Hi,
I'll try to be as specific as possible, so please bear with me if I'm a bit longwinded.
TV Fool Report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46ae9eea3d41b1
I cancelled Dish network, and have been trying to use my old radioshack antenna (mounted to a mast on my chimney 18' above ground) to supply my HTPC and preferably the other 2 tv's in the house with OTA signal.
I bought the antenna around 2005, and best i can tell from this spec sheet,
http://support.radioshack.com/suppor...oc44/44032.htm , it is model VU-190XR. The spec sheet shows element numbers, gains, etc, but I don't know what to make of them. With a tape measure end-to-end it measures approximately 13' long.
i have a Radioshack p/n 15-2507 VHF/UHF/FM amplifier hooked up, with the (preamp?) box on the mast, and the power supply with gain knob and FM trap inside the house.
There's about a 4' piece of coax (not sure if rg6) going from matching transformer on antenna to (preamp?) box on mast, then about 20-30' long rg6 cable with ground wire coming inside to the amplifier. Amplifier then goes to the HTPC and/or other TV's through the attic, about another 20-30' runs apiece.
Here's where it gets tricky for me. I've tried with the amp, as well as without the amp, and not a whole lot of difference. I did not remove the (preamp?) box from the mast in either scenario, as I didn't have enough slack in the rg6 to make it all the way to the transformer.
Inside the house, I'm using the coax that Dish Network installed in the walls to make the run to my TV's and HTPC, and I'm unsure if it's rg6 or not.
Here's a pic of the labeling on the wire, but it doesn't say rg6:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...151404_118.jpg
To my knowledge, there are no splitters/switches/multiplexers, etc left on the coax lines from dish. I tried originally with a 4-way splitter in the bedroom to go to the TV's and PC, but today I just have the coax from the amplifier connected with a butt-connector to the coax that goes directly to the HTPC.
The HTPC is running a Hauppage 2250 dual tuner card, which I've heard is not quite as sensitive as, say, an Avermedia card. There is also a butt connector on the coax exiting the wall, with about a 1' piece of coax leading to the HTPC because the coax exiting the wall is too short to reach the tuner card.
My main problems, I've noticed, are with channels higher up in the real channel range. NBC, ABC, and ION are pretty steady. CW is okay, and CBS is very glitchy. FOX is nigh unwatchable. I see a direct correlation with the real channels being higher, and poorer reception.
I'm interested in all the green channels at the top of the plot, except for the last two (Ind and UNI). Anything below those I don't care to receive.
I really don't know where to start. I've contemplated running a new rg6 cable directly from the transformer on the antenna to the HTPC and see if it's adequate, but I have no clue if I need the amplifier or not. I've contemplated buying a different antenna, or a different tuner card for the HTPC, or running new cable through the wall because the dish network cable may be wrong, etc etc. I'm very frustrated, and don't want to waste time (or money!) doing things that won't help me.
Any input is VERY appreciated, and I'm willing to buy a better antenna, amp, and/or tuner card if need be.
EDIT: here's a pic of the location of my antenna, and it's pointing in the direction of the large yellow line (as close as I can tell)
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f..._tower_map.jpg
thank you all,
-Thomas