Wacky old antennas

[bgadow]

This thread encouraged me to finally get off my duff and set up my outdoor antenna. I had been making due with an "oven rack" UHF hanging in the attic. I had everything I needed: a pretty high-end, fairly late model Winegard that I had picked up a few years back at the local freight salvage store (installed on the back of my shed, hardly off the ground and with mast supports so badly twisted by a windstorm that it was almost vertical), a NOS Channel Master chimney mount kit, bought new by somebody in the early 60s at Atom Electronics of Lancaster, PA (how ya like that, Dave?), a used 70s vintage Alliance rotor, and plenty of coax. I got it mounted last week and have been slowly getting things set up. Issue #1 right now is that the bedroom TV is seeing too much line-loss due to the goofy way I rigged things up. For some dopey reason, when we added on I ran the coax from the bedroom through to my TV room, not up through the attic or down through the crawlspace, but through the studs where I can't access it. At least, I think that is how I did it. The coax has to run down into the TV room, through an outlet, then another short piece of coax connecting to another outlet that runs to the bedroom. Oh, I do have one of those 20db amplifiers in the mix back there. With that setup, and the antenna aimed towards Baltimore, I can't really pick up anything. But the living room set, seeing almost a straight run, gets pretty much every channel from the city. (but with help from another 20db amp right before the TV, and yet another one up in the attic!) So, got some cleaning up to do. What do you guys think about an antenna mounted amp? Any reccomendations as to make/model? I played with one a long, long time ago, from Radio Schlock, but it didn't last long.

[Jeffhs]

Every time you amplify a TV signal, you will add more noise. However, I'm surprised you need two amplifiers ahead of your large outdoor UHF antenna just to get Baltimore stations from where you are (TV Guide's website shows Baltimore-Washington area stations as being the default stations for your area). Also, I am wondering why you don't get anything on one TV (yet the living room one gets all the Baltimore stations) if you are using the same amplified antenna system for both TVs in your house. If it works well for the living room set it should work equally well for the other in the bedroom, or wherever your second TV is in the house.

BTW, I wonder if the Baltimore TV stations are all on UHF DTV allocations, or if some few are still on VHF channels. I ask because, here in northeastern Ohio where I live, two stations -- Fox channel 8 and CBS channel 19 -- are on VHF DTV channels, while every one of the others (3, 5, 25, 43, 61) are on UHF allocations. This means I can get the UHF ones but not the two on VHF channels (I was using a small UHF only DTV antenna at the time, about a year or so ago). If the two VHF DTV stations were independents or were affiliated with networks I don't watch, I wouldn't mind that I don't get their digital channels, but these two stations also carry my two favorite retro-TV networks (MeTV and Antenna TV) on subchannels 19.2 and 8.2, respectively.

[Ed in Tx]

Been on the lookout for old TVantennas in the neighborhood. Not much left anymore, but I do notice quite a few of the remaining Log Periodic and Yagi antennas pointing exactly 180° backwards, with the big end toward the stations. Oops.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

Been on the lookout for old TVantennas in the neighborhood. Not much left anymore, but I do notice quite a few of the remaining Log Periodic and Yagi antennas pointing exactly 180° backwards, with the big end toward the stations. Oops.

Many people made that mistake with LPV antennas, thinking the large end of the antenna shaped like an arrow is the end to orient to the stations' towers. Of course, as you said, this is exactly 180 degrees opposite of where the antenna should be oriented. I remember reading in an old electronics magazine (I forget which one) the story of a TV repairman who made a house call for a TV that wasn't getting reception from any of the local stations. The technician found the problem in five minutes; the large roof-mounted log-periodic all-channel antenna had been installed with the large end pointed at the towers -- of course, exactly 180 degrees away from where it should have pointed. He mentioned this to the set owner, who answered (in paraphrase), "I always thought these new TV antennas were supposed to be installed with the large end pointing at whatever you were trying to catch."

BTW, I know what you mean about old rooftop TV antennas disappearing. I live in a very small town (population appoximately 3250) in which most of the homes and apartment buildings (including the apartment building in which I live) have done away with antennas, and are now either wired for cable or satellite TV. (My building has cable.)

There are very few outdoor television antennas to be found in this town, and those that are still standing are falling apart. There is one house down the street from me that has an all-channel TV antenna which is falling apart by degrees. It has already lost the first two elements, and the ones behind it are so loose that one of them flaps in the wind. I expect that element to blow off entirely in the first big wind or snow storm this winter (I live near Lake Erie, so we get very fierce winds right off the lake every year; that antenna likely will blow apart very soon, the way it's going now).

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by bgadow

What do you guys think about an antenna mounted amp? Any reccomendations as to make/model? I played with one a long, long time ago, from Radio Schlock, but it didn't last long.

I have always liked the Channel Master CM7777, but recent production is from China, and reported to be inferior to the older units. Check out the product reviews on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master...ter+tv+booster
At least one reviewer complained that he ordered from Amazon and got "old stock"... I would pay extra for the older version!

Not affiliated with Amazon or Channel Master,
jr

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

I have always liked the Channel Master CM7777, but recent production is from China, and reported to be inferior to the older units. Check out the product reviews on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master...ter+tv+booster
At least one reviewer complained that he ordered from Amazon and got "old stock"... I would pay extra for the older version!

Not affiliated with Amazon or Channel Master,
jr

I have used Blonder Tongue (), Winegard and Channel Master Mast-mount amps without much preference. One caution is to make sure you do not have a too-powerful FM transmitter nearby and/or on a multiple of the frequency you're trying to get. I used to have a problem with PBS channel 12 from Philly at my parent;s house, which was within sight (10 miles) of an FM (102.5 mc) station at 1/2 of channel 12's sound carrier. I could use only amps with tunable FM traps like CM 0064.