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Old 13-Oct-2011, 10:41 PM   #3
mtownsend
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 632
Quote:
Originally Posted by hTrag428 View Post
I have just hired a professional who has installed a tower and single 8-bay antenna pointed toward WKBW (about 122 degrees). The line is currently split at a 4-way into 4 tuners, one HDTV, one digital converter box, and two PC tuners (both ATI TV Wonder HD 650).
Do you know the make/model of the 8-bay antenna?

Does the installation include a pre-amp? If so, make/model? Since your signal feed is split to many destinations, a pre-amp is highly recommended if you don't already have one.



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1. Huge house; huge family; many, many TV's & tuners... No way that a rotator will ever be possible.
There's a good chance you'll get mostly what you want since the off-axis channels are pretty close and strong. You can probably get most of the Toronto stations even when you're antenna is not pointed directly at them.

However, the one caveat is that if there are some Toronto channels that are not 100% reliable, you'll need to turn the antenna to fix it. Without a rotator, you don't have the ability to fine tune the reception when necessary.



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2. I am certain that I will need at least one more antenna, more likely three more, to increase the stability of some of these signals.
It will be very difficult to get stability on the really weak channels. Every time you double the number of antennas, you get an additional 3 dB of gain under ideal circumstances. In reality, you will probably not get quite that much.

Even if you manage to get an additional 3 or 6 dB of signal, your reception will probably still be in-and-out on channels that are starting out at -20 dB NM.



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3. I absolutely need either WROC Rochester (which currently comes in only at night), or WSEE Erie (which I haven't tried pointing toward yet), or both.
These are both CBS affiliates and are very weak. Is there a reason that WIVB does not satisfy your need for CBS?

WROC and WSEE are so weak that I would normally not recommend going after channels this far down in the noise. Also, WSEE is in another direction, so not having a rotator means this channel is not really an option.



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4. I figure, since I am spending so much money on this setup, I would also like to get 7 WBBZ Buffalo (just because it's there), but my only guess as to why I can't is the VHF frequency, although I am getting 6 from behind the antenna almost 30 miles away.
This is probably a realistic goal. Your 8-bay antenna is really a UHF-only antenna (even if the antenna manufacturer claims otherwise). If you add a true VHF antenna to your setup, I think you have a good shot at picking up channel 7.

When combining VHF and UHF antennas, you need to make sure to use a diplexor as opposed to a run-of-the-mill combiner. Some pre-amps with separate UHF/VHF inputs have the built-in equivalent of a diplexor. If you already have a pre-amp that does not have this feature, then you can use a separate diplexor like the Pico Macom UVSJ to merge the antenna signals before going into the pre-amp.



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5. I cannot figure out why Sun drops out both from the CN Tower (ch 66), and from the Hamilton tower (ch 15), the latter being a clear line of site at a distance of less than 7 miles.
You might want to try contacting the station. They might be experimenting with new equipment, antennas, data formats, etc.

As an experiment, you can have multiple TVs/tuners on the same channel at the same time to see if the dropouts happen simultaneously across different makes/models of tuners. If you see multiple TVs dropping out at exactly the same time, there may be a problem with the signal or data format coming out of the transmitter.



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I have budgeted for a scaled down MATV system (although the budget is very quickly being used up) as I need to get these signals to about 25 outlets throughout the house.
It sounds like you need both a pre-amp (near the antenna) as well as a few distribution amps (indoors in a convenient place to fan-out your network).



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So, my questions, basically, are: How many antennas can I reasonably & safely put on a mast? & How many will it take to accomplish this?
Depends on the mast and types of antennas/equipment loaded on it.

However, I don't think your issues is so much about how many antennas you need. As stated above, I think it will be really really hard to get enough antennas to pull in those weak stations (below -20 dB NM) reliably.

If you limit yourself to the channels are at a more realistic range, then it should be possible to work out the proper combination of pre-amp and distribution amps to get those signals to all your end-points with minimal signal degradation.



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Also, should I be trying to pull Rochester in stronger, or make an attempt at Erie which is much closer?
They are both too weak to be considered for reliable reception. Most Rochester stations are coming in at -20 something dB NM. Most Erie stations are coming in at -30 something dB NM. Either location might show up from time to time, but it is unlikely that you'd be able to get continuous reliable reception under these conditions.



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My goal is to have each one of those stations mentioned (with the exception of Syracuse) with a strong enough signal that it can be watched reliably at least 95% of the time.
Some channels you just won't get reliably. For the distant stations, you are relying on signals that must "bend" over the horizon. There's very little signal available, and the amount you get will vary with weather and seasonal changes. Other broadcasters may be using the same or adjacent channels too, causing interference that will make it even more difficult for you to get the signals you want.
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