OTA Antenna Question

[Ray_Clum]

I just installed a 160" OTA antenna trying to pick up Louisville, KY channels. Antenna is rated at 90 mi VHF and 160 mi UHF, so I should be able to pick up most channels. My wife is going to help me aim tomorrow, but my question is should I install a power booster in between my antenna and my TV? If so, any recommendations? If not, any suggestions on what can increase my ability to tune in?

[Richard King]

WOW!!! What kind of antenna did you get that has that kind of range? It might even work for me. My locals are about 80 miles away.

[ericha]

For long-range reception, a low noise-figure preamplifier mounted close to the antenna (i.e. within a few feet) is always a good idea. What you want to do is overcome the loss in the cable from the antenna to the TV (which can be significant, especially for UHF), and perhaps have better noise figure than the TV's tuner. Don't bother with any amplifier that doesn't have a noise figure spec (lower is better).

While I don't have any specific reccomendations, I took a look at the Channel Master & Blonder-Tounge. They both seem to have a good set of preamps.

For example, assume that you 200 ft of RG 6 cable, and that your TV receiver has a noise figure of 10 dB. You add a preamp with 16 dB of gain and 3 dB noise figure. The cable has about 5 dB loss/100 feet at 800 MHz (channel 68 WKMJ in Louisville), so that's 10 dB. So the preamp improves the system noise figure by about 15 dB or so (I didn't do the computation--that's moderately complex, but it's close enough).

Improving the noise figure by 15 dB would turn a barely watchable picture into a gorgeous one. If the picture is already gorgeous, it wouldn't hurt.

Having an FM trap isn't a bad idea, as FM signals are often large, and could saturate the preamp.

Also, be careful to not saturate the preamp with a local channel. If you have a very strong local signal, in a direction that the antenna picks up strongly, this could be too much for the preamp. Turning the antenna a bit can help this in some cases, by putting the local channel in a "null" of the antenna pattern.

[Stewart Vernon]

Some installations are more complicated and harder to get to than others... but whenever possible, I like to try things for a few days without an amplifier before installing one.

I'm using an indoor antenna rather than an outdoor one... and while amplifiers have helped me to get better analog signals, the same amp has hindered getting some of my digital signals... so in the end I have opted to go without an amplifier with my setup.

On the other hand, my parents need an amplifier in their location to get the digital channels... so I like the flexibility to try first without and then with to make a comparison.

[Ray_Clum]

WOW!!! What kind of antenna did you get that has that kind of range? It might even work for me. My locals are about 80 miles away.

Rat Shack Website (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&summary=summary&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=summary&cp=&custRatings=custRatings&features=features&accessories=accessories&productId=2103087&origkw=Boom+TV+Antenna&support=support&kw=boom+tv+antenna&tab=features)

[Ray_Clum]

Thanks for the feedback. I need to get back up and fine tune the position with the wife watching the TV, just to see if I need a pre-amp.

Rat Shack has two pre-amps I'm looking at - Plug in unit (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103094&cp=&origkw=antenna+amplifier&kw=antenna+amplifier&parentPage=search) and In Line Unit (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&pg=2&summary=summary&cp=&productId=2103913&accessories=accessories&kw=antenna+amplifier&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=techSpecs&custRatings=custRatings&features=features&origkw=antenna+amplifier&support=support&tab=summary). The plug in unit provides up to a 30dB boost, the inline provides up to a 10dB boost. The only problem is my antenna is no where near a power outlet. Closest power is 30' away near the end of the run. Ideally an amplifier is right at the antenna, but would 30' be too far???

[Ray_Clum]

Just found this one at Wally World Philips Amp (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2625064), but again, it's a plug in... any help on the length of run would be a great help.

[Richard King]

Specks on the site actually "claim" 100 UHF, 190 VHF. I would believe that only after seeing it.

[bear paws]

Plug in only!!!!! Its a Injector. IN other words it puts DC power into the coax to power the amp up on the mast. You plug the power head unit into the wall by your TV.
NOOO Rat Shack!!! or Wally's!!! The amp has more noise in it than your TV. You will loose signal. Well atcually you will just make more noise than the signal you have now. Thats a bad thing. Channel master "low noise" is really good. I think Winegaurd makes a good one but a little pricey. Its the wine in it.:D

I run 2 Radio Shack UHF U75R ant stacked 1/4 wave horizantally and can DX 150 miles easy. All my Hds I watch are UHF. I pull 40+ OTA stations from Boston to NYC to Albany.

Search "Erecting an antenna". good site. Also important, check out CEA [ www. antennaweb.org ]

Bear!

[Ray_Clum]

NOOO Rat Shack!!! or Wally's!!! The amp has more noise in it than your TV. You will loose signal. Well atcually you will just make more noise than the signal you have now. Thats a bad thing. Channel master "low noise" is really good. I think Winegaurd makes a good one but a little pricey. Its the wine in it.:D

I happened to see an amp at Walmart (as I was picking up some bottled water) and looked it over. It had a UHF rating of 20dB and VHF of 25dB gain with a noise rating of 4dB. Granted the Channel Master's are better on noise, but they were rated at 2-3.5dB. The jump from 3.5dB to 4 is very small. 2 to 4 is a bit higher, but no where the doubling of noise from a 2db to 8dB. It was a plug-in unit that was less than $35. The only hang up I saw was no FM trap.

I haven't pegged in the antenna yet, but I have an extremely snowy picture of WAVE 3 TV (during a fairly moderate rain at 6:30 pm tonight). It's 103 miles away - calculated by comparing GPS coordinates of WAVE 3 transmitter and my house. It's located in LaGrange, KY. The rest of the Louisville stations are in Floyd's Knobs, IN and is about 106 miles from the house. This is beginning to seem more durable.

[Michael P]

What they don't tell you about these highly inflated milage ratings is that that rating is over flat land. Unless you believe the world is flat, the best any antenna can do is ~60 - 70 miles, this is due to the curviture of the Earth. To go beyond 70 miles would require a tower so tall you would need an FAA permit and tower lights.

The only antenna specifications that mean anything is "gain". Milage ratings are pure BS.