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Old 5-Apr-2019, 4:14 AM   #1
GypsyCowgirl
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 6
Setup and Reception

I have a few questions.

We were with DirecTV, but finally decided to “cut the cord”!

We are in something of a country area, just under 45 miles away from the farthest signal in Houston. I wasn't sure if we could receive signal from any channels. We had not used an antenna since right after we moved here, while we were waiting for DirecTV to run wiring. That was during the analog signal days.

But, I found a pair of rabbit ears and connected them. I was able to pull in three channels, if I held the rabbit ears in my hand. I thought I was going to have to hold onto the antenna and put one hand and leg into the air, and turn my head just so, to get the three channels to work, but instead I attached the rabbit ears to a tall floor lamp, that was not plugged in, and that seemed to do the trick.

I decided to pick up a Winegard Flat antenna, to see if that would bring in more channels. I was able to pull in 24 channels, though all of them didn't work. I had to move the antenna from one spot to another to switch between watching CBS and NBC, and forget about ABC and PBS, they were not coming in at all. I also had to hang the Winegard from the rabbit ear lamp contraption, to get some of the channels to work.

After some research, I was torn between the ClearStream 2Max and the 4Max. I decided to test the 2Max. I was not certain, if I also needed a ClearStream 2Max reflector Assembly, or if I needed an amplifier. I decided to just test the 2Max on it's own.

The DirecTV tech installed one dish with one cable wire running from the dish to a splitter, with three cables going from the splitter into three separate rooms of the house. I am not certain if DirecTV uses an amplifier to bring in a good signal, or if an amplifier is necessary when connected to a DircTV dish. I should also add the splitter is under the house, so I have not looked at it to see what it looks like.

After connecting the three cable wires to the three TV's, I noticed one TV gets more channels than the other two, so I am guessing there may not be an amplifier.

In doing research we found a few people recommended removing the LNB from the DirecTV dish setup and using the dish as the reflector, placing the antenna in front of the dish. We placed the ClearStream 2Max in front of the dish. We are able to pull in over 40 channels. Even though when a channel search is performed it shows to bring in over 60 on the living room TV. But, all the channels do not come in. We do get all the main channels now, like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS. We get some of the ION stations, not all, and many other channels. Not bad, compared to what we picked up on the rabbit ears and the Winegard. But, there again, there are channels that are not coming in at all on the other TV's. And since the trees are starting to get their spring bloom on, we are starting to see ABC and CBS are starting to pixilate. But, this doesn't happen all the time, it comes and goes, which seems odd.

My questions are, does DirecTV use an amplifier when they split signal?

If we don't have an amplifier, do we need an amplifier to bring in the other channels we are not getting, or at least bring in all the channels we have to all the televisions?

Does the DirecTV dish really make an adequate reflector for the ClearStream 2 Max, or any outdoor antenna or could we possibly get more channels if we remove the old dish?

Would the ClearStream 2Max reflector assembly bring in more channels?

We get VHF and UHF channels, would we be better off with the ClearStream 4Max?

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9038ec75325c29
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