Help with amp choice, Woodstock, Ga
 

Hello folks. I recently bought and hooked up a DB4E on the side of my house pointing in the direction of the antennas in Atlanta. To the best of my ability and knowledge I have it pointed at about 160 - 165°. I have it on the old DirecTV mast at about 7' at the antennas lowest point.

The cable run is a mix of RG6 (about 15') and RG59 (about 25'). Without an amp I can pick up 29 stations but they are a little choppy. I have a cheap in quality Radio Shack single port inline amp at 12db that brings in 39 stations that don't have the pixel shuffle. Those extra 10 channels are 26-1 through 10 that aren't really watchable. The station is only 15kW. Don't really care about those.

Question would be this. I would like to split this signal 4 ways. I've looked at channel masters 4way. I actually have one (Electroline EDA-2400) around here somewhere when Comcast installed one but I can't put my hands on it. I was thinking of taking back the Radio Shack one since it's only 1 port. Which amp would ya'll recommend? And! How much difference in signal would I get it I put the antenna on the chimney? It would raise it another 8' or so I think.


http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...7fcfe01df01151

Thanks for looking,

Txinga

I would start by moving the antenna to the chimley, This may not give you much more signal, but the signal will be cleaner. That antenna could be picking up "ground noise" at only seven feet off the ground. That will cause the problems that you are experencing. While moving you might as well replace the coax with one run of RG6 and be sure that your balun is dry. Another thing that may help would be to use a ground block in the coax line to connect your coax to your house ground. This not only protects you from lightning but also can eliminate some sources of interference. As for the amplifier, the Channel Master CM3414 is a good choice. I recomend that you look at chimley mounts by Ronard at www.solidsignals.com. Tune to 166 magnetic and rescan for digital channels. Should work great!

Tv antennas and Tv reception
 

The Tv transmissions are Strong at you location.
Here are some Above The Roof antenna mounts , http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html , http://www.ronard.com .
Buy the ronard antenna mounts by typing the word ronard in the solidsignal search box or buy from ronard.

REPLACE the RG-6 and RG-59 with NEW RG-6 coax.

It looks like a better aim direction is about 140 degree magnetic compass. As Always the aim point is a starting aim point , the antenna can be turned to the left and right to get better reception of the channels to be received.
Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

Pending Applications Included in the tvfool radar report lists the REAL Digital Tv channels that are transmitted and received , and also lists the Virtual channels.

For reception of the green and yellow zone Pending Applications Included , one or two Tv's connected no amplifier is required.

For one Tv connected use no splitter.

For 2 Tv's connected use a 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a 3 way splitter.

For 4 Tvs connected use a 4 way splitter.

For 3 or 4 tv's connected , might require a Channel Master CM3414 distribution amplifier. Try it with a 3 or 4 way splitter first.








Every split that takes place reduces the signal strength.

Here are some places to buy supplies , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.amazon.com , http://www.channelmasterstore.com

Thanks for the replies! What would y'all think about just moving the old DirecTV anchor to the chimney? Or do I need to really stick it up in the air higher? The anchor is the short wall mount type, about a foot long.

Tv antennas and Tv reception
 

If by the word 'anchor' you mean the mount that the satellite dish is/was connected to and the DB4e is now connected mounted to on the side of the house about 7 feet above the ground and you will be moving the anchor/mount and the DB4e antenna to the chimney from the side of the house.

And can fasten the anchor/mount and DB4e to the chimney , then yes , Ok.

Having the DB4e antenna above the roof is the best.

However for your reception situation a height above the roof such as , 25 feet , 50 feet , 100 feet , 200 feet and etc. is not required.

A height above the roof for your reception situation is about 5 feet or so.

Tv antennas receive better when the Tv antenna has elbow room and nothing is in the way to reduce or block reception and the Tv antenna has a clear view of the transmitting antenna/s.

If the Satellite mount gives you ample room above the chimley, and a clear view I also say OK. You can use 1/4" X 1 1/2 Tap-con bolts available at Lowes to fasten. Follow their directions and use the recomended drill size for the pilot bit.

Well, here's an update.

I added a channels direct 3414 powered amp and am now picking up 54 rock solid channels. Woohoo! I haven't replaced any cabling yet nor moved the antenna up higher. I still plan to do that in the future but it's great to know the combination I have works so well. So 87.98 shipped for the two items, about what I pay for a month of DirecTV. Now to convince my wife that we don't need the weather channel :)

Thanks guys!

Txinga