confused in Nh

[carl brooks]

Hi guys, I have a dennys stacker antenna. with a $25 rca preamp, 30' off the ground, about 30' of coax to a signal booster splitter, then 5' of coax each, to two tv's, I get WFXT 25 good, but rarely get WHGH 7, I dont get it, there within a 1/2 mile of each other,fxt is further, whdh is a bigger tower, and more power, Any advise?
Thanks

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e1c654cebf6f5b

[GroundUrMast]

First, have you tested the reception capability of the antenna by itself?

Connect just the antenna, a short (50' or less) known good coax and only one known good TV (preferably one with good signal metering capability). Until you know the antenna is receiving a reliable signal, you can spend hours chasing real and imagined problems with the rest of your system.

Is it WHDH that you have trouble with?

WHDH (real CH-42) and WFXT (real CH-31) are very similar in power levels at your location, but they're fairly far apart in frequency. The Stacker is like any other antenna, it does better with some channels than others. Be prepared to change the height and or location of the antenna, you may be in a 'cold spot' for reception of WHDH.

If I was starting from scratch, I'd consider using separate UHF and VHF antennas. But let's see if we can get the Stacker to work. (I just thought of the twin-lead harness cable... Try adjusting it's location relative to the metal parts of the antenna and mast.)

[Tower Guy]

Hi Carl;

How did you aim the antenna? You might try a bit left or right to see if WHDH improves.

[carl brooks]

I did go strait into a vizio and had WHDH. Then the next day.added the booster spliter, and tied in a LG smart tv, and the vizio, But no WHDH. WFXT was coming in and out, so I added the preamp, and WFXT comes in solid. sometimes I get WHDH on the vizio, I always get more channels when I scan with vizio verses the LG. I even swapped, tv locations, and the vizio's tuner is more sensative. the preamp was overpowering WMUR channel 9, so I turned the VHF antenna part of the stacker away from WMUR's tower, and it comes in good now
WFXT signal strength is 70% and signal quality is 90% . I will try going strait into the vizio again in a couple of days. I took down the antenna due to high winds, I had it up temporarily only for testing.

[carl brooks]

at first i had the antenna on a 6' piece of pipe. attached to my chimney aimed at 180 degrees, according to the compass on my phone. with ok results. then extended it to a 10' pipe with better results. I was getting WFXT but slightly pixalated. so I was turning it back and forth. while my wife was monitoring signal strength. comes in good now but no WHDH, I gotta get WHDH, before football season. I really dont want to go back to comcast!


Thanks for your help

[GroundUrMast]

Originally Posted by carl brooks

I did go strait into a vizio and had WHDH. Then the next day.added the booster spliter, and tied in a LG smart tv, and the vizio, But no WHDH. WFXT was coming in and out, so I added the preamp, and WFXT comes in solid. sometimes I get WHDH on the vizio, I always get more channels when I scan with vizio verses the LG. I even swapped, tv locations, and the vizio's tuner is more sensative. the preamp was overpowering WMUR channel 9, so I turned the VHF antenna part of the stacker away from WMUR's tower, and it comes in good now
WFXT signal strength is 70% and signal quality is 90% . I will try going strait into the vizio again in a couple of days. I took down the antenna due to high winds, I had it up temporarily only for testing.

Have you ever tried using a passive splitter and no distribution amplifier? Too much amplification can actually ruin an otherwise usable signal. Also, amplifiers add noise of their own, along with distortion.

As with any rule of thumb, there are exceptions... But, one of my favorites is, "One amplifier can be too many... Two amplifiers are almost always too many."

If you are using an RCA TVPRAMP1R, be sure the FM trap is enabled. (The switch is under a small cover plug on the outdoor unit.)

[Tower Guy]

If I had that antenna in your location I'd aim the VHF antenna section toward WMUR and the UHF section toward Boston. Next I'd eliminate the twin lead and add a second balun for the other antenna. Finally I'd switch the RCA preamp to separate VHF/UHF inputs, and feed the two antennas into the two inputs of the RCA preamp. This may not fix the problem, but it would eliminate the possibilities that both FM overload and strong signals from WMUR might be causing the problem with WHDH.

[carl brooks]

thanks guys for the help, High winds have me on hold for now with further testing, But I am very impressed with the high def, I never seen my TV's picture look so good. my cable provider comcast, cranked up my bill from 140 to 180, Thats why Im here. too much!
do you think the dennys stacker is a good antenna? and preamp is a TVPRAMP1R
the booster 4 way unit is a old radio shack unit no model#

[carl brooks]

are you talking about a 75 to 300ohm balun? Im new to this stuff, Thanks

[GroundUrMast]

The Radio Shack 4-way amp is questionable.

The Stacker has an upper and lower section joined by a flat ribbon cable... If it's too close to metal, it can possibly detune the antenna. The cable looks similar to the flat cable that is a part of a 75 to 300ohm balun but is a separate part on the Stacker.

[Tower Guy]

Originally Posted by carl brooks

are you talking about a 75 to 300ohm balun? Im new to this stuff, Thanks

Yes. A 300 ohm to 75 ohm balun will allow you to use the dual inputs of the RCA preamp to add the two antennas together. That's a better solution than the twinlead.

+=>

Remove the Stacker.

-----------------------

Above the Peak of the Roof install a , www.antennacraft.net ,

HD1800 All Channel antenna aimed at about 180 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html .

Use a Real and Actual magnetic compass to aim antenna , do not trust a cell phone compass.

-------------------

Here are some Above the Peak of the Roof antenna mounts.

www.ronard.com/909911.html
Use the , ronard(911) , 5 foot tripod antenna mount.

www.ronard.com/34424560.html
Use the , ronard(4560) , eave antenna mount.

www.ronard.com/ychim.html
Measure around the chimney and use a , ronard(2212) , ronard(2218) , ronard(2224) .

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at , www.ronard.com

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Install the RCA TVPRAMPR1R preamp.

Operate the preamp in the single antenna mode.

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For 1 Tv connected use No splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , Holland Electronics , HFS-2D , 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , Holland Electronics , HFS-3D , 3 way splitter.

For 4 Tv's connected use a , Holland Electronics , HFS-4D , 4 way splitter.

Buy the , HFS-2D , HFS-3D , HFS-4D , splitters at , www.hollandelectronics.com , or , www.amazon.com

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To Prove Reception before any thing else is connected.

Connect a NEW Continues Length of coax from the HD1200 antenna direct to 1 Tv.

[GroundUrMast]

If the programming on real channels 3 or 4 is of interest, the addition of an L-VHF antenna seems more cost efficient and would leave the flexibility to aim with greater precision.

Though I'd not have recommended the Stacker as the ideal antenna in this case, I have a hard time suggesting the forfeiture of the cost of it at this point.

[carl brooks]

I put the antenna back up. and its securely fastened now at 180 degrees. I removed the signal booster. and the cable is strait to one tv from the preamp, and it improved from 51% on signal strength, to 57%, on WFXT, But so far cannot get the elusive WHDH, maybe I need a another antenna? its just WFXT comes in great, and WHDH is closer and more power. I tried removing the preamp. but lost both signal stength and signal quality by 20% on WFXT

[Tower Guy]

Next I'd try raising or lowering the antenna by roughly 3'.

You can read about the process at www.hdtvprimer.com/antennas/siting.html

[carl brooks]

I had to order a balum to seperate antennas. Out of stock everywhere. Once I get it. I was going to switch antenna locations uhf on top. And pointed at 180 degrees. vhf under it. Pointed at WMUR. Ill keep you posted in a few days. Thanks again.Carl

[carl brooks]

Hi guys, Thanks for all the advice, I switched the antenna locations with the VHF on top, to the bottom, and the UHF to the top, so I gained about 15" to 18" of hieght. with seperate baluns, to the rca amp. now I get channel 7, and as a bonus channel 56. thanks for the help, Carl