Pre-2005 Thread About OTA Antenna & Gear

[987654321]

Originally Posted by bareeves

Seems Radio shack doesnt sell pre-amps.
would i need a pre-amp - .

You would need a preamp - not a distribution amp.

First of all, as Johnny said, you should be getting at least what you got before using only a piece of RG6.

Preamps should only be used as LAST resort after other solutions have been tried - such as antenna with better gain, higher placement, different placement. Sometimes only 5 or 10 feet horizontal change can make an incredible difference picking up signals weaker than Grade B.

Preamps have a tendency to overload strong signals - especially where there are Grade A/B signals and one wants to receive a weaker channel. The strong stations will appear on more than 1 channel and can even wipe out the weak channel.

RatShack makes junk preamps, Blonder Tongue is the best, albeit quite expensive. Medium quality preamps can be found from Channel Master and Winegard.

[JohnnyG]

A CATV amp will amplify the signal, so for testing purposes, it's worth a shot. It's not the correct solution though.

But I think HDTV101 has found the 'missing link' here. The power injector is the likely culprit. To test, stand on the ground in bare feet and put your tongue on the antenna

[Daniel Tonks]

Originally Posted by JohnnyG

To test, stand on the ground in bare feet and put your tongue on the antenna

Especially recommended in -21 degree weather! :-)

I'm in Markham and my highly directional antenna is practically an omni when it comes to the super-close 53. Still can't get WB though...

[bareeves]

UPdate,
tks guys,
so I got up on the roof, all installed on the rotor - works great!

I could get all except ABC.
I then installed a littel RCA amp i got at Canadian Tire - 10 bucks - and boom IM getting ABC now - everything on the 9032 is now coming in jsut great -andIdonthave to swing the rotor.

I just needed to get the antenna up high enough - and the amp did the trick.

BAR

[videobruce]

If you don't have a tall tower I would recomend an amp, if you REALLY need one, inside the attic or crawl space that is accessible. It's out of the weather and there arev two less fitting to crap out.

I wouldn't suggest RS though. Look to Winegard or Channel Master.

[wainmanb]

With all this talk of Winguards and ChannelMasters it is easy to forget we have a antenna manufacturer locally. I think they are relatively cheap as well but I am not sure.

You can have a look at their web site:
http://www.wade-antenna.com/

They may what looks like a ChannelMaster 4 bowtie:
http://www.wade-antenna.com/UHFantennas.htm

I am not sure how good they are but the specs look fine.

Cheers,
Bruce

[louis n]

Originally Posted by bareeves

Seems Radio shack doesnt sell pre-amps.
would i need a pre-amp - kind that mounts on the antenna mast, or just a CATV amp - they do sell those.

i hooked up a radio shack amp on the mast to a uhf ant and it works good and the price is right...ihad a wineguard and lightning took care of it and i still have a jerrold 20 yrs old on my vhf / uhf ant and i still maintain from first hand that the r.shack is good enough