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Old 02-16-2015, 08:21 PM
Paul Knaack Paul Knaack is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Dale Wi.
Posts: 281
Quote:
Originally Posted by Username1 View Post
You understand the item I put up is not a preamp/ signal booster....?


I did not see an antenna on the solid signal site that looked like yours, and it's an assumption
on my part that there is a UHF/VHF signal combiner of some sort before the pre-amp.

If it's built into the preamp or the preamp has separate inputs there is a chance that
there is corrosion or some other connection problem before the preamp.

For the most part your preamp, and most preamps, can handle both UHF and VHF unless
they were specifically designed for only one of the two bands.

If you lost only one band, and when you remove the power, reception gets worse, then
I would say the preamp is working, but the signal combiner, or connections
before the preamp are at fault.....

Send a picture of your antenna to Winegard and have them identify it, and
ask them if there is a combiner before the preamp, or if it's a all in one
package..... They may have the parts available to fix it with no unreliable
retro-fitting that may end up causing problems....

Are you sure it's a Winegard....?

Take a look at this antenna.... http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...698P&ss=458460

This is the one I have.... Click the specifications tab, you will see 3 pictures
of the installation of the combiner. See the itty bitty aluminum wires they
are feeding into the plastic box.... These items are pressed into a kinda
pinch connection on the combiner. This can corrode and fail, or the board
can corrode and fail. This part may be bad, and is cheaper than a preamp.
Who knows you may even be able to clean up the connections with some
emery cloth, and cleaner and fix it with no parts...

you may even be able to clean up the connections with some
emery cloth, and cleaner and fix it with no parts...


Is that item on ebay for your antenna???
Is that your antenna preamp CP-2880 ??

Have you already identified the antenna....?



.
...
You understand the item I put up is not a preamp/ signal booster....?
Yeah, I thought if I contacted Solid signal they may have advise on a mast mounted preamp.
you may even be able to clean up the connections with some
emery cloth, and cleaner and fix it with no parts...

Before I installed the antenna this is exactly what I did. Worked great untill recently , so it may have bad connection . It uses the pinch type connectors like your talking about attached to the preamp /combiner curcuit board that snaps onto feeder line. I found this article on line and I think this antenna is much older than I thought it was.
https://www.google.com/patents/US3475759
here is were it says it uses seperate curcuitry for uhf and vhf
15. A cartridge preamplifier unit in accordance with claim 14 wherein the cartridge chassis board includes amplification circuitry for amplifying television signals in the VHF frequency band and additional and separate amplification circuitry for amplifying television signals in the UHF frequency band.
This is what my preamp cartridge looks like. After partially reading article it looks like they had many cartridge options
https://patentimages.storage.googlea...S3475759-1.png
Send a picture of your antenna to Winegard and have them identify it, and
ask them if there is a combiner before the preamp, or if it's a all in one
package..... They may have the parts available to fix it with no unreliable
retro-fitting that may end up causing problems....
I'll do that. I hope they don't tell me its old and I should replace it.

Is that item on ebay for your antenna???
I'm not sure have to wait to get on roof. Too much snow.

Have you already identified the antenna....?

No, All I know for sure is it is a Winegard(Winegard stamped into main antenna beam) with built in cartridge preamp. I'm starting to think combiner/ preamp is obsolete.
Sidenote: this antenna is about 13 ft long and 9 feet wide. In case anyone would happen to know model of it.

Last edited by Paul Knaack; 02-16-2015 at 08:27 PM.
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