pre amp distance from antenna

[solarvic]

I had my antenna tower laying down so I could do work on antenna. Now I have 3 antennas on the tower. The winegard with the antenna module doesn,t work at all. The orby tv antenna works fine. The channelmaster worked better before I changed the preamp. I have all the preamps mounted at the top of the tower and can,t adjust them without the tower laid down. My tower is 3 8 foot sections If I lower the preamps down the tower about 12 more feet I can get to to preamps with a ladder to make adjustments. MY BIG QUESTION: Will that much extra distance between the antenna and preamps cause me any problems? Has anyone tryed removing that antenna cartridge from the winegard antenna and just reinstalling a 75 coax transformer like channel master and most other antenna,s have?

 

[primestar31]

I had my antenna tower laying down so I could do work on antenna. Now I have 3 antennas on the tower. The winegard with the antenna module doesn,t work at all. The orby tv antenna works fine. The channelmaster worked better before I changed the preamp. I have all the preamps mounted at the top of the tower and can,t adjust them without the tower laid down. My tower is 3 8 foot sections If I lower the preamps down the tower about 12 more feet I can get to to preamps with a ladder to make adjustments. MY BIG QUESTION: Will that much extra distance between the antenna and preamps cause me any problems? Has anyone tryed removing that antenna cartridge from the winegard antenna and just reinstalling a 75 coax transformer like channel master and most other antenna,s have?

The preamps would work slightly better the closer they are to the antennas. That said, as long as you are using a good quality of RG-6 coax, 12ft length further down the tower where they are easier to get to should make next to NO difference. Make sure you use drip loops on your coax, so water doesn't run in.

Also, YES, I have heard of people replacing the Winegard cartridge preamp for a regular balun, and installing a regular F-connector style preamp. Winegard used to make just a balun cartridge though, and perhaps you could find one on Ebay to make it easier for you. Or would this work? If you can't see this link, disable your ad blocker and hit refresh: Amazon product ASIN B003H2G5ZM
IF you need to buy new preamps, I can now highly recommend the Televes 560383 model, I have one myself now, and it's a fantastic performer. Ness Electronics seems to have the best prices for them. Though Lowes appears to carry them for mail order even cheaper than Ness, but might take longer to get.

 

[solarvic]

I got the televes 560383 and was disapointed that I couldn,t get the 2 antenna model. After reading about you getting the 560483 I realized I am lucky. I have a new channelmaster preamp now on the channelmaster antenna. I also have an older televese orange pre amp that is connected to the orby tv antenna and the winegard. antenna. I think I might either have a bad conection on the winegard or that module is bad but the orby gets me all the youngstown ohio channels really well. So when and if I lay down the tower this summer I am going to mount my different amplifiers down the antenna tower and do some comparisons with the different antenna and preamps. I got my televes preamp from lowes. I think I paid about 59.95 around the beginning of the year

 

[primestar31]

I got the televes 560383 and was disapointed that I couldn,t get the 2 antenna model. After reading about you getting the 560483 I realized I am lucky. I have a new channelmaster preamp now on the channelmaster antenna. I also have an older televese orange pre amp that is connected to the orby tv antenna and the winegard. antenna. I think I might either have a bad conection on the winegard or that module is bad but the orby gets me all the youngstown ohio channels really well. So when and if I lay down the tower this summer I am going to mount my different amplifiers down the antenna tower and do some comparisons with the different antenna and preamps. I got my televes preamp from lowes. I think I paid about 59.95 around the beginning of the year

Take the cartridge carefully out of the holder. First look it over carefully to make sure it doesn't seem fried in some way, from static electricity. If it is, ground your antennas before going further! If not, clean the connectors on the cartridge real well with a little light application of rubbing with steel wool, without getting little bits of steel all over the board. Then use a needle-nose pliers to VERY slightly squeeze the clamping connectors a little closer together. Then clean the wires it clamps onto on the antenna side with something that can get in there, even just a little scraping with a steak knife or something can help. Snap it back into the cartridge, and try it again. It may work now.