Advise on antenna type/receptin
 

Greetings,


I am buying at the following location, and want to know if a Winegard Flatwave
FL6550A and a splitter and signal amp will power up to three tv sets as an attic installation. This is a condo. Thanks for your help!
:)
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...f1f0fc04a46816

The radar plot link didn't work for me.

Repaired TVFR link

Welcome, Ohiopicker:

The good news is that the FL6550A does much better with UHF signals, real channels 14-51, than with VHF-High signals, 7-13.

The bad news is that the Flatwave has a built-in amplifier of unknown gain, that most likely will be overloaded by your very strong signals. Your strongest signal WTTE, has a Noise Margin of 71.5 dB.

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.p...1&d=1433289924

Interpreting Noise Margin in the TV Fool Report
http://www.aa6g.org/DTV/Reception/tvfool_nm.html

The signal loss because of the attic location is difficult to predict, so I can't make any guarantees. Aluminum siding, stucco wire mesh, or aluminum foil heat barriers will block the signals. You need to make some tests with a temporary run of RG6 coax and try different locations in the attic with the antenna aimed at about 25 degrees magnetic.

If there are any trees or buildings in that direction, the signals will be blocked.

I suggest you try an Antennas Direct C2 or RCA ANT751 antenna without a preamp first to see how it does with the splitter. You could always add a distribution amp later, but I doubt that you will need it. Conversely, you might even need an attenuator to keep from overloading the TV tuner.

Thank you guys! I will look at different antennas where the amplifier is not built in. So some of my stations are VHF? Tower Guy , I was able to click on the link and it opened the chart for Grove City Ohio.

No, they are all UHF, until you get down to WGCT, real channel 8, which is an independent religious station. It is weaker than your strongest stations. If you want it, you would need a Winegard 7694P antenna instead in the attic.

Is that good or bad? Are you there, or someplace else?

Your tvfool report puts you near the Buckeye Grove Shopping Center and Quail Creek.

You have some strong FM signals, but they probably will not interfere with your TV reception. If they do, a simple filter (UVSJ or HLSJ) will help.

Thanks for the info. I will be near the shopping center.

The moderator fixed the broken link.

A value antenna would be the DB2. The newer DB2e is better, but you don't need the extra performance.

Can I ask another question? This just occurred to me. Since the house I am buying was built in 2002 and is wired with rg6, can I simply attach coax to the wall connections and attempt to use the houses' cable network as a giant omnidirectionall antenna? If so can I have wifi running on the same cable network without interference?

Again, thank you for your wisdom and patience.

Not a good idea. It's shielded and might pick up electrical interference from the power wiring. You are welcome to try it as long as nothing else is connected to the wiring.

Very bad idea.

Thanks, Rabbit73.

Now, here is another idea I saw on YouTube; connection the copper wire of a coax cable coming out of the TV to a grounding screw on an outlet... Yes, I know you are working off your home wiring grounding system and there better not be any electrical mistakes in your system. The guy in the video got impressive results, and in my case, this would free up the coax cable system for internet.

Have you guys seen this done with some success?

Don't believe everything you see on the internet...

Coax was used for computer networks over 20 years ago and abandoned very quickly. It's a terrible cable for computers, slow and loaded with interference issues.

Even regular old telephone twisted pair is better for computers than coax.

Rick bb,

Thank you for the reply. I understand what you are saying, but aren't virtually all cable companies and home internet providers bringing wifi in on RG6 currently?

They bring the internet SERVICE into the home on coax (unless it's FTTH).

Wifi is "wireless" between the access point and the client.

Cable companies use very proprietary technology to push the signals for internet, TV and phone through the same coax cable. When it comes into your house it goes to one of their boxes that you either have to rent or buy. The raw signal is not in a format that your computer, WiFi router, etc. will understand.

That cable modem, (it's not really a modem, modem stands for modulator/demodulator which is not what that box does), converts the various signals into what your TV, and computer can understand. Most of them have WiFi access points built in to them.

Once converted into standard network traffic protocols it is transmitted best over a type of twisted pair wiring, called CAT5, or CAT6. WiFi of course requires no cables.

You "could" make RG6 work, IF you could find some old, (very old), coax bus PCI cards for you computer(s). But why use 20 year old and slow tech when your computer already has built in Ethernet?

You could also buy a cable "modem" for each computer and any other network device if you have a ton of cash you don't need for anything else.

again, thanks to all for your help. I'm gettin' there!

Will this work?
 

Please tell me if my idea can work: I am now looking at making this an easy attic mount by doing the following: running the coax from the antenna to the only upstairs coax hookup, taking a splitter off the antenna and running it into the

upstairs hookup, making it connect to the whole house system by running it into the FRONT of the upstairs wall plate. Then, drilling a second hole in the wall plate, attaching a female to female fitting, and then running the second coax from the antenna and splitter into the BACK of the wall plate, so a TV can be hooked up here. This seems to me like it should work. But what say ye?

Thanks again for the help. I am trying to do this without splicing into the house cable. Since it is a condo I am not finding where the cable feed enters my unit.

Using a splitter from the antenna to feed the upstairs TV will work. Using the other side of the splitter to feed the whole house system might not work. We don't have enough information about the whole house system, like how many rooms are being fed, if there are other splitters in the system, and how it connects to cable.

Normally, the antenna should go directly to the point where there is a splitter for all the rooms, and it connects to the input of that splitter, not one of its outputs.

You must not have the antenna and cable connected to the same system.