tigerbangs prescription for deep fringe reception

satelliteusa

Can some one help me with an antenna setup capable of receiving these channel in brockton MA 02301?

thanks

jim5506

It's going to be very difficult especially to get WENH-DT because it is on channel 10 and there is a channel 11 station about 5 miles from you, so the use of a high power pre-amp is precluded. May have to use a Winegard HDP-269 - only 12 dB gain but highly resistant to overload.

For channel 11, the best antenna would be the Funke PSP.1922 (14.5 dB gain on ch 11 but no longer made and quite rare), otherwise the Winegard YA-1713 has about 10dB gain on channel 11.

For channel 34 the Winegard PR-880 and the Antennas Direct DB-8 (both bow tie type antennas) have the highest gain on channel 34, but the Antennas Direct 91-XG (yagi type antenna) is only 1 dB behind them and is much lighter with much lower wind loading.

I cannot guarantee you that you will be able to receive those two channels with these two antennas combined with a UVSJ and with the HDP-269 pre-amp, but they will give you the best shot.

If you're willing to shell out the bucks...

__________________
Programming: Dish HD Absolute with 0.01 Cinemax
Displays: Sony VPH-D50Q - 7 ft on the wall; Hitachi 57R59
Receivers: DishNetwork ViP722k; DishNetwork ViP211K; DishNetwork ViP211; DishNetwork 301; 2 - TiVo Series 2's; Accurian 6000; Samsung SIR-T351; Panasonic ShowStopper 2000; ATI HDTV Wonder
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Tower Guy

Reception of channel 11 would require a pair of high band VHF yagis added together using stagger stacking.

Reception of channel 34 would require an antenna with a null toward the Boston stations while aimed at 34. It could be a pair of UHF antennas stacked horizontally. Your exact tvfool report would be needed to see if that is practical.

satelliteusa

attached is TVfool report

Attached Images

tv fool.jpg (68.8 KB, 20 views)

Tower Guy

Channel 11 will need a narrow channel filter in order to elinate both 10 and 12. Possible suppliers are Tinlee in Canada, MFC, or CE Filter in Syracuse, NY. It won't be cheap.

The angle between 34 and the strongest Boston stations are 7 degrees apart. A chart here http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/ganging.html says that the horizontal stacking distance should be 80". Aim the antennas to null Boston and WNEU might pop in. A single channel filter may also do the trick.

satelliteusa

tower guy, I just realise that these two channel are the same.
would it be easier to receive WRIW-ca since it is closer and what antenna configuration would i need?

thanks

Tower Guy

It's not an antenna problem, it's an adjacent channel issue. WRIW is on channel 50. There are full power stations on channels 49 and 51 in the same direction. Once again, an expensive single channel filter would be needed.

dhfleming

You forgot the most important step: Open wallet, take out several hundred dollars to pay for all the antennas, roters, towers and amplifiers required to get "free" TV. Better solution:

1. Remove TV antenna from roof
2. Call DISH Network or DIRECTV, have system put in for free
3. Get used to the fact that free TV in America is dead.

Optional fourth step: Call FCC, and complain, complain, complain!

jim5506

With an antenna system you pay $300-400 once (DELUXE SYSTEM) with a little annual maintenance, but with any type of subscription service you pay forever.

That's less than $35 per month amortized over only one year.

__________________
Programming: Dish HD Absolute with 0.01 Cinemax
Displays: Sony VPH-D50Q - 7 ft on the wall; Hitachi 57R59
Receivers: DishNetwork ViP722k; DishNetwork ViP211K; DishNetwork ViP211; DishNetwork 301; 2 - TiVo Series 2's; Accurian 6000; Samsung SIR-T351; Panasonic ShowStopper 2000; ATI HDTV Wonder
Dish 1000 on 110,119,129; Dish 500 on 61.5; DPP44
Sony 80GB PS3; Toshiba HD-DVD

Tower Guy

What's wrong with more than one way to view TV?

onslowtn

I live in northeast Tennessee in the WYMT DT 12 Hazard, Ky coverage area. I have always been able to receive WDEF 12 from Chattanooga ( 190 miles away) on certain mornings. The FCC said DTV was different and WDEF would not interfere with WYMT. Guess what, I have actually locked on WDEF DT on a few sunny mornings in the coverage area of WYMT. I also get WTVC 9 even more frequently since there is no co-channel interference. I tried a Ch 12 Taco antenna and a CM 4228 which both yielded a 33% signal. I even tried stacking the 4228 and Ch 12 antenna and the signal went a bit above 33%. Since the 4228 works as well in my situation, would stacking two 4228's help with Ch 12 reception? The 4228 seems more directional and that might help minimize the signal from Chattanooga. I am around 70 miles from WYMT.

Tower Guy

No one that I know of has tried stacking UHF antennas in an attempt to improve VHF reception.

alphanguy

Go ahead and pay for digital signal compression if you like. And for the vast majority of us, you don't need to spend 300$. My total investment is 175$. I have a dear friend that gets all of his digital to perfection, 50 miles from the transmitters, with an antenna he purchased in 1974. It's only those who are in more difficult areas that have trouble... and a handy person can make a homemade antenna for 40 bucks that will pull in deep fringe if they like.

waveryder

here is my TV Fool

Here is my array

Winegard 1713
Antenna's Direct, DB4, 4 Bay bowtie
Channel Master CM 7777
Channel master rotor on the 1713

I replaced an old Yagi combination antenna with the DB4 in roughly the same location but a bit higher above the roof peak.
The DB4 is mounted on the upper of two 8' sections of fiberglass mast (Max Gain systems) that projects approximately 7' above the roof peak. The 1713 is 8 feet northeast of the DB4 and 4' below it on a separate mast (rotor mounted to j-mount lagged into the roof deck and a 2" OD 8' mast mounted to rotor supporting the 1713).
The CM7777 is mounted on the lower section of the two 8' mast sections (gable end mounted), just below the roofline.
The two feeds UHF and VHF meet and combine into one drop at the preamp. The drop from preamp to distribution amp in basement is about 35'.

Here's the problem. When we finished the installation thursday, we received CBS, ABC and Fox out of Boston; NBC, ABC and CBS out of Maine and WMUR, WENH and ION (concord 21) out of NH. I was suprised to see Fox Boston but aside from a bit of pixelization from time to time it was clear.

Two things changed Friday. I had to pack the Samsung TV off for factory service (audio problem in the tuner circuit) and the wind started blowing.

Friday night when we auto scanned the emergency backup TV (a 15" Coby - no snickers please) it actually grabbed an additional channel, and picture quality was very good. This is a very basic set, however, and there is no signal strength meter.
Then, beginning Saturday afternoon the reception on virtually all channels deteriorated dramatically. Even Channel 11 (WENH) which we used to get off the old Yagi with the dead preamp blinked out. This afternoon the only channel we are receiving at all consistently was WFXT (one of the weakest signals in our tv fool list (but highest on the tower))

In the basement where the antenna drop enters, there is a Tru Spec TA25 RF amplifier. The run from the basement to the TV location is approximately 80'.

I have tried removing the Tru Spec and I can't say whether that made a difference or not. When I took it out 60.1 in Manchester scanned in. That is a UHF with a lower height but same location as WMUR. I had not seen that one previously.

Here is the topo map of our area http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...41456&t=p&z=14 Boston towers are, predictably all a bit west of south which, locally looks like wooded ridgetops 220 to 260 feet tall (without the 60' oaks) at a distance of 3/4 mile.

We are 53 miles to the Boston towers; 57 to the Maine towers.
The Maine towers have higher elevations (generally)

I'm thinking the wind in the trees doesn't help and the backup TV has a real cheesy tuner. But it's clear that just about everything we want to watch is 2 edge and that I made a mistake not choosing an 8 bay over the 4 bay.

Feedback? How about an Electroline drop amp with only 3db of noise instead of 5-7 db like the Tru-Spec. What about switching to copper coated steel quad shield RG6 instead of solid copper duo-shield RG6? What about the pros and cons of an DB8 vs a 91-XG?
My wife gives me 30 days to make suitable improvements. Failing that we are going back to cable or Direct TV or I am sleeping on the couch .

Doug

PS Thanks in advance.

waveryder

yes but what about stacking a couple of bowties when you are smack dab between UHF transmitters 55 miles to the north and south?
Is there a good reference how to on this subject?