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Old 8-Jul-2014, 5:36 PM   #5
informel
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 5
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZippyTheChicken View Post
I recently purchased an antenna off of Amazon for $33
its small about 2.5 x 2.5 feet.. but comes with a rotator that is not accurate and a preamp

It has one cable ~30feet of coax from the antenna to the control box and then two coax outputs to provide signal to two tvs..

the amp could be in the antenna or the control box but i suspect its in the antenna.

If I point it at stations 55 miles away with the amp off I will see maybe 3 channel numbers showing in the scan results ... but no actual visual tv broadcast

If I turn the Amp on I will get over 35 stations with full signal and visual tv... my tv does not display signal strength.

So to say the preAmp won't pull signal out of the air??????? maybe not in a scientific standard.. I am guessing there is some signal being picked up by the antenna that the tv can't find... but turning the amp on and off is basically the same as unpluging the antenna.
The Antenna is next to the Antenna, when you say that you are turning the amp off, you are in fact disconnecting the power supply to the antenna so you will only receive very strong signal.

In fact a preamp will block most of the signal when not powered. If you could bypass the preamp, you would receive more channels compare to a preamp with no power.
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