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  #16  
Old 11-09-2018, 08:55 PM
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All the desired signals appear to be about 40 miles SE, right? At that distance, an indoor antenna will not be in overload and very likely will need to be amplified. So, dig out the box that has a signal strength meter and see what it says. There may also be too much multipath, but there's no way to tell from the simple lack of reception. It's also possible that the built-in tuner in the RCA TV is not as good as the best adaptor boxes (Zenith or Insignia).
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  #17  
Old 11-10-2018, 07:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut View Post
It's also possible that the built-in tuner in the RCA TV is not as good as the best adaptor boxes (Zenith or Insignia).
This was a fear of mine, because all those other adapter boxes need to connect via Composite, and the built in one is connected internally by RGB it seems. I spent the morning attempting to use the converter with the meter, and I'm getting the same results, however the meter is showing 50% reception on WMOR, and flakey.. Other channels it does find it dips down to 20%.

I'm going to try and relocate the antenna later today, I found my grandfathers stash of coax, and coupler, so maybe I can hide it behind a window blinds.
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  #18  
Old 11-10-2018, 08:57 AM
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Position and set up of the antenna are important. Know what the RF carriers of your station are. They are probably all UHF, but if any are VHF you will want to set the length of the telescoping rods length to the approx wavelength of the center freq of the weakest receivable carrier and face the broad side of the ant at it. If no VHF is receivable you should contract the rods and mostly ignore them...The loop grabs almost all the UHF signal and the rods when fully contracted are closest to UHF wavelengths. Face the broad side of the loop at the weakest UHF carrier your likely to receive.

Most indoor UHF/VHF ants use loops for UHF and loops are worse than bowties for UHF so if you can find or make a bowtie you'll be better off...If you can get metal cookie tray or a sheet of aluminum foil to act as a reflector and maybe a second bowtie ant you can build one of the better indoor/outdoor UHF ants available. The reflector when placed the correct wavelength fraction away from the bowtie will roughly double the signal from the direction the antenna is pointing.
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  #19  
Old 11-10-2018, 09:45 AM
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A note about the loop antenna: a full-wave loop has greatest sensitivity on either broad side, as Tom said; but a small loop (compared to wavelength) (which indoor TV loops are) may actually have a null when aimed broadside. You need to experiment.
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  #20  
Old 11-10-2018, 01:02 PM
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40 miles from the tower will be tricky with an indoor antenna. I think I'd focus on the UHF channels with a bowtie first.
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  #21  
Old 11-10-2018, 01:33 PM
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See if you can fasten the base if the rabbit ears/loop combo to the window sill, about 3' from the side of the window

A bowtie-only antenna would be a poor option - because three of your locals actually are transmitting on high-VHF.

Because of the distance between you and the transmitters, you may actually benefit from an antenna preamplifier. An inexpensive "RCA" branded model (Audiovox) is sold at some big box home improvement stores and at Ollie's stores (don't know if there are any in FL).
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  #22  
Old 11-11-2018, 10:57 AM
Colly0410 Colly0410 is offline
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In the bedroom I'm using an old caravan (trailer home) UHF wideband antenna (most older British UHF antenna's were grouped = group A covered channels 21 to about channel 35, group B from about 37 to 52 & group C/D from about 48 to 68) it's got 10 elements = a twin reflector, a folded dipole & 8 directors, it's propped up in the corner pointing through a brick wall & a nieghbours house to the Waltham Transmitter 28 miles away. The TV receives all the DVB-T multiplex's OK, I don't know how it receives the DVB-T2 mutiplex's as the TV was made before DVB-T2 transmissions started...
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  #23  
Old 11-13-2018, 03:47 PM
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I even get ABC.

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  #24  
Old 11-13-2018, 04:12 PM
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Great!
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