Multipath and Smart antennas

ddeerrff

I live in a fairly high signal area (TVFool shows all stations as green) and they are all located within about a +/- 5 degree spread.

I get a few too many annoying drops outs, particularly when the weather is bad.

An outside antenna is not practical, so I tried a non-amplified 'silver sensor' type antenna. It does not work any better than rabbit ears or even a random length of wire. To confirm sufficient signal strength, I added an inline 20 dB attenuator, and performance was roughly the same. It took 26 dB of attenuation before I noticed any degradation (a couple stations dropped out). I had very similar results with both an Insignia NS-DXA1 and an RCA DTA-800B1.

I assume then that the annoying drop outs must be the result of multipath. (Are there any other issues that can cause this problem?)

Does anyone have any experience using a 'Smart Antenna' and are they effective in solving multipath problems? Are there any models out there other than the RCA ANT1500?

Derf

jim5506

Where are you located (zipcode)?

Indoor antennas always have problems with reflections off any and everything (people, appliances, etc) and strong signals just make it worse.

Attenuation does not help because you attenuate both the main signal and the reflections, what you need is a good directional antenna mounted outside or at least at the outer wall toward the signal source (it may not be pretty).

We need your zipcode to determine the type of antenna you need UHF, VHF, combo, etc.

I once used a Silver Sensor and sometimes, strangely enough, found multipath to be less if I mounted it in its holder rotated 90 degrees (vertical) instead of horizonal even though USA TV is horizonally polarized.

__________________
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ddeerrff

53005

Understand. I just tried the attenuation to confirm to myself it was not a case of weak signal.

..or practical. This is being used with a small portable that does get moved around. We have cable service in the house, and if I need to string cables I would just tap into the cable system - but I don't want to string any more cables.

I tried it vertical and it works as well or poorly as it does horizontally. Pointing the SS up, down, backwards, putting it on the floor, near the ceiling, doesn't seem to make any difference. I even put together a short rhombic antenna (1 meter legs, .5 meter separation at midpoint) and still get the same results. If I didn't know better I would think that all the Milwaukee DTV stations periodically drop their signals just to confuse their viewers.


Derf