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Old 7-Jan-2015, 7:37 PM   #1
dpoe
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Join Date: Jan 2015
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A couple of questions re antenna & rotor

Radar Plot -- http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2c15456ac569a7

Like many I plan on getting rid of my satellite service in May when my contract expires. I've had an antenna system for about 35 years which actually still works pretty well. It's in good shape and not missing any elements. Antenna is a Channel Master and is their 'Deepest Fringe' style, it looks like a CM3671 and weighs about 15lbs. It was the best antenna I could buy back in the day. A few years after that I stacked a UHF yagi antenna below to increase the UHF reception which the big Channel Master had a problem with. Antenna package is mounted on a 30' tower using a 10' mast about 4' down leaving 6' above the top of the tower. I have been using a Channel Master rotor to move it around. About 5 years ago I had a problem with the original rotor and replaced it. My replacement rotor only rotates about 45 degrees now so I need to bring the whole thing down to fix the problem.

My stations of interest are 40 to 60 miles away and we sit in a valley. If the rotor was operating I wouldn't have much of a problem receiving pretty much all of them. I have had problems with one or two stations when the sunspots are active.

While I have the tower down I was thinking of removing the UHF yagi and replace it with a Winegard 9095P to help with the UHF band. The Channel Master is still in pretty good shape and I was thinking of leaving it in place. Feed wire is RG-59 and I have an amplifier inside which splits the signal to two televisions.

I've read some places where antenna stacking doesn't add much over 3db. I can say that when I stacked the UHF yagi years ago it made a noticeable difference with the UHF reception. That was back in the days of analog television. Anyone have an opinion?

I'm also thinking of replacing the Channel Master rotor with either a CDE or Hy-Gain. These are typically used for ham antennas and I believe them to be much more of a heavy duty rotor system than the ones available for television today. After the recent failure I'm just not that confident in the newer chinese rotors swinging around a large antenna.

I've read about an antenna called the HD Stacker and it seems to have good reviews. Is it better than the Winegard?

I don't mind spending some money for this setup, I'm just trying not to break the bank.

Only thing I'm going to miss is ESPN during college football season.

FYI -- Nice site. Thanks for your time.

Dave

Last edited by dpoe; 11-Jan-2015 at 6:50 PM. Reason: Radar Link correction
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Old 7-Jan-2015, 8:04 PM   #2
Jake V
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Your TV Fool Report is blank.

If it does not recognize your address use the following instructions: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=14508
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Old 7-Jan-2015, 8:17 PM   #3
ADTech
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Actually, it's "blank" because the directions on the results page weren't followed. We'll need to see the actual plot to analyze.

Quote:
antenna stacking doesn't add much over 3db.
It's not possible to achieve more than 3 dB in even a perfect world. Since we don't have one of the (perfect worlds, that is) expect 2-3 dB of net improvement.
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Last edited by ADTech; 7-Jan-2015 at 8:31 PM.
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Old 8-Jan-2015, 1:17 PM   #4
dpoe
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http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...2c15456ac569a7

Thanks for responding. I thought I had put in the link for the radar plot but I guess not.

I did read..... just didn't follow directions very good. I'm getting better in my older age!!

Okay, I guess I'm clear on the net gain. It's just tough to try and visualize the improvement. Considering the small number of channels broadcast over the VHF band I'm wondering if I should replace the Channel Master, or should I just leave what I have up there in place since it works pretty good. I helped my neighbor install one of Radio Shacks best antennas this last summer and it doesn't work as well as what I have, maybe I'm as good as it's going to be without installing some sort of elaborate antenna system. My UHF yagi is 16 elements, I can't remember who made it.

When I take this tower down to fix or replace the rotor I would like it to be the last time this thing ever needs to come down barring some sort of catastrophe. I'm wondering if I should just do an inspection on what I have and leave it in place or does anyone have a recommendation on something that would give me a significant improvement over the current setup?

I estimate my antenna is pointing at 325 degrees which is as far as I can rotate it off of 360. I can receive 47.1, 53.1 & 6.1 from Lansing, however, I can't receive 23.1. It's 50kw and I'm pointed practically right at it according to the chart from my signal analysis. Also, I'm receiving a number of stations from Toledo on the backside. Am I expecting too much??

And, can you give me opinions on the rotors?

Thanks again.

Dave

Last edited by dpoe; 8-Jan-2015 at 1:46 PM.
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