High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource - View Single Post - Good component suggestions for good reception.

NonMcTubber · 07-02-2009, 03:56 PM

To electriczipper,

First, not to disagree with Tower guy, I agree with your keep it as cheap as possible. And while your TVfool co-ordinates are helpful, and the exact address, that part is taken care of, good chance you have some like a radio 190 XR or similar, but beyond that, everything else is a mystery.

And under the theory that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, are you connected by ribbon cable or coax, either one of which can go bad in 9 years. If its coax, what type of coax? How is your antenna presently aimed? How high is it mounted? What kind of shape is your antenna in? Sadly, its a forum consensus that radio shack antennas are not very durable, even though it could have fooled me, because my radio shack 160XR that came with the house when I bought it is still in excellent shape after 17 years.

Sometimes the best starting point is to disassemble and then resealable all antenna connections to eliminate corrosion as a culprit,
and keep it simple beyond that. No matter what, you are going to need a strong preamp, without an antenna rotator, you need to play with antenna aim, and to keep it simple, worry about one TV before you play with a splitter to keep things systematic.

And the last thing to say about radio shack antennas is that have the virtue of not having big off aim losses of signals, but it comes with the costs of having no big on fixed aim gains. And when you need the latter and not the former, some other antenna(s) may be your best hope in your marginal reception area. And if there is no hope to the South, it does simplify matters. Those northern stations come in a 54 degree arc, maybe doable with one combo VHF/UHF antenna even though a plus minus 15 degree, or 30 degrees would be more ideal.

07-02-2009, 03:56 PM	#5
NonMcTubber High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 812	To electriczipper, First, not to disagree with Tower guy, I agree with your keep it as cheap as possible. And while your TVfool co-ordinates are helpful, and the exact address, that part is taken care of, good chance you have some like a radio 190 XR or similar, but beyond that, everything else is a mystery. And under the theory that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, are you connected by ribbon cable or coax, either one of which can go bad in 9 years. If its coax, what type of coax? How is your antenna presently aimed? How high is it mounted? What kind of shape is your antenna in? Sadly, its a forum consensus that radio shack antennas are not very durable, even though it could have fooled me, because my radio shack 160XR that came with the house when I bought it is still in excellent shape after 17 years. Sometimes the best starting point is to disassemble and then resealable all antenna connections to eliminate corrosion as a culprit, and keep it simple beyond that. No matter what, you are going to need a strong preamp, without an antenna rotator, you need to play with antenna aim, and to keep it simple, worry about one TV before you play with a splitter to keep things systematic. And the last thing to say about radio shack antennas is that have the virtue of not having big off aim losses of signals, but it comes with the costs of having no big on fixed aim gains. And when you need the latter and not the former, some other antenna(s) may be your best hope in your marginal reception area. And if there is no hope to the South, it does simplify matters. Those northern stations come in a 54 degree arc, maybe doable with one combo VHF/UHF antenna even though a plus minus 15 degree, or 30 degrees would be more ideal. __________________ High definition is not the definition of my life. But knowledge is power and HD does have some potential to increase content variety and choices.