Hudsonville, Michigan WZZM

[jvandyke]

I live in Hudsonville, MI
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46ae4453eef46a

Have a Royal 17d, a Winegard preamp 12dB I believe. Coax gets split and sent to three TVs Been running this for a few years now, recently reception has degraded. I can't pull in WZZM anymore (was always marginal). Explored and found the coax running from the antenna to the amp (mast mounted) was wet and had degraded, the center conductor did not come out of the fitting to the amp box! Replaced coax, took amp box apart and the terminal "seems" okay.
Anyway, I've been playing with for a few days and now not running the amp at all and it seems the same as before. I get 8, 3, and 35 (pbs, only a few miles away) pretty good on all 3 TVS but 13-- no. Just wondering if my amp has been dead for a while and not helping, should I get another, do other people struggle to pull in WZZM? I thought the amp just helped push the signal around all my coax and splitters and doesn't really help to "get a channel" so much? Surely 13 can't be this hard for everyone.

the antenna is huge, on my roof and in 3 sections, one pointed to 356 degrees (for WZZM) as indicated by antenna web (on roof with compass and careful tweaking, I'm even on a pretty high part of town, or so I thought. I want to watch some Michigan football!! the rest of the year I could care less. GO BLUE!

[jvandyke]

Replaced questionable terminal on preamp, put it back into the mix, seems worse. Overall reception pretty bad. Maybe this antenna is just the wrong thing, it was pretty decent for 4 years though. Bad connection, bad cable, bad amp, I don't know.

The signal strengths are strong at your Tv location.

Above the peak of the roof install a Channel Master CM5016 antenna aimed at about 353 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

Use a Real and Actual magnetic compass to aim antenna.

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To prove reception , connect a New continues length of RG-6 coax with the Compression type connectors on the ends of the coax , not the old crimp type connectors on the ends of the coax , to the antenna.

Run the New continues length of coax through a open window or door direct to 1 Tv.

No amplifier , No splitters, No couplers , No etc. .

Digital broadcast Tv tuners can develop -Digital Glitches - that are not cleared out with simple channel scans.

Do a Double Rescan , www.wchstv.com/DoubleReScanAlert.pdf

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What is reception like now??

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Here are places to buy antennas and etc. .

www.solidsignal.com

www.amazon.com

www.channelmasterstore.com

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[jvandyke]

Will run straight of antenna to TV and report back. I'm suspecting my lines and connections too.

[jvandyke]

ran coax straight from antenna to a TV, good reception all around. Reconnect to splitter, channels drop out. It is a three way splitter, only using two of the feeds so I think I'll go get a new 2 way with a wide range. When I put my preamp back in the mix it does not help. I suspect it is non functional. If a new splitter doesn't help I will be looking to get a new preamp. I do not know the path of all the coax in this house. It was run for cable TV long ago. It seems good quality with compression fittings although I crimped one of the ends myself. This cable provides good signal when run straight to the tV though.

Most of the signal strengths are strong at your location.

Test reception without a amplifier.

Test reception with a Winegard LNA-100 'Boost' amplifier.

Yes As Always.

ALL , coax , connectors , couplers , splitters , passive , active , devices , through out the system both outside and inside are suspect of being bad and defective.

[jvandyke]

I did get a new 2 way splitter and found another splitter in the mix that wasn't even slitting, just used as a coupler, so I ditched in favor of a regular coupler. Also took out an "extension" coax used to lengthen one. Rerouting cable to reach in one piece. I think loosing the one splitter helped a tad but I'm loosing lots of signal somewhere. Pretty sure I've exhausted my opportunities to "tighten up" my circuit, all other cables and whatever splitters and such are buried deep in walls and inaccessible. I'm thinking of ordering a preamp. Other options would be run all new coax (extremely difficult as everything is finished off in the house) or possibly run another one or even two antennas, one for each or 2 for the three TVs. I'll likely order up a distribution amp first to see what that does for me. Can't decide between a distribution amp or another preamp. Whichever I do it will be on the outside of the house as the feed splits on the outside before entering the house and heading off in other directions. Indoor amps could only be placed right before the TVs which would likely be too far downstream to do any good. I have my power supply for my old Winegard 269 outside the house (in a plastic box) with the power cord punched through the wall. I assume this preamp is dead as putting it back in the circuit worsens everything instead of improving it. It did improve before so well, I need some sort of amplification.

Yes As Always.

Patched together wiring schemes that happen as time goes by are bad for reception and distribution of Tv signals.