Original Hoverman in NYC: advice?

[iram]

Well I did order the antenna linked below from summit source

http://www.summitsource.com/antennac...le-p-8517.html

May be it was just my belief that it would have been built a little more robust than it seems but then again its intended to be kept indoors. In general it doesn’t seem to be a bad antenna. Looks just like a Hoverman. The director’s elements are made of aluminum. I'm wondering would it make any difference in performance if I were to duplicate them in copper and replace the original.

It has 4 reflector elements The top and bottom measure 29 1/2 “with approx. 1 5/8” spacing in center then 2 middle. Shorter reflector elements measuring 21 3/4 “same spacing in middle. Antenna is 30 ‘tall. Space from main elelnents to reflectors is 4"

As stupid as this sounds the ad says they give you 25' of cable however the cable comes with no ends so it really of no use unless you can get connectors May as well just buy premade cable.

But as for reception so far it seems that is comparable to my homebrew Hoverman.

I think I have basically confirmed that is not the antenna but the location. Due to location it just too low to ground and as one can see from my first post there are a lot of trees in the way.
What a difference my upstairs antenna now with an in line amp Radio shack or not so far is now getting all my channels I wanted and I was even able to add a signal combiner to so my UHF antenna lead and my VHF antenna lead combine to one into my converter box so I don’t need my a/b switch any more.

Finally upstairs it’s almost back to the way it was before this stupid conversion.

I still need to experiment more downstairs.
While the location we see now is terrible the converter box does show some signal on most channels just not enough for the box to use. I know some of you have advised to run cable from upstairs antenna to downstairs but it would be more than I’d care to tackle at the moment.

[300ohm]

As stupid as this sounds the ad says they give you 25' of cable however the cable comes with no ends so it really of no use unless you can get connectors May as well just buy premade cable.

From what Ive seen, most people got the free coax with the ends. But the coax was RG59, which is older and more lossy than RG6. I think they just throw the coax in free to add shipping weight and/or get rid of old stock. Or maybe it serves as a packing material, heh.

[Choclab]

I got a couple of those Antennacraft Hovermans a few years ago before forums like this one detailed how to build one so well, and yeah, I got that worthless RG59 without ends on it, too. I even asked in the notes box if they'd leave it out, but they threw it in anyway.

Good antenna, and it should be a little better than the old one you had, but I kind of wish you'd tried the CM or a Winegard 4400 or even the Antennacraft U4000 just to see if you noticed any difference. (Probably not though on the majority of the channels.)

[iram]

Well so far this antenna craft antenna is performing just about at the same level as this homebrew I was using.




Now before I get to many comments this is an old picture. No I wasn’t using 2 balloons and the actual version I have been using was more modified that what the picture shows.

Basically other than this new antenna being lighter it’s not doing much better than the original. I am experimenting adding some screen material attached to the reflector rods. Currently I’ve added some 2x3 in wire mesh attached to the reflector rods. It actually seems to be adding some gain to antenna.

[300ohm]

Currently I’ve added some 2x3 in wire mesh attached to the reflector rods. It actually seems to be adding some gain to antenna.

Yes, the mesh will give it more gain. You will want to maintain a 1 inch vertical gap in the middle of the mesh reflector for even more gain. In other words, you will have two reflector panels separated by an inch.

[iram]

Yes that’s what I did... Knowing full well that most results are not going to be god based on indoor location. I'm going to experiment with a finer mesh and I am waiting on delivery of a uhf amp hopefully sometime Thursday after noon

[iram]

Just received this amp ups



http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...Pre-Amplifier-

so far initial results are promising.

did a quick set up and did manage to get nbc and cbs and channels 5 and 9 on downstairs tv. right n ow just have cable lying on floor with antenna held by suction cup hooks onto sliding glass door that leads out to deck.

[300ohm]

With that preamp, you have more than enough power to split one antenna to at least 4 TVs.

sliding glass door that leads out to deck

Hmm, you could mount the antenna and preamp head outdoors on the deck, covering it with plastic ivy. (its not an antenna, its a trellis, heh) To get the coax inside, you could use flat 75 ohm coax at the doorway
http://****************/Pack-Flat-Co...flat+rg6+cable Check out Amazon for the flat coax. Radio Shack also carries it for more.

If the preamp head is outside, you have more than enough power to over come the extra loss from the flat coax and still split to other TVs.

[iram]

Ok I just ran a cable from main tv in living room I think maybe its 50 to 75' ( I think but not really sure)
have antenna attached to window with amp hooked up. Every thing seems to be working except channel 4 nbc (28) 554-560 mhz.


I was even able to add a splitter and reversed it to use as a combiner so that my uhf and master VHF leads go straight to converter box eliminating the a/b switch.

I just dont understand what goes on with nbc around here its been my main problem since the conversion.

Granted my poor antenna location, height and trees in the way and having to be indoors.

I should have had it easier than some since all major channels are in the same place the Empire State building.


Now it is raining today maybe if it clears up nbc will show up

[iram]

I'm wondering if it makes any difference where the power injector is located


Yesterday when I did get nbc (while weather was better and it was early evening) I had the power injector closer to antenna.

currently its close to Main tv

[majortom]

doesn't matter as long as there are no dc blocking type splitters or bad cables in between, preventing dc power from getting to the preamp.

[BOUVAL]

currently its close to Main tv

It's better to put it before any splitting, unless you have a DC Pass Splitter.
.

[iram]

Well it’s been about a month since last post so I thought I'd update a touch. My Upstairs antenna set up with Radio shack signal amp has been working ok. Generally have been getting all channels we want including NBC so we were able to watch the Olympics. Sometimes a little reception problems pixalization ( I hope that’s the right word) mostly in really bad weather or wind which blows the trees around or makes them wet.


My downstairs set up which has the summit source “hover man “antenna attached to my back sliding glass door with suction cup hooks with a wineguard ap-4800 amp also has been generally working however I assume due to being much lower in elevation we have expericanced more periodic losses of channels and at times longer delays in signal but in general I suppose it’s the best we can do at the moment.


I am hopeing down the line when the new trade center is finished in NY they move antennas to it and hopefully my reception will get better.


I do want to thank everyone who answered my questions and posted comment in this thread. With your comments I have finally been able to start to watch the various channels I have missed due to the digital change