Do I need an amp?

[ssr316]

Hello,

I currently have my channel master 4228 antenna set up less than ideally right at the edge of my roof and connecting to my tv about 10 feet away.

I want to eventually move the antenna to the top of the roof and heighten it a bit. Will probably be closer to 20 feet of cable at that point. I also want to split the signal to two other TV sets. One set will also be 20 feet away roughly, while the third would be between 30-40.

Do you think I would need an amp for that? If so, which do you recommend?

Thanks.

[clarkie]

Check out Solidsignal.com

[1boxman]

100 feet to up to 150 can be done without a inline amp.So you should be good at what you are donig . Recommend to use good out side coxal .

[Terryl]

Check with TV fool before you go and buy something that you may not need.

The link below will take you to the site, enter your address and the total height of the antenna, this will give you an idea on what stations are available at your location and what antennas would be needed.

You can copy the report link back here (use hXXp: like I did to make it a dead link) and we can have a look as to what may be needed, it will not post your address only a generic location.

hXXp://www.tvfool.com

[ssr316]

Check with TV fool before you go and buy something that you may not need.

The link below will take you to the site, enter your address and the total height of the antenna, this will give you an idea on what stations are available at your location and what antennas would be needed.

You can copy the report link back here (use hXXp: like I did to make it a dead link) and we can have a look as to what may be needed, it will not post your address only a generic location.

hXXp://www.tvfool.com

Thanks very much Teryl.

This is the tvfool report link:
hXXp://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d46ae462c6bd923

I put the height at 15 feet. I'm thinking I should raise it another 10 feet and put it at the top of my roof. Do you think that would help or would that be unnecessary? I really only want a few of the locals. CBC comes in fine always. Others that are usually good are CTV, CityTV and Global (9.1, 57.1, 41.1). CBS (4.1) is usually pretty good, but I have trouble getting NBC, ABC and FOX (2.1, 7.1, 29.1). These are from Buffalo, and maybe its a pointing issue? It would be great to receive these the way CBC (5.1) usually comes in.

[Terryl]

That report is not valid try it again, but make it an inactive link like I did to the first one.

[Terryl]

OK after looking at the TV fool report you PM'ed me, it looks like you will need a good long range UHF antenna for those channels from Buffalo.

An Antennas Direct 91XG would work fine, the problems would be the directions, you can't get both US and Canadian on one antenna, not without using a TV antenna rotor or 2 antennas with an A/B switch to go between the two.

91XG info here
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=TD-91XG&d=Terrestrial-Digital-91XG-UHF-Antenna-%2891XG%29&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=853748001910

[ssr316]

OK after looking at the TV fool report you PM'ed me, it looks like you will need a good long range UHF antenna for those channels from Buffalo.

An Antennas Direct 91XG would work fine, the problems would be the directions, you can't get both US and Canadian on one antenna, not without using a TV antenna rotor or 2 antennas with an A/B switch to go between the two.

91XG info here
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=TD-91XG&d=Terrestrial-Digital-91XG-UHF-Antenna-%2891XG%29&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=853748001910

Thanks very much Terryl.

I have a channel master 4228 set up right now. The buffalo stations are further away, granted, but they are also within a similar line of sight from where I am, no?

There are two bays on that antenna...would I be able to maybe just change their direction to get those hard to read channels?

[Barney Trouble]

never hooked up a good ota antenna, but..

If you are in the GTA you shouldn't have any problem getting buffalo. I'm on the west end and for fun tried a $20 10" RCA amplified antenna propped up on my hedge and pulled Buffalo in on the TV. LOL In fact, I bet if you had a decent antenna, you could point at Buffalo and still pick up Toronto off the back end. But as I said... not much real experience. Point towards Buffalo turn and see. :D

[Terryl]

never hooked up a good ota antenna, but..

If you are in the GTA you shouldn't have any problem getting buffalo. I'm on the west end and for fun tried a $20 10" RCA amplified antenna propped up on my hedge and pulled Buffalo in on the TV. LOL In fact, I bet if you had a decent antenna, you could point at Buffalo and still pick up Toronto off the back end. But as I said... not much real experience. Point towards Buffalo turn and see. :D

You haven't looked at his TVfool report..........


There is a bit more too it then you think, I've been doing this for over 50 years, (OTA) you can get lucky with some hardware and locations but not everyone else will.

There are antennas that may or may-not work to get all the stations you need, it's all in how much you want to spend and were your located, some get real lucky with the home made antennas, others have to spend a bunch just to get the networks.



Ssr316, turning the bays in different directions may cause more problems, look at your TV fool report, the Canadian channels are only 20 miles from you on a bearing of 121 degrees magnetic, a desk top antenna should work for those.

The network stations from Buffalo are 64 and 94 miles away on a bearing of 150 to 153 degrees magnetic, some TV antennas may work if they were much closer, but the difference in mileage means that you will need a deep fringe antenna for the Buffalo stations, this antenna may/will overload the TV sets tuner if it's used for the local channels.

So if you want all of them you will need two antennas, one for the local and one for the distant stations, then run them into an A/B switch, as trying to combine two different types of antennas would cost you as much as a new desktop PC.

[ssr316]

You haven't looked at his TVfool report..........


There is a bit more too it then you think, I've been doing this for over 50 years, (OTA) you can get lucky with some hardware and locations but not everyone else will.

There are antennas that may or may-not work to get all the stations you need, it's all in how much you want to spend and were your located, some get real lucky with the home made antennas, others have to spend a bunch just to get the networks.



Ssr316, turning the bays in different directions may cause more problems, look at your TV fool report, the Canadian channels are only 20 miles from you on a bearing of 121 degrees magnetic, a desk top antenna should work for those.

The network stations from Buffalo are 64 and 94 miles away on a bearing of 150 to 153 degrees magnetic, some TV antennas may work if they were much closer, but the difference in mileage means that you will need a deep fringe antenna for the Buffalo stations, this antenna may/will overload the TV sets tuner if it's used for the local channels.

So if you want all of them you will need two antennas, one for the local and one for the distant stations, then run them into an A/B switch, as trying to combine two different types of antennas would cost you as much as a new desktop PC.

thanks for your reply again terryl

the fact that they are all within line of sight doesn't mean anything? also, it seems as though 4.1 and 7.1 are very similar in distance but i can get 4.1 usually without a problem, but can never get 7.1

and 29.1 is closer than 4.1, yet i can't get that either

essentially what i'm trying to say is that i'd prefer to not have to buy another antenna if i don't have to, as i spent quite a bit on the channel master 4228, thinking it would be able to reel in those buffalo stations along with the toronto ones

[Terryl]

The Channel master 4228 has an effective range of about 75 miles, you could add a pre-amp to it, but that may cause problems for the close in stations as it couold over amp the input signals for them, the TV tuner has an input range of -20 to -65 dBM, it uses what is called an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) to keep the signals with in a certain range, (around a -35 dBM) if you use an amplifier to get the far away signals, the close in signals will be/may be too strong and may cause a shut down of the tuner to protect the input.

One other thing, go back to your TVfool report and click on the WKBW channel, this will bring up a ground plot of that station to your location, everyone thinks that the ground is flat in some locations, but it's not, the Earth that a curve to it, the plot will show this, a station that is 90 miles away on a supposedly flat terrain is below the horizon at ground level, you may have to put the antenna at around 30 feet off the roof to get those far away stations at your location.

This is why you may need a second TV antenna, one that is more directional to keep from picking up those close in stations and has a higher range to it

[ssr316]

The Channel master 4228 has an effective range of about 75 miles, you could add a pre-amp to it, but that may cause problems for the close in stations as it couold over amp the input signals for them, the TV tuner has an input range of -20 to -65 dBM, it uses what is called an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) to keep the signals with in a certain range, (around a -35 dBM) if you use an amplifier to get the far away signals, the close in signals will be/may be too strong and may cause a shut down of the tuner to protect the input.

One other thing, go back to your TVfool report and click on the WKBW channel, this will bring up a ground plot of that station to your location, everyone thinks that the ground is flat in some locations, but it's not, the Earth that a curve to it, the plot will show this, a station that is 90 miles away on a supposedly flat terrain is below the horizon at ground level, you may have to put the antenna at around 30 feet off the roof to get those far away stations at your location.

This is why you may need a second TV antenna, one that is more directional to keep from picking up those close in stations and has a higher range to it

thanks very much

although, i'm not sure i buy the whole "earth is not flat, but round" theory that all the cool kids are talking about these days :noidea: