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Old 10-Mar-2014, 6:48 AM   #5
dmfdmf
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 61
I'm beginning to think that teleview is right, the DB8e is just the wrong antenna for this location. In a true fringe area with this thing in clear air it probably works fine but if you put it in your attic you might as well rename it the MultiPath2000. Here are your choices as I see them;

Plan A: Get an ANT751 or HBU11 as teleview suggests and sell the DB8e on craigslist. Try it in the attic, try it in the attic with an amp, put it on the roof and wait for the HOA to call.

Plan B: You could get away with 1/2 of the DB8e so use one of the halves as a stand alone DB4. Put it in the attic and aim at 80 deg true and see what you get, try it with an amp. For this to work you'd probably have to modify the antenna a bit to get VHF-Hi channel ABC from the east. Let me know if you are interested and I can explain the mod.

Plan C1: The full on engineered solution. I'd still break up the DB8e into two DB4's and mount them independently as far away from each other as possible in the attic but one optimized for the stations at 180deg true and one optimized for stations coming from 80deg true. To minimize multipath I would notch out 495-545 MHz on the 180deg antenna and bandpass 495-545 MHz to get MyN, NBC & FOX from 80deg true. You would have to add the VHF mod to the 180deg true antenna to pickup NBC@69MHz and CBS@210MHz. Your line up would look like this [180d:NBC/CBS/ABC][80d:MyN/NBC/FOX][180d:PBS/TEL] if the notching works.

Plan C2: Alternatively, if you didn't care about southern stations Telemundo on RCH40@629MHz or the PBS RCH28@557MHz (PBS is also coming from the east, so you'd still get that network) you could filter and then join them. To minimize multipath, you could put the South facing antenna through a Low Pass filter with Fc at 495MHz and the East facing antenna through a High Pass Filter with Fc=495MHz and then combine them in a splitter and amplifier if needed (I think in the attic it would be necessary). Your line up would look like this [180d:NBC/CBS/ABC][80d:Myn/NBC/FOX/PBS/CBS/UNA]

Plan A would almost certainly work, Plans B, C1, C2 would be contingent on my VHF mod working so that would need to be tested first. Plan B would probably work but who knows. Plans C1/C2 would be highly experiment, hobby projects and cost at least $150 for filters in addition to a lot of testing of each antenna independently and then more testing when combined.
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