Remounted Antenna - Now What?

[beartooth]

Alrighty...

My OTA box hasn't arrived yet, so results are analog only. I moved my 160" RatShack antenna from the attic, added a rotor, and CM7777 amp. I'm pretty pleased with the results. The CBS and PBS channels now come in perfectly, NBC is better, and marginal ABC and FOX where there was none.

I'm concerned I'll have a problem locking DTV though, especially since with this current setup, channels 26 and 20 are the best. 45 also comes in very well. So, UHF is good, VHF isn't as good.

Any suggestions? Would a fringe area antenna work better than the RS? I'm running out of non-snow time to be crawling up there, so would like to make a decision soon.

Thanks!

Here are the channels locally (we're in MT, so not a lot):


Station Name Ch. RF Ch. Affiliate Status Height Power Distance Bearing

KXLFDT 4.1 5 CBS Affiliate Construction Permit Modification 48.3 8.0

KXLFDT2 4.2 5 CW Affiliate Construction Permit Modification 48.3 8.0

KTVMDT 6.1 33 NBC Affiliate Construction Permit Modification 15.3 300.0

KBZKDT 7.1 13 CBS Affiliate Licensed 95.8 18.9

KBZKDT2 7.2 13 CW Affiliate Licensed 95.8 18.9

KUSMDT 9.1 8 PBS Affiliate Licensed 95.8 17.9

 

[BKP]

I'd see what your new tuner does first, you might be surprised.. What tuner did you get..

 

[beartooth]

Primarily because of cost, I'm going to give one of the DB2010's from ebay a try. I had one, but they didn't package it right and the face was damaged in shipment so I'm waiting for a replacement. Seemed to work well though, but this was before I moved the antenna and I could only get 20% or less signal strength.

Good advice, I'll see how this goes and we'll go from there. I did find out that ABC just brought their DTV side up full power today, so that'll mean I get get it.

 

[beartooth]

Double post, sorry.

 

[BKP]

Oh, Bummer... I just got a Voom receiver off eBay haven't tried it though, maybe today..

I bet you'll have good luck with both the rotor and preamp..

 

[beartooth]

Oh, Bummer... I just got a Voom receiver off eBay haven't tried it though, maybe today..

I bet you'll have good luck with both the rotor and preamp..

Is this the model?

2 Motorola VOOM DSR550 HDTV Receivers w/ Cards - (eBay item 140173131724 end time Nov-03-07 21:48:25 PDT)

Seems pretty darn cheap.

 

[beartooth]

Well, not so good. Got the receiver today, the hisense 2010, and absolutely no signal on DTV channels, no matter what I did to rotate the antenna. All at 0%.

I took the unit into town about 7 miles closer, and hooked it up to just a bow tie antenna, and I got 5 channels, some at 96%.

Any ideas? My analog comes in perfectly on most channels.

My neighbor is a ham radio operator and has a huge antenna maybe 100 yards or more from my house. Would that make a difference?

Looks like at this rate I'll be doing satellite come Feb 09.

KD

 

[dodge]

Well, not so good. Got the receiver today, the hisense 2010, and absolutely no signal on DTV channels, no matter what I did to rotate the antenna. All at 0%.

I took the unit into town about 7 miles closer, and hooked it up to just a bow tie antenna, and I got 5 channels, some at 96%.

Any ideas? My analog comes in perfectly on most channels.

My neighbor is a ham radio operator and has a huge antenna maybe 100 yards or more from my house. Would that make a difference?

Looks like at this rate I'll be doing satellite come Feb 09.

KD

Did you try running a new coax lead up to the antenna??? rg59 coax does has some loss especially on the higher frequencies. Rg 6 quad shield would be the way to go.

 

[beartooth]

Did you try running a new coax lead up to the antenna??? rg59 coax does has some loss especially on the higher frequencies. Rg 6 quad shield would be the way to go.

Yep, the house wiring is only about 3 years old, and I used pro-level RG6 to wire the whole house. I just re-did the connectors too just to be sure. Good call though.

 

[laseradam]

Maybe try it without the amp hooked up.