Quote:
Originally Posted by GroundUrMast
Splicing cables can work, though it provides more potential points of failure. A thorough inspection is in order even though the symptoms would likely be, 'trouble on all channels'.
Choosing to use or not use an amplifier involves more than the length of coax involved. Successful reception depends on more than signal level at the tuner. Noise and interfering signals can come from sources near and far and can destroy the 'quality' of even the strongest signals. Amplifiers generate noise and under certain conditions, interfering signals... most often this occurs when too much signal is input to the amplifier.
Long before you add an amplifier, you need to establish reliable reception 'at the antenna'. 'At the antenna' means roughly 25' or less coax between the antenna and one TV with no splitters. If you can't get a usable signal under these basic conditions, an amplifier will very often be a waste of time and money, the only exception might be when your tuner is of poor quality, having a poor signal to noise ratio and the problem channels are low in predicted strength. To use an analogy, if you dig a hole that has some water puddle at the bottom at least a few times each day, you would not expect to reliably supply clean water by installing a powerful pump, until you dug the hole deeper. To take the analogy further, if after digging down deeper, you found the water to be contaminated with chemicals, putting in a higher pressure pump won't provide clean water, just high pressure pollution.
A 25' or 50' RG-6 cable is available at almost any home center and would be the next logical step to diagnose your problem. Please consider testing with the antenna outdoors and in the attic.
What stations (call sign + real channel) are 'must haves'? (The answer to this question will determine much about the type, size and mounting location of the antenna I and others would recommend.)
Which are not received?
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Going to move the tv today to a window so that the cable is closer and see if i can improve reception before I purchase a 50 foot cable.
Current channels received are 7.1 through 7.4 pbs and 12.1-12.1
I am not looking for every channel however the ones lost from the digital transition were 25.1 and 30.1. I was picking up those two lost channels with an old fm bare copper wire tacked to the wall.
The ones I would like to receive are abc/cw/cbs/fox. All in pretty much the same heading as the currently received 7.1/12.1