Dual Antenna Help Needed

[sethbob3030]

Report: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dd2434a4003d846

Situation: our main goal is to have reception of the following channels at one time - 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 16, 19, 23, 53. If we have to live without some of those channels, OK, but I know for a fact we can tune 2,3,6,19,53 at same time because I had it working properly.. Then my dad got involved. Now I can't get it back, no matter what I do. As long as I can get 2,3,6,19,53 then we can survive.. Obviously any other channels a bonus.

So, we have two identical antennas on separate poles at the moment, each with its own rotor. They are approximately 8 feet apart side to side, with one about 4 feet below the other. We also have three TV's on 3 floors. 1 top flr, maybe 20ft of cable run. 1 mid flr, maybe 20 ft of cable run. 1 bottom flr, probably at least 50 ft cable run.

The mid flr setup has only the splitter for the two antennas to 1 cable, and the drop amp between it and tv.

The top flr setup is splitter at antenna, drop amp, and splitter before tv, relating to bottom flr setup.

The bottom flr setup has two options, either splitter from antenna to drop amp to splitter in top flr setup to god knows what in the walls to tv.

OR

Splitter from antenna to drop amp to cable joiner at mid flr set up to god knows what in walls to drop amp to tv.

I greatly prefer the 1st setup as it runs to a cable outlet within a foot of tv location, and pre-dad intervention that setup worked best.

I have numerous drop amps available that can be placed anywhere. Most are the typical WalMart GE types.

The two identical antennas are Antennas Direct Model DB8e Ultra Long Range Multi-Directional. The one drop amp is an Antennas Direct CDA8. It has 8 outputs. I also have a Winegard Model AP-8275 82 Channel Pre-Amp.

We also made sure to have the cable from each antenna to the splitter the same length, perhaps off by 2 or 3 inches at best.

If there is something else needed or required to properly use two antennas, please include this in your reply. Be specific as possible, and try to dumb it down a bit, we're beginners.

Someone, please please please help. I'll attempt to include as many pics as possible.


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[StephanieS]

Greetings Sethbob,

Thanks for the thorough write up.

If I am understanding correctly you have a preamp feeding into a distribution amp? Double amplification can get tricky. Therefore, first thing I'd do is yank the preamp. Overload can manifest itself in reduced reception. Did you recently install the preamp?

Second, if I were doing this, combing antennas is not your goal here. If I'm reading your set up correctly, both systems are not separate. I would separate them via an A/B switch. Often if you are combing two antennas designed for the same band without any filters or bandpass you set up the stage for signal clashing. This will exhibit itself as reduced reception.

I have two antennas at my location. Both are on completely separate coaxes and they have different missions. They both work exactly as intended and I switch between them via A/B switch.

If I were you, I'd get one antenna feeding into the house, confirm it's working. Then, undo it, connect other antenna and confirm it's working. With a A/B switch inside then you can toggle between antennas.

It's not perfect, but when you are chasing UHF signals with two UHF antennas, you've got to let them work without another antenna introducing clashing signals.

Now there are methods to tie two same band antennas together, but as I mentioned, those require specific bandpass and filtering. It appears you don't have that.

Cheers.

[sethbob3030]

Thanks for the reply Stephanie. Currently the pre-amp is not hooked up, just the drop amp from antennas direct.

The A-B switch would be the simplest solition, but not a feasible one with everyone in the house watching seperate shows at the same time that seem to require both antennas, even though they are "multi-directional", it seems they still need pointed.

What I need to know is what I need to make both antennas work simultaneously, and at optimum performance.

What equipment is needed to make this happen? How should everything be connected? Would anything change with how we currently have the antennas mounted? Etc etc etc

[ADTech]

even though they are "multi-directional", it seems they still need pointed.

Yes, they do. Multidirectional does not mean omnidirectional. The technical data sheet on our website (under the "Documents" tab on the antenna's web page) shows the expected reception patterns.

I always advise customers that trying to combine multiple antennas facing in different directions is a total crap shoot. It works okay for some folks, it doesn't for others. I gave up a long time ago trying to make it work and have since relegated to an experimental project status. Give it a try. If it works, then mozel tov! If it doesn't, at least you gave it a shot.

[tomfoolery]

What I need to know is what I need to make both antennas work simultaneously, and at optimum performance.
I would think you need separate tuners, which are able to be combined. The HDHomerun units supposedly can do this (two tuners in each unit), but I believe the output is ethernet, and intended for computers. Something to research at least.