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Old 03-13-2014, 01:23 AM
JBL GUY JBL GUY is offline
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 138
Digital TV signals are fussy.

You usually need about -80dBm to the TV with a signal to noise ratio of at least 15 dB.

Anything less and reception is spotty to non-existent.

All RF amplifiers will add noise to the signal and this may be an issue.

There are types of antennae that you can build simply and cheaply that will vastly out perform rabbit ear style antenna.

The Hoverman style antenna is easy to build and performs very well.

The simple basic design will provide 10 dBd or more of gain with out adding any noise to the signal.

Here is a picture of one. The length between the bends is about 7 inches, although there are other designs where some of the lengths between the bends are increased to around 10 inches.

There are a couple of current threads regarding this antenna over on AK.

I have designed modeled and build this style of antenna and it does work very well. As pictured it is bi-directional, but adding a screen reflector behind the elements will increase the gain and make it unidirectional.

I understand that this does not directly answer your question, but it might be a solution for you and others and it may be to large and unsightly for your application.

If you do want to try an RF preamplier, the noise factor rating, (lower is better) is just as important as the gain of the preamplifier.
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File Type: jpg HOVERMAN ANTENNA DIY.JPG (28.9 KB, 28 views)
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