Getting what U pay for-reception

tcscotch · 4-Mar-2013, 6:12 PM

I have been a Comcast cable customer for over seven years. I have always owned my own router/gateway and always resented not being able to own my own DVR,.

I decided to drop Cable TV and go with Over the air TV.
My local transmission towers are all about 6.6 miles East of my home.

My home has a Tin roof. There is a Brick building directly East of my home that is 20 feet taller than the Chimney. which is about 36 feet high.
According to the FCC website Http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps,the lattitude and longitude of my location is: 40.723128,74.075489.

I had a RadioShack Rabbit-Ears antenna gathering dust, hooked it up and got almost all of my local stations.

I contacted a vendor, requested help in choosing an antenna, and purchased the Spectrum 8 SP-813 for $129.

I placed it at the same location as the Rabbit ears antenna, Indoors, facing Northeast, in front of a window facing North. There is currently no difference in TV reception. I am still playing Hide and seek with my local PBS CBS and NBC stations!

I am including the Tech data of the antenna and want to know if a J-mount attached to the side of my home (with my antenna attached to it) will noticeably improve my reception.

Frequency Range VHF 87.5 to 230 MHZ and UHF 470 to 862MHZ

The antenna Gain is 40db with an output level of 100dBuV there is a noise figure of 3.5db

The Antenna runs to the power supply (with four outputs) are by standard 75 ohm cable, and do not exceed 50 feet.

Help! Help! Help!

elmo · 4-Mar-2013, 7:59 PM

Well, first off, run a report for your location and post the link to that. Then we have something we can work with.

Hmmm. I'm guessing that is a quad bowtie under the plastic cover? Not much for specs on their site. Call em up and ask what's the deal if you are within 150 miles of the towers. I think they owe you that much.

6-Mar-2013, 3:57 AM

Most of the Digital Broadcast Tv stations transmitters are Very Close to your location.

Most of the Digital Tv stations/channels are Very Strong at your location and there is A Lot of multipath/reflected Digital Tv reception bouncing off buildings at your location.

The Very Strong Digital Broadcast Tv reception is Over Loading the antennas amplifier and the Strong multipath/reflections is making reception even worse.

Install a Non amplified antenna Up High , Above the Roof.

Install a Winegard HD7000R antenna aimed at about 90 degree magnetic compass direction.

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

Here are some above the roof antenna mounts.

http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , use the 5 foot tripod antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , use the #4560 eave antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html.

http://www.ronard.com.

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing the word ronard in the solidsignal search box or buy from ronard.

Here are places to buy antennas and etc. .

http://www.solidsignal.com.

http://www.amazon.com.

http://www.winegarddirect.com.

____________

The Digital Broadcast Tv transmissions and reception is So Strong at your location that I recommend use a simple common 4 way splitter for 1 thru 4 Tv's connected.

The 4 way splitter will reduce the strength of the strong signals.

Put 75 Ohm terminators on any unused output ports of the 4 way splitter.

tcscotch · 6-Mar-2013, 4:32 PM

Thank you for responding to my post. Will attaching the current antenna on the side of my house (if the height is about 30 feet) and the antenna, itself is attached by a J-mount that extends about three feet out) take care of my Tin roof problem?

http://www.tvfool.com/modeling/tmp/1.../Radar-All.png
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1ddacf622c1d98

tcscotch · 6-Mar-2013, 4:35 PM

Thank you for responding to my post. Will attaching the current antenna on the side of my house (if the height is about 30 feet) and the antenna, itself is attached by a J-mount that extends about three feet out) take care of my Tin roof problem?
http://www.tvfool.com/modeling/tmp/1.../Radar-All.png
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1ddacf622c1d98

6-Mar-2013, 8:47 PM

It is best to install a antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the directions of reception , at your location the main direction of reception is to the , East.

And also to the , north east , north , north west , west , south west.

Install a antenna in such a manner that the directions of reception are not blocked by the roof and house.

It is also best to install the antenna -->Away From Trees<-- that are in the direction or directions of reception.

It is also best to install the antenna at a location that is Higher Then and Away From Other Close Tall Surrounding Houses.

There is not much you can do about the big buildings to the , east , west , south , except go higher.

So get the antenna Away From close in obstructions.

The more that the antenna is Up In The Clear the better the reception can be.

Aim the antenna that you have at about 90 degree magnetic compass direction.

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

The Digital Broadcast Tv transmissions and receptions is Very Strong Signal Strengths at your location.

DO NOT use the distribution amplifier that came with the antenna.

Use a simple common 4 way splitter.

elmo · 7-Mar-2013, 5:41 PM

I have a feeling that the antenna you have may not tune those VHF stations very well, like WABC, WPXO, WNJB, WKOB. Check em out and see. And the amp on the antenna is likely gonna be trouble for all frequencies, as you are getting some very strong, close signals in most cases. If there's a switch to turn it off, try that first. If not, the antenna Teleview has recommended will do it fine, as long as it has a clear view. WNJB would come in off the back of the antenna, so it's reception might not be optimal, but should be pretty good from what I can tell. You may need an FM block with that much VHF available to you, as I assume that there is plenty of FM radio around you too. You can run an FM report if that's an issue.

StevenC · 8-Sep-2013, 1:23 AM

I had same problem with Spectrum 8 SP-813. All VHF stations are missing. It acts like a UHF only antenna. It is happened that I also bought a Winegard HD6010 FM Antenna for my FM tuner. When I connect Winegard FM antenna to my HDTV tuner, it picked all HDTV stations listed as green in Http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps with strong signals. This $20 Winegard FM antenna has two simple dipoles in perpendicular directions make it not directional. I returned Spectrum 813 and cancelled my cable TV service.