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Old 13-Apr-2019, 8:10 PM   #9
Johnsonbrits
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 10
Rabbit73 et all,

I made it up to Show Low for the weekend and made some additional tests based upon your recommendations:

"Did you actually try to receive 3 and 7 with the balun attached to the VHF wires?"

Testing completed this morning at the HD8200U antenna mounted in the attic with a portable Television connected directly to the balun (bypassing pre-amp and cabin coax) and a second test with the balun removed and VHF connected using crocodile clips with a 300 to 75 ohm converter.

In both cases, real channel 7 comes in with good quality but PBS on real channel 3 is not picked up during a scan. After tweaking antenna direction for real channel 7, I note through my main TV and PC that the Hauppauge signal monitor shows a SNR in the upper 20's to low 30's but again real channel 3 cannot be found during the scan.

"If you did, and 7 was better than 3, you can try a channel 3 folded dipole as an antenna for 3"

As suggested, I built a real channel 3 folded dipole (88") and tested both outside on the cabin deck and up in the attic. Both tests resulted in real channel 7 being scanned and providing a reasonable signal, real channel 3 however could not be found during scans.

"Which CM preamp are you using? "

I'm using a CM7777 pre-amp. But based on the above test results the pre-amp is not the cause of my real channel 3 reception problems :-)

*********************
The above results indicate to me that my HD8200U antenna is likely working just fine. The balun, pre-amp and cabin coax cabling are not causing problems. Antenna direction is fine since I was able to tweak against real channel 7 which is also located on Porter Mountain…… Other Thoughts Welcome!!

I do have the attic and trees in the LOS to Porter Mountain but would have thought channel 3 would have provided better penetration than channel 7?? Low power of 300 watts ERP bothers me compared to other stations around the nation on VHF-Low?? I guess that I now need to look at interference issues in the area but not sure how one would go about resolving (unless it is being generated from within the home).

One last comment, I have driven around my neighborhood and have not found other homes with external OTA antennas, all seem to be using cable or direct/dish satellite TV.

Thanks again,
Peter J.
Phoenix, Arizona
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