One thing I just realized about the value of these antennas is the fact that there is no BALUN signal loss. According to some articles that I read they state that you can lose more than half of the signal with a bad balun!
See - http://www.kyes.com/antenna/balun.html
So my hypothesis now is that it may be better to get a preamp with 300 ohm inputs rather than a 75 ohm input because this will eliminate the need for a signal stealing balun.
For this reason my SS-2000 works better than anticipated.
I have been wondering how to best tweak antenna setups to minmize all losses and maximize signal. My assumption is that an antenna is being used in conjuntion with a preamp for GTA viewers trying to get Buffalo stations.
I guess that you need the balun if you are not using a preamp.
I was wondering why my Winegard SS-2000 was working almost as well as a CM4221 with AP4700 preamp. When I looked inside the Wingard SS-2000 - see:
http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showpost.php?p=372939&postcount=87
I noticed that there was a preamp but no balun. The preamp was connected to the 300 ohm leads!
After doing some reading I learned something that appears to be common sense but I have not seen it discussed here.
If you have an antenna that has 300 ohm output then use a 300 ohm input preamp.
This means that if you have a CM 4221 you should not be using a CM 7777. With a CM 4221 or 4228 you should be using a Channel Master CM 0264 or Channel Master CM 064 preamp!
Match the antenna output and preamp input and eliminate the balun!
See - http://www.kyes.com/antenna/balun.html
So my hypothesis now is that it may be better to get a preamp with 300 ohm inputs rather than a 75 ohm input because this will eliminate the need for a signal stealing balun.
For this reason my SS-2000 works better than anticipated.
I have been wondering how to best tweak antenna setups to minmize all losses and maximize signal. My assumption is that an antenna is being used in conjuntion with a preamp for GTA viewers trying to get Buffalo stations.
I guess that you need the balun if you are not using a preamp.
I was wondering why my Winegard SS-2000 was working almost as well as a CM4221 with AP4700 preamp. When I looked inside the Wingard SS-2000 - see:
http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showpost.php?p=372939&postcount=87
I noticed that there was a preamp but no balun. The preamp was connected to the 300 ohm leads!
After doing some reading I learned something that appears to be common sense but I have not seen it discussed here.
If you have an antenna that has 300 ohm output then use a 300 ohm input preamp.
This means that if you have a CM 4221 you should not be using a CM 7777. With a CM 4221 or 4228 you should be using a Channel Master CM 0264 or Channel Master CM 064 preamp!
Match the antenna output and preamp input and eliminate the balun!