Rural TV antenna

[dhermesc]

What do some of you use for boosters or amplifiers on your rural TV antennas?

I cut the cord and am going back to free TV only and have 3 hooked up with nothing but the outdoor arial (100 mile antenna). Looking to aid the reception. Looks like I could just replace my splitter with an amplified splitter, or would I be better off adding an amplifier at the antenna end with the booster inside the house - like this one?


https://www.ebay.com/itm/256267262473

 

[wp6529]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024R4B5C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BMD87BRN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Antenna and pre-amp mounted at about 30' up on a tower and pointed in the direction of the only TV transmitters receivable here. Conveniently they are only a few miles apart and are around 40 miles away so I just aim in the middle of them. About 200' of coax from the pre-amp to granny's TV and she gets the dozen or so channels / sub-channels to keep her happy.

If you already have the antenna you just need the pre-amp, and it *must* be located right at the antenna. The power injector for the pre-amp can go at the far end, but before any splitters as most will not pass power.

This post was edited by wp6529 on 12/06/2023 at 07:09 am.

 

[K-Mo]

Live halfway between Omaha and Des Moines.
For years used Wineguard 8200 directional with amps.
Found little flying saucer omni direction that works better.
CordlessMagic claims to have a better newer design than mine.
My Antenna

 

[jimg.allentown]

Amplifier/preamplifier must be as close to the antenna as possible. The reason is that you want to amplify the signal, not the noise picked up by the coaxial cable.

Also, note that the mileage claims made by the antenna manufacturer are just marketing. Television signals are line-of-sight. The higher the frequency, the less it will follow the curvature of the earth. VHF signals will not bounce off the upper stratosphere like low band signals will. As such, the higher you can mount your antenna, the more range you will get. The laws of physics apply even to antenna sales marketing - regardless of their claims.

 

[Texasmark]

I decided that I had enough of Dish so I too decided to try an outdoor directional antenna. The main Dallas TV stations are South of Dallas about 12 miles. The signal has to pass through the down town area and up rolling terrain and go through numerous trees....as the Crow flies, 59 miles total. I bought this antenna since it was a UHF Yagi by design with directors and reflectors, the best antenna design for single point receiving. I think I recall it having 17 dB of gain and I think the reception cone was 21 degrees. While I was at it I also bought a 17 dB gain amplifier just in case.....at 59 miles, 21 degrees covers a lot of area.

https://store.antennasdirect.com/91XG-Ultra-Long-Range-DTV-Antenna.html

Before I discontinued with the Dish subscription I wanted to test this antenna so I sat it on my porch swing and ran 100' of RG6 coax to my TV. I couldn't believe the results. I picked up at least a couple dozen stations, crystal clear. Some of the VHF stations in Dallas also now broadcast on UHF also and I was able to pick them up too. As a result of this test, I decided to mount the antenna under the roof of my porch and not fool with getting a 30' pole, getting out the ladder (to fall off......) and all that.

I decided to install the amplifier, since I already had it, because I felt that during rainy periods I might need extra gain.

Terrain has a lot to do with your reception so even though this antenna was advertised to be 70+ miles of range, I had my doubts......well I was duly impressed.

 

[wp6529]

A key thing with DTV is that signal strength is pretty much a threshold, you either have enough or you don't.

 

[Keith True]

A year ago I actually went to an antenna guy,instead of just doing it myself as I'd always done.He went all over with a rig hung around his neck with some meters and a little TV on it.I told him if he needed height I would put up a pole where ever he wanted me to.We went up to 55 feet in my manlift and found no difference from the roof of my house.I only have two directions to pick up signals,and they are very absolute.Instead of an expensive rotor to fool with all the time,he put a small antenna under the big one,and it is aimed at the local station.There is a box up on the antenna,and another one inside for each TV.I get a couple dozen channels,why would I need more than that? Interestingly enough I thought that I might have reception problems when the leaves are on the trees,but it has been the opposite.A couple of the channels will skip around in the clear weather.Planes will do it too.I also have a Roku a tenant left behind,that picks up of my wifi and has a couple hundred channels.Free.I pay zero to watch TV.I'm just not interested in spending $75.or $100. a month to watch TV.

 

[wp6529]

Yes, you don't necessarily need a lot of height to get enough signal. In my case I have a 70' tower but I put the antenna up at 30' because that was high enough to get above some nearby trees and I had plenty of signal at that point.

I was lucky here in that the only transmitters in range were close together and far from me so aim in the middle worked well. If there was something worthwhile in another direction I would have added a second antenna and pre-amp for them and then combined the signal to the TV.

 

[Stephen Newell]

The best thing you could do is get a tall tower to mount the antenna too, especially if you live in a wooded area. I had to put up a 75' tall tower in order to get up above the trees.

 

[buickanddeere]

. A channel 7-51 antenna . No long channel 2-6 elements to catch wind, rain, snow and ice . Less tuner overload from FM radio transmitters .

 

[dhermesc]

Height is not an issue. I am on top of a hill and the antenna is 10' above the house peak. In our location we have a 4-5 mile view - rare in these hills.

 

[Texasmark]

Totally agree. It is or it isn't but when it breaks up, like snow with analog TV, you get these little rectangular boxes skating through
the program rather than it snowing all over everything.

 

[Texasmark]

Back in the '60's and on, New Orleans and Mobile Alabama were in opposite directions from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They had a
special Gulf Coast Special that was popular that had directors on both ends tuned to the frequencies of both stations and you
didn't have to have a rotor to watch both stations.

 

[Red Dave]

When you are considering an amplifier, always keep in mind that an amplifier can only help you if there is a signal to amplify. That means putting the amp right at the antenna where the incoming signal should be the strongest.

Use as few splitters, baluns, couplings and other devices as possible. Every one of them costs a few db's of signal strength.

 

[wp6529]

(quoted from post at 11:44:41 12/07/23) When you are considering an amplifier, always keep in mind that an amplifier can only help you if there is a signal to amplify. That means putting the amp right at the antenna where the incoming signal should be the strongest.

Use as few splitters, baluns, couplings and other devices as possible. Every one of them costs a few db's of signal strength.

Absolutely the pre-amp needs to be right at the antenna connected by a very short piece of coax and balun. This is why the pre-amps are all made to be powered over the coax with a power injector located at the far end.

Every split will cost you about 3.5 dB of signal, a bit over half since the split is not 100% lossless.

As for antenna height, never go higher than you need to in order to get acceptable signal strength. Going higher just costs you more money, increases lightning strike risk, increases wind loading on your tower if you have one, etc.

Look at commercial towers and note that everything is not all located at the very top. Best if you can survey your site and test the antenna at different heights to see where it needs to be for what you want to receive.

 

[ss55]

I have had very good service from Winegard amplifiers that mount on the antenna for the least amount of noise. A downstream amplified splitter amplifies noise as well as the signal. A 28 dB amplifier at the antenna helps a lot to pull in weaker signals. You can always add an amplified splitter in the distribution lines if needed.

https://winegard.com/tv/home/free-over-the-air-tv/amplifiers/boost-series-amplifiers

Channel Master and Antennas Direct are also a good brands.

 

[guido]

dehermesc,


Station location and properly directed antenna is more important then anything else.

Mine is pointing straight at tree which are much taller the the antenna,

Guido

 

[cleddy]

I just put 2 TV's on rabbit ears in my basement and one on a old 1970's antenna at my farm house and get good reception. Surprised how many channels come in which most I would never watch. I am surprised how good the reception is after the BIG scare a few years ago that all existing TV would not function unless we bought the Government funded Converter boxes or subscribed to Expensive cable service. Over the years we have had different cable services that offered a lot of stuff that we never watched or the Premium Expensive channels we could not afford. What happened that Air TV is still available???Cleddy

 

[Stephen Newell]

How far are you from the broadcast towers then? If you are quite a ways out the curvature of the earth may be hurting you. The TV signals travel in a straight line. In my case I'm about 60 miles out and in the middle of the woods. Between the distance and woods I had a hard time getting a signal.

 

[TomIn]

I own a home in SE Indianapolis. Most of the transmission towers are far NW. The original owner had the home wired for cable in five rooms. I just used an amplified indoor antenna setting a couple of feet away from the cable box and hooked it to where the cable input had been on the splitter. That was probably the worst location for an antenna, so I eventually moved the antenna to a room that was wired for cable, but did not have a TV. I back fed to the original signal splitter and it works fine for TV's in the other rooms.

I also have a place in rural Sullivan County. I use an old bow tie indoor antenna that my dad bought from Radio Shack forth or fifty years ago along with a signal amplifier placed near the antenna. My house has steel siding and there are a lot of trees and bushes nearby. It takes some degree of fiddling with the antenna direction on windy days.