What have I screwed up this time????

[linter]

here's my fool report:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d81a3c0fdb72a0b

okay, I got my new 4228HD antenna and Winegard 8275 pre amp and hooked em up, up in the attic. first attached them to the attic tv and got great guns reception from 28 channels, up from about 14 or so w/ my previous antenna. then i hooked a splitter up so i could link in my downstairs TV and from that tv I got -- nothing. i'd removed the cable-TV cable and was running the antenna cable straight from the splitter to the TV and got nothing, nada, squat.

well, i messed around with that for a whole long time and still -- fuzz, nothing but fuzz.

then i hooked the cable back up, left the antenna hooked up, and did the channel search thing again and now, where I had 13 channels before with just basic cable, I've got about 45 channels, including ones I'd never seen before, like cspan and bravo, and other oddities with channels up into the 100s. mucho weirdness.

what's up? what's wrong and/or what's right?

i want to get rid of cable altogether but i've got to get the antenna working on the downstairs tv first.

help!

[John Candle]

Sounds like you have the cable tv and the antenna connected together and then not connected and then connected and then not connected and etc.. I suggest you arrive at a understanding of how the coaxial wiring is run. Is the coax run as , loop , home run , or combination of both? . Do Not connect both the Tv antenna and the Active cable tv at the same time on the same coax. . Loop type wiring is also known as daisy chain.

[linter]

Sounds like you have the cable tv and the antenna connected together and then not connected and then connected and then not connected and etc.. I suggest you arrive at a understanding of how the coaxial wiring is run. Is the coax run as , loop , home run , or combination of both? . Do Not connect both the Tv antenna and the Active cable tv at the same time on the same coax. . Loop type wiring is also known as daisy chain.

Is there any easy way to tell which type of wiring I've got? A lot of it is out of sight. And then, once I know, what can I do about it -- i.e., is there a site with instructions to help me fix it?

update: okay, so i've determined i've got the loop type of wiring. will investigate further and report back ....

[linter]

Fixed it! Thanks for the tip, John.

Now: I'm only getting 17 channels downstairs compared to 27 channels upstairs. I see one place where I can get rid of a splitter. Think that'll make a difference? What else can I try?

Thanks again.

[John Candle]

Splitters reduce signal strength so have only the splitters needed. If a splitter is not being used at a location , put in the splitters place a F-81 in line coupler , called barrels because coupler looks like a barrel. After the last tv location , if there is more coax and splitters , disconnect that part , have the coax just go to the last tv.

[linter]

thanks, john. is there any signal loss w/ the f-81s?

[John Candle]

The loss is so small it is not worth measureing and the alternative is to run a long length of coax in place of the two coaxes. At/With the last tv in the daisy chain wiring use the signal strength bar graph built in to the tv to have a look at signal strength. and compare with the first tv. As you understand by now , loop/daisy winging is like this , the coax starts out and goes to a location and another coax goes from that location to an other location and from that location an other coax goes to an other location and so on and so on. One might say that the coax or phone wire is looping from one location to the next. This type of wiring method is the old way and is not the best way to do it. Because this method of wiring has very little flexability of use.

[John Candle]

The best way to do coax or phone wiring is what is some times called 'home run'. As a example think about a base ball field. The batter hits the ball from home base , out to some where out in to the grand stands , the same thing happens with the coax or phone wire , from the main location (home base) the wire goes out to somewhere in the house , and then an other wire goes out from the main location to some where in the house , and an other wire goes out from the main location to some where in the house. . At the main location is the coax splitter or coax distribution amplifier , or for phone wiring the 'punch down' connection block. This is the best method of wiring because it allows for control of all the wiring at the main location and the coax wiring can be connected in different ways at the main location. As an example but not the only example lets say that a DVD player is located in a room and you will like to watch the dvd in an other room , what you do is connect the two coaxes together with a F-81 barrel at the main location. So now as you think about it you understand that having the wiring at a main location and the wires go out to each location is a better way to do communications wiring.

[John Candle]

Loop/daisy chain is when the base ball player runs around the bases and is reeling out the wire as he goes from one base to the next , cutting the wire at each base so as to make a connection. This is not the best way to do wiring.

[John Candle]

Communications wiring is called , structured wiring

[linter]

i love learning new stuff. thanks for the education, john!

as it happens in my case, however, i only have two TVs, so, unless i'm mistaken, the daisy chain method is actually a help instead of a hindrance, since I'm just using that one long piece of connective coax b/ the two TVs.

i'm going to get some of those f81s today and see if I can't get more of the signal sent from the attic TV to the downstairs TV. seems to me i shouldn't be losing as many channels as I am.

thanks again!

[John Candle]

The Sun comes Up in the East and Sets in the West.