OTA Reception

[Trindle]

Hope this is the right place to put this. Getting ready for install on Monday and have called Prostar and they say they have a warehouse full of equipment. WOOO HOOO !!!!

Anyway I go a square shooter and it gets al the locals I want except for my local cbs. I have another antenna in attic that gets cbs fine. IS there a way that I can combine the two antennas and get the best of both worlds ??

Thanks
Trindle

 

[stucky_boss]

IMO you should be able to run both feeds to a diplexer, then a single line to your STB. I am sure someone will think that is not the best idea though-

Here is one at Radio Shack, make sure you ground it.

 

[Trindle]

Thanks Stucky Boss I will give it a try. This board is great and full of information. When I told Prostar digital that they were being watched on this web site they had no idea of this web site. They are now looking at it though.

When I get service on Monday I will be first in Cincinnati area to post install reception & service here looks like.

 

[stucky_boss]

I started looking around a little more and found this and this about a similar issue. You should check it out.

 

[Trindle]

I tried the diplexer and its a no go. Going to try what the first link suggests. BTW the second link is broken or at least from my end can't get to it. I'm on ADSL. Thanks for your help. Hope to return the favor some day.

 

[Ominous1]

I have the stealth antenna and had a hard time getting all my stations. I got the $20 radio shack bowtie antenna and now I can get all but one station at any given time, and all I have to do is rotate the antenna about 45o to get the other. Much easier then climbing onto the roof and moving the stealth

 

[fayrich]

This is probably not the correct way to go, but I have 3 antennas connected by jumping from one to another and using a single cable into the house to the STB. I also use a preamp and it works out just fine for me. I'm sure someone will reply here saying that I am nuts. But that's ok. I have a pretty thick skin.

 

[stucky_boss]

Sure.

Here is the second link: tvantenna.com/support/tutorials/combining.html

You sure did try that out fast, if you bought a diplexer I hope that you are able to return it. Sorry it didn't work . Good luck with your other tests.

 

[Trindle]

No have plenty of splitters and diplexors. I'm a Radio Shack junkie in rehab! I did try using the combiner method also no go.

Here is the weird part I got a square shooter in attic with preamp and ran temp line through the house and it gets all my local PBS channels where the other huge antenna I have in the attic doesn't. And it gets weirder- If I just hook a 6 inch piece of wire to a splitter that goes nowhere I get CBS at a steady signal strength of 20 and the picture is fine. Go figure !

I'm wondering if it isn't and issue with the voltage on that channel with the STB. It is a samsung t-160. It is a great tuner but this one weird problem is driving me crazy.


I may just end up either jumping one antenna to the other or using a switch to select inputs.

 

[stucky_boss]

for more fun, which I know you are eager for - you could let the installer install the stealth and see what you get! Good luck

 

[Trindle]

Yea thats true but I really dont want all the garb haning on my 4 month old house . Right now cbs is boucing in and out at 30 to 36 % . I may just wait and see how the voom box picks up that channel. As I hear that it does a better job than most of the rest of the stb's.

 

[r_wright]

Trindle - check out my previous post regarding Cincinnati locals via the Voom supplied stealth anntena.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=13306

 

[Trindle]

did a little more tweeking with the square shooter and all is well. Getting all ota I should. Now ready for Voom install on Monday. I tell ya the SQUARE SHOOTER is Da Boom! THIS SUCKER WORKS GREAT. bETTER THAN THE 90 MILE rIP OFF sHACK ANTENNA. I do have a pre amp on it also and most of my stations are at 1000 % sig strength.

 

[Lem52]

I just bought a Channel Master 4228 UHF antenna and it won't even get our local PBS station thats located 10 miles from me. And that is just hooking it up to a regular tv for test. You can pick up that PBS without an antenna! I have no idea whats the problem but this antenna should get something that close!

I am presently replacing the Baulen that came with it, maybe thats bad or something.

Lem52

 

[TransAm02]

how is the off air antenna connected????

I think the installer hooked my antenna up wrong, i am supposed to be getting more locals i get 3 right now, and it says on my channel listing that i should have 7 or so.. So anyways my antenna is connected to the diplexor.. But i read in some threads on this site that the ota antenna needs to be hooked up directly to the back of the voom box.. How is that antenna supposed to be hooked up so i can get my maximum number of locals? And P.S. i am in Colorado Springs, Colorado.... Zip Code 80915

 

[stucky_boss]

Whether he went through the diplexer or not shouldn't matter. Some people think that if you go through a diplexer it can weaken the signal, others say it doesn't matter. More than likely, your antenna needs to be adjusted. Have you tried to turn it to change the direction it is pointing? I think you can go to antennaweb.org and it will tell you how far you are from the broadcast towers and what direction they are in. If you have towers in different directions you may have trouble picking some stations up. In addition you might not have a powerful enough antenna this site will tell you this as well. Hope some of this might help.

edit-
If your antenna isn't strong enough you can call Voom and they will upgrade it.