91XG Attic or Roof Mount for 92397 - Page 3

BikingBrian · 2-Jul-2012, 5:22 AM

A quick update:

Antenna #1 is UHF only and is pointed about 40 degrees towards the Victorville translator. Digital channels 47 (KCET) and 64 (KHIZ - Barstow) are a "lock" and are crystal clear. The remaining channels are analog, strong enough to have color and sound, but varying degrees of snow. Those include 21 (CBS), 25 (NBC), 27 (Fox), and 51 (MyTV).

Antenna #2 is VHF only and is pointed about 240 degrees towards Mount Wilson. Digital channels 7 (ABC), 11 (Fox), and 13 (MyTv) are a "lock" and are crystal clear. Channel 9 (KCAL) is in that direction also, but it has a weaker signal than the others, and I can't pick it up unless I start to go to extreme measures.

The Antennas Direct PA-18 amplifier and the UVSJ are mounted under the UHF antenna. The VHF antenna is about 8 feet away, that's the only spot on the roof to get the Mount Wilson channels!

That's as much effort as I'm going to put into this, being a vacation home and not my primary residence. At least I have all the major networks covered between the two antennas.

Thanks to all for your excellent advice. I'll write a blog post with more detailed info and photos later.

BikingBrian · 3-Jul-2012, 6:42 AM

Now that I have the antennas hooked up to both TVs, I've been noticing strange behavior with digital Channel 11-1. I get that channel OK on the "primary" TV, but when I turn on the "secondary" TV, I lose the Channel 11-1 signal on the primary TV. Furthermore, I can't even get Channel 11-1 on the secondary TV, even when the primary TV is off. Oddly enough, Channel 11-2 comes in fine on both TVs.

It's only about 30 feet (all RG-6 coax) from the PA-18 amplifier on the roof to inside the house. Then there's the power inserter, a splitter, then 6 feet to the primary TV and 13 feet to the secondary TV. I also have a A/B switch on the primary TV, to toggle the input between the antennas and the Dish Network.

I checked all my connectors, and they looked good. Could the culprit be the $2 splitter I got at Fry's Electronics? Any suggestions for a better one? Also, the A/B switch is an RCA brand that was available at the small town hardware store, any suggestions for upgrading that also?

ADTech · 3-Jul-2012, 4:51 PM

Display channel 11-2 isn't coming in from KTTV's signal, it's a sub-channel sent on KCOP's (channel 13) signal.

Loss of 11-1 only when the second set is switched on would suggest that it is emitting interfering signals that are being picked up by the rest of the system thus wiping out reception of 11-1 on both sets.

A faulty coaxial cable connector or an inexpensive device (splitter or A-B switch) might be allowing ingress for the interference or it might be strong enough that it's being picked up by the rooftop system. In the absence of suitable test equipment, you'll likely need to work through a process of elimination to see what's going on.

BikingBrian · 19-Jul-2012, 5:55 AM

I've written up my install in two blog posts, with photos. Thanks to all for your help!

Part 1: http://www.bikingbrian.com/2012/06/1...on-part-1-uhf/
Part 2: http://www.bikingbrian.com/2012/07/1...on-part-2-vhf/

I still need to work out the issue with the loss of 11-1, next time I'm up at the cabin I'll have to check my splitter and connectors.

BikingBrian · 24-Jul-2012, 6:35 AM

I'm still having problems with losing 11-1 on the first TV when the second TV is turned on. When I unscrew the coax from the second TV, 11-1 comes back on the first TV, even with the second TV turned on.

The second TV doesn't pick up 11-1 at all, even when it's turned on by itself.

I replaced the splitter and the A/B switch, and those weren't the problem. I tested the coax with a "Testifier TP350" and all was OK.

Back when I was setting up my antennas, I had the second TV on the roof, and I was able to pick up 11-1. Though that was before I connected the power inserter for the amplifier the wrong way and sent 12VDC back to the TV. The second TV is a $200 Dynex, so I wonder if it didn't like that 12VDC...

If the second TV is sending some interference back towards the first TV, is there some sort of inline filter which can deal with that? If not, I'll just live with it, as at least I can get 11-2, which is the same as 11-1 but in SD.

signals unlimited · 24-Jul-2012, 1:04 PM

There is no signal problem on a set where you can receive a sub-channel but not the main channel. The channels from any one station all come in on the same signal.

On the set with the problem:

1) Remove the coax from the set and run a scan. That will dump the stored channel information

2) Reconnect the coax and perform another scan.

That should work.

BikingBrian · 24-Jul-2012, 1:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by signals unlimited

There is no signal problem on a set where you can receive a sub-channel but not the main channel. The channels from any one station all come in on the same signal.

ADTech said earlier: "Display channel 11-2 isn't coming in from KTTV's signal, it's a sub-channel sent on KCOP's (channel 13) signal."

That makes sense to me, because when I've done previous scans, I've seen it pick up only one "real" channel 11, yet "real" channel 13 has one more channel than I was able to previously account for.