Silver Sensor with 811

[chunchma]

I bought a Zenith Silver Sensor today and hooked it up to my 811. I get CBS great, but the other digital channels are 'iffy'. I have heard from more than one person that you can combine two silver sensors and greatly increase the results. I have also read the combining two antennas can actually decrease the signal strength. Does anyone have any experience with this.

My goal is to only grab 4 uhf digital channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX). They range from 82 to 84 degrees and the greatest distance from me (Kenilworth, NJ 07033) is 17 miles.

 

[bigthrust]

I bought a Zenith Silver Sensor today and hooked it up to my 811. I get CBS great, but the other digital channels are 'iffy'. I have heard from more than one person that you can combine two silver sensors and greatly increase the results. I have also read the combining two antennas can actually decrease the signal strength. Does anyone have any experience with this.

My goal is to only grab 4 uhf digital channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX). They range from 82 to 84 degrees and the greatest distance from me (Kenilworth, NJ 07033) is 17 miles.

The Silver Sensor is unidirectional. Unless the towers are pretty close together, your not going to get a strong signal on all of them. A slight move in any direction can drop the strength of a "locked" signal by many %. The idea of having 2 SS may help quite a bit.

 

[Enforcer]

I actually thought about getting another Silver sensor myself. I have a 900 mhz splitter from radio shack already, is that frequency spectrum ok or will i need a high frequency?? I just want to make sure everything works fine before i make any decisions. The fact of adding a second silver sensor makes sense. I may give it a try this weekend.

 

[Pb ft.]

Maybe, maybe not. I tried "improving" my antenna setup by having the best Radio Shack antenna offered installed on a 30 ft. pole. That didn't help. So I had a pre amp installed. No help. Then I had an antenna rotor installed. No help. I could only get ABC no matter what I tried. This little excursion cost me ~$450. Then S/W P265 downloaded and I was then able to get ABC and NBC but not CBS or FOX. My son-in-law lives two miles from me and picks up about a dozen stations from surrounding cities with his internal Mitsubishi HD TV tuner. His antenna setup is similar to mine. His house is surrounded by a lot of trees and mine is on a hill in the open... So, my opinion is that it is an 811 problem. He has ordered the 811 and it's going to be installed on May 12th. We're going to do some receiver swapping when he gets his unit to see if the newer model of the 811 fixes any of the problems or if my location is really the problem. It will also be interesting to see if his newer receiver has the dark video problem. If nothing is fixed then I guess I'll have to then wait for P266.

Be sure and let us know how your experiment works.

 

[AcuraCL]

Here is some info on 2 Silver Sensors:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html

 

[GaryPen]

I use a single SS, and although it is a directional design, I receive my local NBC sation (KNTV 11) which is approx 180 degrees from the other stations in my area. (IOW, from behind.) Plus, KNTV-DT is VHF (12), and the SS is a UHF antenna. This is all with the problemtic 811's OTA abilities. (or lack thereof.) The SS is very definitely a good little antenna.

It is extremely sensative to positioning, though, so play around with it quite a bit. (Mine is hung from the ceiling, upside down, in the upstairs loft, pointing almost exactly due North.) Also, be aware that the next 811 SW update may improve the OTA reception even more. P265 did quite a bit. (Or was it 264?)

 

[SaintsFan]

Where can I get a silver sensor besides the web?

Does anyone know of any retail stores who carry the SS?

 

[Enforcer]

Best Buy has them for 39.99. Sears also has them sometimes. I would go to Best buy first, my own opinion. Hope this helps.

 

[chunchma]

I bought mine from Sears yesterday.

 

[chunchma]

I bought a second silver sensor and attempted to combine them. I used a standard $3 2/1 splitter; the kind labeled IN/OUT/OUT. I didn't get an improvement or otherwise in the signal. I looked on the radio shack site and they have something for $10 called a bi directional splitter. Does anyone know if I need something like that so I have IN/IN/OUT? Thx!

 

[citico]

If you use two silver sensors, should you use a diplexter to connect the sensors and
then run the out to your RG6 to the STB? Seems like the diplexter would give you two
in and one out.

 

[smodak]

. (Mine is hung from the ceiling, upside down, in the upstairs loft, pointing almost exactly due North.)

Gary, How exactly did you do it? What did you use to hang the antenna and how to you re-position it if needed? I was thinking of doing the same but do not know what tools or materials I would need.

 

[GaryPen]

The base is taped to a beam.

 

[protoboard]

SS Rocks

The Silver Seonsor is indeed very nice, I am 40 miles from the towers and had little hope. I just connected it to the 811, did a scan and got ALL of my channels (minus CBS becasue they broadcast in VHF here). The SS is sitting on the coffee table next to me on the ground floor. I was highly impressed.

I would like to get CBS though, does anyone know how i might accompish this easily and cheaply?

 

[ingramba]

Check Target, I picked up a Magnavox "Silver Sensor" there yesterday on clearance for $4.98! I will use it for my main bedroom later as I already have a big antenna in attic for my main.

 

[mboy]

I live 16 miles or so from the NYC towers and I don't get any of them with the SS (or any other inside antenna. I must have a line of sight problem. I do get the local NJ HD station and a few other of their digital local stations, but the HD station only broadcasts @ night and they only have 1 show about NJ that they broadcast.
Unfortunately, I rent, so I can not put up an oustide antenna :-(.
That fact may drive be back to Cablevision in Jan. so I can get al of the local HD content as well as what they have to offer (more then dish).

 

[GaryPen]

...and they only have 1 show about NJ that they broadcast.

The Pulaski skyway and Elizabeth refinery towers must look awesome in HD.

 

[korsjs]

try the old rabbit ears, i know it sound funny, but the rabbit ears that cost around 10 bucks works way better than my 100 dollar terk 55. sounds funny, but give it a try.

 

[DWS44]

I have one of the Silver Sensors on mine...I live ~30 miles from most of the Charlotte stations, and am able pickup up all of them on my 811. It works in one position near the TV for ABC, CBS, FOX, WB, PBS (3 different stations), and two local independants. To see NBC & UPN, I move it to my coffee table, which is no biggie.

In thier respective positions, I get over 80% strength on all of them, with FOX being the strongest of all, usually 90%+

 

[SimpleSimon]

I have one of the Silver Sensors on mine...I live ~30 miles from most of the Charlotte stations, and am able pickup up all of them on my 811. It works in one position near the TV for ABC, CBS, FOX, WB, PBS (3 different stations), and two local independants. To see NBC & UPN, I move it to my coffee table, which is no biggie.

But this of course is the big problem with OTA in general. I don't want to move, rotate, blip, ping, pound, or otherwise mess with an antenna after installation - I just want to watch TV.

I wonder what are the economics of NOT replacing analog broadcast equipment with digital vs. subsidizing the last 7 people ( ) in the country that don't have cable or satellite. In other words, kill OTA, but not the local stations (although a lot of them really aren't needed either).