Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

Hello all,

Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better
signal after being run through numerous splitters?

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy.
Since I want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use
several splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in
series as one common cable was run through each room. I won't be
installing F connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on
the second floor will be analog.

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little
time to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be
better off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

Steve

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

mogator88 wrote:
Hello all,

Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better
signal after being run through numerous splitters?

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy.
Since I want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use
several splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in
series as one common cable was run through each room. I won't be
installing F connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on
the second floor will be analog.

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little
time to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be
better off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

Steve

You may want to install a distribution amplifier such as:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=CM3045
This will handle 8 TV and give a slight boost to each.
-mike

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

Mike Ray wrote:
mogator88 wrote:

Hello all,

Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better
signal after being run through numerous splitters?

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy.
Since I want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use
several splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in
series as one common cable was run through each room. I won't be
installing F connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on
the second floor will be analog.

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little
time to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be
better off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

Steve

You may want to install a distribution amplifier such as:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=CM3045
This will handle 8 TV and give a slight boost to each.
-mike
Opps, forgot to add that a bigger antenna almost always beats an amp.

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

"mogator88" wrote in news:1170353924.482367.159010
@h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Hello all,

Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better
signal after being run through numerous splitters?

There are splitters and there are splitters. A good distribution amp
should actually improve the signals a bit. But even passive splitters
will work well if you drive them with a heavy enough mast-head preamp.
The trick is to find the balance between too much signal and not enough.

Coax attenuates signals. Good coax attenuates them less than bad coax.
Passive splitters usually introduce a 6db loss. That is the two outputs
get 1/4 of the signal each while the splitter absorbs the other half and
produces heat with it (fortunately very little heat, but you get the
idea). The trick is to manage the signal to noise ratio throughout the
system. Too much attenuation between the antenna and the receiver and
you end up listening to the receiver's front end noise. Too little and,
in a strong signal area, you can end up with swamping and intermodulation
that actually generates interference IN your system.

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy.
Since I want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use
several splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in
series as one common cable was run through each room. I won't be
installing F connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on
the second floor will be analog.

Splitters in series is not really a good idea. What I did in my home
years back was to use a distribution amplifier and fan cables out to each
room that had a TV or FM stereo. But that was a cable signal. Satellite
TV had a different problem....

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little
time to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be
better off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

Obviously bigger is better when it comes to antennas. But the trade-off
is that bigger has a narrower pattern. That means you have to either
have a rotator or have all your stations pretty much in the same
direction. Smaller will produce a weaker signal from dead on point, but
it will have a wider pattern.

If you have a specific antenna design that you can give me in detail and
a frequency (channel) that you want info on, I can model the system and
give you some idea of the gain with reference to an isotropic antenna.
And if you can give me specifics of your coax, splitters, etc., I can
estimate the losses.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:18:44 -0800, mogator88 wrote:

Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better signal
after being run through numerous splitters?

It depends, but a larger antenna is almost always better than a smaller
one.

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied with
the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy. Since I
want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use several
splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in series as one
common cable was run through each room. I won't be installing F
connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on the second
floor will be analog.

Distribution amp. and avoid putting splitters in serial. If you need to
feed 4 locations use a 4 way splitter instead of a bunch of 2 ways. You
can even get them larger than 4 way.

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little time
to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be better
off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

I don't know how RCA rates their antennas. Radio shack overrates theirs by
a factor of 2 IMO. But 22 miles isn't that far so it's probably good
enough. I assume it's a uhf/vhf combo boom style.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

On Feb 1, 12:48 pm, Wes Newell wrote:
On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:18:44 -0800, mogator88 wrote:
Here's my basic question - will a larger antenna give me a better signal
after being run through numerous splitters?

It depends, but a larger antenna is almost always better than a smaller
one.

I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied with
the reception. Digital is fine, but analog is a little fuzzy. Since I
want this antenna to feed my entire house, I have to use several
splitters. On the second floor the splitters will be in series as one
common cable was run through each room. I won't be installing F
connectors on the second floor for a while. Any TV's on the second
floor will be analog.

Distribution amp. and avoid putting splitters in serial. If you need to
feed 4 locations use a 4 way splitter instead of a bunch of 2 ways. You
can even get them larger than 4 way.

I'm about 22 miles from downtown Chicago (read FLAT terrain) and
installed an RCA aerial rated for 35 miles. I still have a little time
to exchange this antenna for another one, and wondering if I'd be better
off with the 65 mile rated RCA aerial. TIA,

I don't know how RCA rates their antennas. Radio shack overrates theirs by
a factor of 2 IMO. But 22 miles isn't that far so it's probably good
enough. I assume it's a uhf/vhf combo boom style.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder?http://mythtv.orghttp://mysettopbox....yth.htmlUsenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My serverhttp://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 comparedhttp://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Keep in mind 2 things. Unless they changed (and I heard they were
looking into it) WBBM-DT is on ch 3 and WISC-TV Madison is analog on
ch 3 less than 100 miles away. Low band VHF is a very difficult place
to do digital TV since there is a great deal of impulse noise from
many sources and being so low in frequency, it is very tough to get a
good front-to-back ratio on the antenna and the gain is quite low.
Being close to Madison I don't expect the power is very high on WBBM-
DT. Everything gangs up against you there.

I agree on Radio Shack antennas being 'optomistic' in their ratings.

A large antenna is better than an amplifier as the beamwidth is
narrower so it sees less noise and it adds no noise. If you must use
an amp, mounting it directly on the antenna is the best place for it
with regards to noise.

GG

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

"mogator88" wrote in message
ups.com...


I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine,

How's channel 2, WBBM, Steve?
Sucks here, around Midway.
Sure am glad I'm watching the game Sunday elsewhere!

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

On Feb 1, 8:13 pm, "Gary C"
wrote:
"mogator88" wrote in message

ups.com...



I just finished roof mounting an antenna, and I'm mostly satisfied
with the reception. Digital is fine,

How's channel 2, WBBM, Steve?
Sucks here, around Midway.
Sure am glad I'm watching the game Sunday elsewhere!

Digital is coming in great with the new antenna. But then I put in a
splitter so I could also lead into my DVR. That really screwed things
up, so it seems I'm investing in an amp (or two or three :-)

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

On Feb 1, 2:34 pm, Dave Oldridge wrote:

Obviously bigger is better when it comes to antennas. But the trade-off
is that bigger has a narrower pattern. That means you have to either
have a rotator or have all your stations pretty much in the same
direction. Smaller will produce a weaker signal from dead on point, but
it will have a wider pattern.

If you have a specific antenna design that you can give me in detail and
a frequency (channel) that you want info on, I can model the system and
give you some idea of the gain with reference to an isotropic antenna.
And if you can give me specifics of your coax, splitters, etc., I can
estimate the losses.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

The antenna I mounted is an RCA ANT3020X

http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetai...CI210,00.html?

The other one I'm considering is an RCA ANT3036X

http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetai...CI210,00.html?

All Chicago stations are in the same direction from my house. I need
to grab all TV frequencies from 2 to 50. I need analog VHF ch 2 so I
can tape Rachael Ray for my wife. Then I finally drop comca$t!

My cabling is all RG-6. The splitters are the cheap stuff sold in big
box stores.

Its about 20-25 feet from the antenna to a four-way splitter. One
leads goes to my TV stand, the other three don't have anything
attached and likely never will. Each lead is about 5-20 feet long,
and my TV stand uses the 20 foot lead.

The lead that goes to the TV stand will need to be split 2 ways (TV
and PVR), possibly three ways (I'm also trying to make a MythTV box).

Thanks again,

Steve

Antenna size, splitters and signal strength
 

"mogator88" wrote in news:1170436550.479444.322880
@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com:

On Feb 1, 2:34 pm, Dave Oldridge wrote:

Obviously bigger is better when it comes to antennas. But the trade-
off
is that bigger has a narrower pattern. That means you have to either
have a rotator or have all your stations pretty much in the same
direction. Smaller will produce a weaker signal from dead on point,
but
it will have a wider pattern.

If you have a specific antenna design that you can give me in detail
and
a frequency (channel) that you want info on, I can model the system
and
give you some idea of the gain with reference to an isotropic antenna.
And if you can give me specifics of your coax, splitters, etc., I can
estimate the losses.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

The antenna I mounted is an RCA ANT3020X

http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetai...CI210,00.html?

The other one I'm considering is an RCA ANT3036X

http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetai...CI210,00.html?

These both look competent. The larger one will have a sharper pattern
(rejecting reflections better) and a little more gain.

All Chicago stations are in the same direction from my house. I need
to grab all TV frequencies from 2 to 50. I need analog VHF ch 2 so I
can tape Rachael Ray for my wife. Then I finally drop comca$t!

My cabling is all RG-6. The splitters are the cheap stuff sold in big
box stores.

Its about 20-25 feet from the antenna to a four-way splitter. One
leads goes to my TV stand, the other three don't have anything
attached and likely never will. Each lead is about 5-20 feet long,
and my TV stand uses the 20 foot lead.

That four-way is where you want to insert a powered distribution amp.
I'd start with the system the way you have it and then see if you have
enough signal.

The lead that goes to the TV stand will need to be split 2 ways (TV
and PVR), possibly three ways (I'm also trying to make a MythTV box).

Thanks again,

If your distribution amp is good enough (and clean), you should be fine
here, though you can always check if you have trouble by putting the
cable direct into your TV without the splitters, just to see if that
clears it up. If it does, then a second distribution amp at the stand
would be indicated.

Just make sure whatever amp you pick up does UHF as well as VHF.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667