The information I gave for getting much better range and methods for keeping desired links in the TV's memmory is basicly for people who have replaced old analog tv's withdigital models.
It should be noted that you "get what you pay for". Good quality brands come with better circuitry for picture and search functions. That's why sets find different amounts of stations. Too do what I do requires people to actually read and keep their manuals, and to fully understand how to aim antennas, use the search functions of TV. Some TV's also has much easier methods for going through channel range (2 to 65) to "show" channels picked up in a certain area and "hide" channels out of range without accidentally deleting them from memory.
Mine takes about 15 minutes to do this, but I did not have to go through a "auto" search, unless I choose to "Add search" for more stations in different location for this camping season.
For me that means if I camp somewhere within about a 100 miles from home, I just turn on the set and type in channel "4.1" from home and have the channel show up like the "old days". Using the signal meter in TV I can correctly aim antenna for strongest signal.
With 2 amplifiers in line before TV I can get a useable signal in high red area (<33 on scale of 1 to 100). As mentioned earlier most stations are found after dark. Best to scan then, or at least rescan for more at that time.
Worst time for signals is at sun rise/sun set because solar flares are passing Earth parallel to transmitted signals. Amplifier(s) have more "noise" to filter out from actual signal (reason for picture pixalation). If your station is somewhere between your antenna and the sun the sun is compeating with the station transmitter, and the sun wins out over a weak signal.
Mark & Jan "Old age & treachery win over youth & enthusiasm"
2003 Fleetwood Jamboree 29
One obvious point that is easily overlooked is that most (all?) Winegard bat-wing antennas have an internal amplifier, and it must actually be turned on for it to be helpful! Last month while near a major city, I was only getting a small handful of channels, and they were poor quality (frequent pixelation on the digital channels and snow on the analog channels.) It wasn't until I got home after that trip that I realized the amplifier was turned off!
I normally keep it on, so I don't often think about checking it. But apparently at some point it was turned off, and I'm sure that's why I got such poor reception.
selectsplat wrote: This makes me think that the digital tuner might make some difference, and that perhaps some TVs come with a crappy built in tuner, and might not get as many channels as other tuners.
It's quite possible. Not all tuners are the same.
selectsplat then wrote: Is there another explaination?
Are they hooked up the same way? In other words, when you run this test, after searching with the TV, do you take the same cable and connect it to the converter box? Or do you go through some sort of switch box or splitter so that the signal takes different paths to the two tuners? That can make a big difference. Not all switch paths are the same (one might have some poor contacts that lose some of the signal) and not all splitters send the same strength signal to all of the outputs (especially the ones with four or more outputs, some can put out double the signal on one output compared to another.)
And if you have the converter box connected in-line between the antenna and TV, and are using a pass-through mode when trying to use the TV's tuner, then that could cause a significant signal loss to the TV's tuner as well.
So, if you are using exactly the same connections and the TV doesn't perform as well as the converter box, then it's likely a difference in tuner quality. But if the connections are even slightly different, it could just as easily be the connections that are causing the differences.
2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PDQ LE 400 ISL Cummins/Allison
2002 Chevy Avalanche toad
Inside: Him, Her, and a pack of little furballs...
OK, MNTundra, your thread got me to go to local CW and buy a Wingman on sale for $19.99 (free home delivery for GS members). It literally will be a snap to install (4 plastic snap rivets you push-to-snap).
I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon moving the RV clear ahead of our house roof and point the plain batwing facing West. I will then scan for channels w/ the laptop and Happauge 950 usb tuner. Then I'll add the Wingman and redo.
Also, I'm a little confused by what I can use to further amplify my over the air antenna.
Here's the situation.
- I have a batwing plus the wingman like addition.
- I have a booster in the wall.
- I have 2 TVs I'd like to get stations on. One in the living room, one on the other side of the same wall in the master bedroom.
What I would like to do is...
- split my boosted signal, so I can get stations on both tvs.
- Add a second booster to the first, if possible.
Looking around, I found a few different types of boosters/amplifiers that have one input and multiple outputs. This would be idea. Especially if I can take the output for the first booster, and route that into the second booster, then out from that to each of the TVs.
However, I'm confused about what type of booster I can use. Some of the ones I would have thought I could use have reviews on them that say they were used for things like DTV, or cable modems. For example, can I use this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Bi-Directional-Amplifier-Splitter-Booster-Passive/dp/B001BMKNZI/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1336139155&sr=8-14
Yes. That is what I am doing. The R.S. amplier comes after the Winegard Amplifier just before the TV set. When the R.S. amplifier is unplugged it passes through the Winegard Amplifier signal so it can be left connected in series in the coaxial system. I always use the Winegard Amplifier and the other is not needed for transmitters closer to campground.
All newer amplifiers work similar. The signals from cable, satellite, ota, and radio are all RF frequency signals. They all can be amplified the same way. The older R.S. TV signal amplifiers from over ten years were a different animal.
burlmart wrote: OK, MNTundra, your thread got me to go to local CW and buy a Wingman on sale for $19.99 (free home delivery for GS members). It literally will be a snap to install (4 plastic snap rivets you push-to-snap).
I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon moving the RV clear ahead of our house roof and point the plain batwing facing West. I will then scan for channels w/ the laptop and Happauge 950 usb tuner. Then I'll add the Wingman and redo.
Will report.
Before Wingman, 2 analog and 17 digital
With Wingman, no analog and 15 digital
I hoped it would be as strong as my unamplified coat hanger antenna, which picked up the analogs, over twenty digital, and Lafayette (60 miles avay).
Anyone here know how the Wingman can deliver its received signals to the antenna mast and amplifier, because where it snaps onto the antenna with the 4 plastic push rivets, there seems no metal contact, just a big white plastic 4"x12" plate and the 4 rivets?
I would rescan changing direction aimed about 45 degrees and see what else is there. Sorry I do not believe your results. It is more directional now and needs to be aimed better. Please note the part needing to be aimed at staions is the small antenna wings. They cover higher UHF signals.
Offline
