what can i use for an antenna?
 

well i asked this before but then got caught in regisration and the question got lost so her goes again

first off my zip is 49442 muskegon mi. about 5 miles from lake michigan i have a good line of sight at 30 foot elevation from the ground to the west.

what i have done so far is i got 2 antennas like the ones you see on ebay and pointed them to the east and did a signal search i got about 5 stations. then i turned it to the west and did the same thing and got about 40 stations 6 from the east and the rest from the west Milwaukee. then what i did was connect both antennas using a splitter and pointed one to the east and one to the west and did the search, now i get 5 stations. so i started all over and either antenna i get 5 stations and only from the east. so i must have burned out the amps n them by using the splitter.

then i get this antenna from Israeli. they said it was the best one and that got me 7 channels from the east and 5 from the west but they are the east channels none from Milwaukee.

so what am i doing wrong here besides getting thes from ebay? the one from Israeli has a box on it and the box has no connections to the rest of the antenna. if i remove the box i get the same amount of channels. so i figure that is junk.

any help here. if you use my zip you see i have a lot of channels available to me. today it seems i have less to the west than before. but it seems i should be able to get more from the east. even if i do a search with the antennas pointing to the ne and se i shoe get more then i do. seems i get better from the back of the antennas then the front. thanks

Post a TV Fool report for your location. Then we can offer better advice.

http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=4

http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=14508

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c63fe37fbe1a

that is the link to the zip code i was using. the zip code is 49442

the antennas are on ebay like this one and this one
351133015152 HDTV-1080P-Outdoor-Amplified-Antenna-HD-TV-Digital-Rotor-Remote-360-150-Miles

351104130498 High Quality & Gain Outdoor UHF DTV DVB-T DTT Antenna

what else as far as channels all of them that will be practical abc cbs nbc pbs ind
starting from the north and the east half of the chart
42,50,9,32,26,46,29,13,15,48,44,10,19,7,28,45,24,25,33,5,

as many of these as i can get. if i need 2 antennas then what equipment should i use to couple them together to get the most. to the west are a few but being i have so many to the east looking west may not be practical. thanks that is all i know i can tell you about.

Can you mount your antenna or antennas outside on your roof or on a small mast in the backyard? If so, how high up?

No idea what these antennas are since a Google search brings up nothing. Must be something like the Lava type antenna.

in the tv signal section on this forum i entered 30 high on the roof and 40442 for zip.

the antennas are the ones ebay has listed i have not clue to the kind they are but the numbers if entered in ebay should ring them up.

351104130498 High Quality & Gain Outdoor UHF DTV DVB-T DTT Antenna they say uhf only.

the other one
351133015152 HDTV-1080P-Outdoor-Amplified-Antenna-HD-TV-360-150-Miles.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351133015152?_ this is one if it works



http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Quality...-/351104130498

this is the other.

Still no links showing. Only question marks.

Are you open to buying a real outdoor antenna and then mounting it on a rotor on the roof? If so, you can get most of the channels down to the red level in your report.

Are there any channels in red that you wish to receive? If not, what is the lowest channel in yellow that you wish to receive?

I saw the antennas on Ebay. Cheap stuff. Won't survive a Michigan winter IMO.

i can but then every time i change positions i have to do a channel search. i don't know how to get away from that? i tried moving the antenna and then adding the channels but they did not come in but if i did the search they came in. that is why i wanted to do 2 antenna so when i did the search i could get them all at one time. any thoughts

if i cold get the picture to work i would post it but it wants a url and i don't have that info for my computer.

Two antennas pointed in different directions coupled into an AB switch would do the trick. I do recommend buying better antennas though. Again, which channel on your report is the weakest channel that you wish to watch?

what is the difference in trying to get the ones in red compared to yellow. are the red ones the furthest away? or the ones labeled with the c?

and they need to survive the winters for sure.

i tried using the a b switch but i got the same with the searches every time i moved the switch i had to do a search again. so i got a device that looks like a splitter but they said it would either split or couple the signal. it i put multiple antennas on it i got one output if i one antenna on it i could get multiple outputs.

+=>

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What kind of TV are you using? Something is wrong if you lose your signals by switching antennas with an AB switch. That should not impact your signal coming to the TV at all if one antenna is in use while the other is not.

i was using one of those digital boxes only because i have a setup in the garage to test this and get it corrected. but i did try it on the proscan i have in the living room and that did the same thing. it would get the channels when i pointed it towards ne and when i moved it to the se the ne channels would go away and i had to search again.

Channels in Red on your report are the weakest signals. Yellow are fairly strong and Green are strong. Grey you can forget about.

Very odd. I have a Samsung TV and that will not usually lose a channel that I've scanned into it even after I rotate my antenna to another direction. If I rotate it back to the other direction and punch in that channel it will be there. Same thing with the Insignia Digital Box and Insignia TV that I own.

What digital box are you using? I have heard some TV's have this problem but not sure about digital boxes. You may unfortunately be using the wrong TV in that respect.

Some TV set have "rotor-friendly" tuners that allow either additional channels to be scanned or to be added manually but other so not.

If you nave one of those that do not have that feature, your choices are: 1) Replace the TV set with one that has a friendly tuner, 2) Deal with rescanning when it's needed, 3) Attempt to build a mini-cable headend with antennas pointing in different directions, or 4) Just accept that reception from one direction is adequate. Trying to pound a square peg into a round hole will just leave you frustrated.

sounds like i'm in a fix. what i will do is point the antenna in the se and scan for channels and then move it to the ne and see if it will keep the channels i try to enter, there may be a place in the menu i missed i will get the book and double check and if i can't find any reference i will see if i can locate a proscan forum and ask them for help thanks.

what would be needed to make the cable headend to be able to point 2 antenna in different directions. is there a diagram on the site i can look at with parts listings.?

Yeah, it could be a shortcoming of your TV. If you can afford it, I would recommend the Insignia brand of TV. Inexpensive yet they have a good tuner for over the air viewing and it will hold your channel in the listings for you even if you can't receive it at that time.

may have to look into one of those. thanks

Some TVs will NOT allow for adding channels.
They will only allow for a complete scan.

Hence rendering rotors and A/B switches useless.

True. I am going to do a test this morning with my Insignia box and Insignia TV to find out if adding channels manually is a possibility. I had a 4 year old Sony that I gave to my brother and that TV would allow you to add channels with a rescan without eliminating the current channel lineup. The Samsung won't do that but you can add manually if you punch in the correct channel number for the channel you would like to add. Will see if Insignia has this feature and report back.

Forget the Insignia set top box. It won't allow you to add channels either by scanning or manually. Tried it with a channel 13 and 63 and it would not add either when I repositioned the antenna to the spot where they always come in when they have been scanned into the box.

Will now do a test with the Insignia TV.

No go with the Insignia TV. The only way you can add a channel is by using the existing Channel List. But when you do a rescan of channels it will lose that channel even if it has been saved as a Favorite if it is not scanned in when pointing the antenna in a direction where it cannot find that channel.

At this point CorvairBob you have two options. New TV such as a Sony which should have the rescan feature you need or LG which I have been told also has this feature. Or maybe a Samsung which will at least allow you to punch in the channel if you reposition the antenna to the right direction. But this has a fault as well. Example:

My real Ch. 23 is also a virtual channel for another channel. Thus, if I hit 23 on the Samsung it brings in the other channel and not 49 which is real Ch. 23. So, if you have a similar issue where ever you use this TV you will not get the real channel but the virtual channel.

At this point the low cost solution may be two antennas combined and pointed in different directions. But to be sure this is going to work, I NEED TO KNOW which is the weakest channel on your list that you wish to watch. If I do not get this information I can not provide any additional suggestions other than what has already been offered.

I should add that even though this did not work the first time it is likely due to the antennas you are using. Not right for the situation. One is UHF only and the other does seem to offer both UHF and VHF capability. But the reception area for each antenna may not be wide enough to pick up the channels you want or the antennas may not have enough gain either. If these antennas are highly directional then you need a different antenna such as something like a 4 bay antenna with a wider capture area or a something like the Antennacraft HBU 33 Yagi style. I have a HBU22 and that has a fairly wide capture area and will get signals not directly in front of the antenna.

This thread must have cursed me, cause I just lost 2 of my strongest stations this AM and had to do a double rescan =D

Anyway, my Sony Bravia offers both options and the wording is such.

"Auto program" and "Add digital channels"

My parents OTOH, have a TV that requires them to use a 4400 and an 8800 in opposite directions.

i will look up that antenna you mention here and see. i do have a coupler maybe that will allow me to combine 2 antennas. i don't know how to give you the information your asking other than give you my zipcode and the height i have them at. that is all i used from the site to get the channels available to me from the east. it seems the channels from the west over lake michigan are just to far away to be of use to me. if you have a website i can visit to get this information you require please send it along. other wise can you plug in my 49442 zipcode and 30 ft height and see the channels it says i should get. other wise i get 13 17 35 23 41 that is it with what i have now. the uhf antenna gets less because some of them are vhf signals.

the other antenna i may have burned out the amp when i used a splitter on 2 of the same antennas trying to couple them together to get all the channels, i got a bunch then all of a sudden nothing after using that splitter. so i got a coupler and got that uhf antenna and it worked worse, i did not see it was for uhf until the company tole me after i complained to them.

thanks bob p.

Which Sony model are you using? I am going to purchase another TV now that I know my Insignias will not be able to add channels in the desired manner. I checked two new models and they still offer this feature.

I need to know which is the weakest channel on your TV Fool report that you would like to get or already get. You are listing which channels you currently receive but that does not tell me if there is one or more others that you want.

There is little point in recommending antennas unless we know which channels you want and to see if they are gettable at all. This is a process of elimination if you will.

You probably shouldn't sweat the MKE stations too much, Bob.

I live S. of MKE and have picked up stations from Cadillac all the way down to S. Bend on a pretty consistent basis. Sometimes, I can even get Flint.

Most stations are just mirrors of stations I already receive, except for the time they broadcast certain shows.

I do like checking out the different news chicks, though ;)

so what antenna/s are you using? i got 2 from ebay that are the motorized ones and then i think i burned them out with the splitter on both of them so i got one from Israeli and it turned out to be uhf only and will not get but about 4 stations.

i can't get 8 at all and 3 is poor none from cadallac or flint i get 13 17 24 44 35 that is about it. real poor i get better with the antennas pointing backwards but they do fade or pixlulate thanks

3 and 8 appear to be VHF hi signals. You will need a antenna like the HBU 33 which also has UHF to pick up those signals. Or if you want a separate antenna for VHF something like the Y5-7-13 or Y10-7-13 both of which are made by Antennacraft.

Try pointing the antenna at one of the target stations and typing the real channel number into the remote. You may have to add a period or hyphen to tell the television or converter that you are trying to tune a digital channel. Don't be surprised if you see nothing on the screen at first, since many modern televisions don't show a picture unless a usable signal is present. If this doesn't work, see if you can find a signal strength utility in the menu. These sometimes allow you to select or step through the channels. Also, be advised that not all splitters will pass the DC voltage needed to power a preamp.

I have a fixed DIY cat whisker fixed on MKE on my N. tower and a 91XG on my S. tower w/ a rotor for "sniffing"

The reason for the two towers, is that I don't want to cut down our old maple.
Or, it may have just become an obsession =D

i have one i made myself also it did got for the real close stations i made it to see it the ones i got from ebay were junk but the ebay ones got a few more channels. i would like to make a gadget unless that coupler will do the job to have 2 antennas one to the n and one to the s areas. but so far the test are not doing any better that is why i searched out this place to try and fine out what others are using in my area. where di you get the factory antenna? and what do you use for connecting them.

The 91XG was an open box item from Solid Signal and had no missing parts. (I hate paying list) LOL!

I am using the remote control A/B switch from Rat Shack (15-1968)

i have a uhf only antenna it has only one set of elements that actual gather the signal the rest are just for looks i guess when i used that box alone i got the same amount of signal. how may elements on the 91xg are connected to the coax? plus the vhf signal it leaves out correct? i went to the solid signal site and asked them for help on picking out an antenna lets see how much money they want me to spend.

Only two elements are hooked to the coax, unless that's considered to be the odd one.

The ones in front, are directors and are actually isolated from anything else.
The rear screen is a reflector and is common to the mast/ boom.
Even the coax shield, is isolated from the mast/ boom.

I believe the 91 refers to the total number of elements.

the home made one i did had 48 elements and they were all connected together as per the you tube directions. and years ago the pold double stacked antennas had all the front elements connected to the wire. i wonder why today they only connect 1 set of elements tot he wire? it would seem to me that the more elements connected to the wire the better the signal or is the incorrect now?

Different ways of doing the same thing. It's up to the antenna designer to make those decisions as part of the design process.