goforit,

How do I use more then one UVSJ, in serial and why?

Thanks,

John

Yes, use them in serial. From antenna, into 1 UVSJ, coax out, into 2 UVSJ, coax out, into 3 UVSJ, coax out, then to TV. It is suggested that the open ports be closed with terminator caps. The loss is supposedly .5 per UVSJ- not too bad.

Ok, but why three. Did you experiment and this is what worked best?

Thanks,
John

Hi there all;

I am wondering if anyone here can help me with a dilemma - I live in London, near a couple of very strong sources, and am looking to figure out how risky in terms of overload it would be to set up a pre-amp for my system to pick up some of the US digital signals that are marginal/tropo for my location.

My current setup is as follows:

CM4221HD (unhacked) - > 45 foot RG6 -> PCT 2 Way distro amp (11 db amp, 3.6db noise) -> (split)

a) 6 feet RG6 to Tivax STB-T8
b) 25 feet RG6 to Hauppauge 1600 PVR tuner.

I am looking at adding a Tin Lee notch filter/FM Trap to catch Channel 10 (CFPL) which I live almost right under. The notch would drop -25db on that channel.

Here is my TV Fool reading:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3db7c8dc2962f8ee

Radarboy

radarboy: Notch attenuator prior to pre-amp?

radar boy:

I am in a similar situation as you. I am right beside the CHCH tower in Hamilton. A friend of mine built a VHF 11 trap and it works great- most signals see a bump in signal strength and my weak distant station, now comes in. I am also using a 4-way PCT distribution amp. I put the channel 11 trap before the distribution amp, as well as a FM trap.

My difficult station to get is WNYO 49.1. I am using a channel 11 trap and a FM Trap- I think the CM 7777 has a built in FM trap - so need to worry about that. Anyways, the channel 11 trap allows me to get WNYO- other stations also see a bump in strength b/c of the trap calming down 11. The UVSJ splitter attenuates either UHF or VHF signals, but from my experience and from other DHC members - the attenuation might be less than what is expected. Thus you need to use multiple UVSJs to really knock down the VHF or UHF signals- VHF for you/us- Ch. 11. More so than one would- each UVSJ in succession knocks down the VHF signals further and further. I was fooling around with my set-up and using multiple UVSJs was comparable to the 11 trap. If you have them- try it.

Panamark was kind enough to lend me a couple of UVSJ's and they worked OK - still running with one right behind my distro amp. Two knocked channel 10 down to fairly fuzzy territory which was less than ideal.

Hi:

I have an antenna that I attached to an old Bell satellite dish arm using the 50 foot cable from the dish to our basement TV. It works great. We get all the Canadian stations - CTV, CBC, Global, City, Sun...as well as 3 NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox...

I want to hook up an antenna to our main floor TV. I think my 2 options are to install another antenna or to splice the cable and feed the current cable/antenna to both TVs.

Cost wise, I think it'll be about the same. I can buy an antenna the same as I already have for under $20 and 100 feet of cable for $5. By the time I buy the right splicing tools, ends and a splitter, it'll cost about the same.

A couple of questions:

1) will my signal degrade if I splice?
2) if I attach a second antenna to the same satellite arm, is there any chance they'll interfere with each other (or might it even help)?

Anyhow, just looking for some comments about the pros/cons of either approach or whether there are even better ideas.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Dave

(Not that it makes a difference for this discussion, but I'm in Markham, ON near Highway 7 and Kennedy.)

1) will my signal degrade if I splice?
You dont want to use a splice which will mess the signal even worse than a splitter. A good splitter will have at least 3.5 dBi of loss (more than half the signal), so youll want a quality low noise preamp at the antenna head to compensate for that and the coax losses.

SNSD, I have a similar setup to you..........however, reading the post just below yours, Should I have my booster (10db) at the antenna or where it is now, infront of my splitter (3 way).

Correct? Or throw one in the attic where the antenna is?

You dont want to use a splice

Agreed. A splice will create an impedance miss-match and if not shielded properly would allow noise to be fed into the cable. Go with a splitter instead.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I see that using a splitter instead of splicing is the way to go. Having said that, my other question was whether I'd be just as well off using a second antenna. It would likely be much simpler (and similar in cost) for me to simply plunk a second antenna on the same arm. Would there be any downside to just setting up a second antenna versus using a splitter? Could they interfere with each other if they're on the same metal attachment? (I'm currenly using the same arm that a Bell satellite dish was once attached to.)

Thanks again for helping me out.

Dave

It would likely be much simpler (and similar in cost) for me to simply plunk a second antenna on the same arm. Would there be any downside to just setting up a second antenna versus using a splitter? Could they interfere with each other if they're on the same metal attachment? (I'm currenly using the same arm that a Bell satellite dish was once attached to.)

If they are too close together they could interfere with each other. Also, I am not sure what antenna you are using, but typically a satellite J-mount isn't strong enough to support one antenna (unless it is really small) so 2 on one mount would be too much load. See the thread OTA Mounts, Towers, Rigging Hardware (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=29559) for more information.

This is off the topic of this thread, but are you grounding the antenna properly? See the thread Grounding Info & Standards: OTA/Dish/CATV/Telecom (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=62265) for details.

got kitzteck hooked to a db8 first results did nothing,then i put a uvsj combiner in reverse to it to block the vhf 40-215mhz,fm is in thier too,worked great amp must have been overloading.now i would like add an anolog filter to block all anolog signals,is thier such a thing?before i start leveling the digital signals and then massively amplifying to get ass much distant station as possible.

Filters, amps, and all this other typical OTA signal gear don't know any difference between digital and analogue signals. It's not until an electronic receiver is hooked up that they get treated separately.

We've discussed ideas about digital signal processing in OTA signal gear from an experimental standpoint only, but nothing affordable or commonplace is out there for consumers.

Do you mean filtering out VHF signals? If so just look up band pass filters in the OTA FAQ and in this thread.

I plan on getting an omnidirectional antenna soon, specifically the Winegard MS-2002. Right now there is 2 satellite dishes on my roof, feeding two TV's. The dishes have DiSEqC switches, so there is only 2 cables coming through the wall. I want to add the omnidirectional using an eave mount so that the Winegard is above the roof line. I would like to know what I will need to get this set-up up and running. Also, I am in Niagara Falls, Canada, and would be looking for someone to do the install. :)

Thanks!!

Hi all! I'm looking to buy a splitter so I can feed my antenna reception to more than 1 TV. Is there one that is particularly good, or will any old splitter do? I want to split it to 3 TV's. Will I need an amplifier as well, if so which is a good one? Thanks for any and all help.

Hi! Welcome :)

If you're looking to distribute signal to many outputs, then a simple splitter won't do. Each splitter basically halves the signal, so you're gonna be losing alot of reception unless you have really strong signals.

You're going to need a distribution amplifier, check this (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42426) thread for more details on amplifiers.

Also be sure to check the OTA FAQ at the top of the page.

The choice of whether you can use a passive splitter or you must use a distribution amplifier is dictated by your available signal levels at the point of distribution. Since you don't have appropriate signal measuring gear, you are left with "trial and error' as your choice.

Verify proper operation with a direct signal line to one receiver, preferably the one with the longest cable run. Select a balanced splitter with the number of needed outputs and install it in the line, connecting all outputs to their respective receivers. If you've got adequate reception on all receivers, it's fine. If, on the other hand, you have lost channels or are suffering dropouts (assuming digital), you will need to install a distribution amplifier instead of the splitter.

Each splitter basically halves the signal,

This is quite correct. However, since signal powers are measured on a logarithmic rather than a linear scale and often have a dynamic range of nearly 80 dB (for digital) between overload and dropout, a halving of the power (3 dB) may be done many times provided there is adequate power. There can be a lot of "halves" in a strong signal but few to none in a weak signal. The situation may be complicated by a wide mix in available signal powers, a very common situation in the real world. In such a case, you have to make sure the weakest signals don't get lost while also ensuring the strongest ones don't get pushed into overload territory due to amplification. It's all a balancing act in the end.

As an example, a unity-gain loop antenna 10 miles from a 1,000 kw UHF channel 14 transmitter would be expected (ideally) to develop around -32 dBm of signal power. Since most ATSC receivers are able to decode down to around -85 dBM, this example provides 53 dB of dynamic headroom that is your internal "loss budget". As long as your "expenditures" in terms of splitters and cabling do not exceed the available budget, the system should still work. Of course, the real world suggests that you should definitely pad that budget to provide for a safety margin. 10 dB of margin is the minimum that is often suggested.

If you're still working with analog, the numbers are different but the concept is the same. Since you're going to be digital-only in just over a year, might as well be prepared for that eventuality.

PS89