I added a run of unused RG6 coax cable to it, so I could start experimenting with placements for reception. I wound up running the coax all the way into the kitchen, up high on a shelf. That yielded me 11 stations.
I stumbled on a site where someone had mounted an outdoor yagi type antenna to their Directv dish, and thought this might be a good idea. So I went to Walmart looking for the RCA type shown on that site, but only could find one made by GE. It stated that it had a 60 mile range, so I figured I would give it a try. At least if it was a no-go, I could possibly return it. I removed the LNB as prescribed, mounted the yagi to the arm and connected it up to the existing Dtv house wiring. The line runs across and in under my bedroom window sill, to a SWM 4 way splitter that has a power pass on one port. Three of the ports are being used, with one capped off. I was able to get 11 stations on our bedroom tv, as well as my son's tv in his bedroom at about 35' more cable run. The last port runs an appoximate additional 40-50 foot around to the living room tv, so that long run only got us 4 stations. So for the moment, I had left the living room tv still hooked up to the indoor antenna.
Just recently purchased Winegard LNA200 preamp and installed on the (almost nonexistent) dtv mast. With the amp hooked up right before the splitter, I'm happily getting 23 stations to all three tv's now. As stated, I'm pretty pleased that with spending less than one month's directv bill to finally have some stations to watch.
Now here's where some issues and questions come in. It seems on sunny days, there are signal dropouts. I've watched the signal go from 30pct to zero and back pretty steady while sunny. At night, and/or when cloudy I'm not seeing the same dropoffs in signal. I tested my theory about the dish possibly being the cause, by covering it with a towel yesterday while it was sunny. The dropouts stopped, and I had a consistent signal.Aside from the signal dropout issue, there is also one station I am very interested in getting that is in the same range, distance, power rating, and location as another I am receiving. These stations are both listed as high vhf, about 32 miles away ssw 224degrees (mag). I have a TV Fool signal status that I could share, but I don't think it will allow me to post with the link included?
I am receiving WBAL and WMAR, but would also like to get WJZ. My other northern stations come in close to 100pct, even with the yagi turned to 224 degrees ssw, so I am thinking if I were to try a powered splitter, it may overmodulate and wind up losing those good signals. This would actually be acceptable if I were able to receive the Baltimore stations I'm looking for though. I am also considering purchasing about a six foot fence rail top post to use as an extended mast, but unfortunately this antenna's u-bolt setup will only accommodate 1 inch pipe. So then I may have to think about another antenna. I've read decent reviews on the Channel Master Stealth 50 yagi type, but wonder if I should just bite-the-bullet and try for an even better setup? Any recommendations?
Btw, there happens to be an old looking rusty antenna on the peak of the higher roof, about 20 foot up. It looks to have a rotator base, but wiring is cut off about halfway to the ground, and I don't have any of the other inside pieces. I do see that it is facing at pretty much the exact heading I would be wanting though. This would be a very precarious climb up overtop the peak of an old slate shingled roof, in order to try to install the coax adapter and then run RG6 down to the lower roof. I would most likely have to go up the side of the house to the peak, as I would not trust the nails holding those old slate shingles.
Suggestions and/or comments very much welcomed
