[kwlug-disc] Cutting the cord

[R. Brent Clements]

There are devices called signal combiners, but we really don't know
what the actual difference is.  In general, a "splitter" in reverse
will work, and as far as I know making the two cables the same length
is a good idea.  Your signal strengths are probably good.  I assume
you have aimed at a sort of middle ground between the two.  If not you
might want to try that, or aim at the other one and see if the other
is still receivable.  If not a second 4 bay, or a single 8-bay that
allows half of the bays to articulate in another direction would solve
the combiner problem too

Brent

On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 6:33 PM, William Park <opengeometry at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 04:53:08PM -0500, R. Brent Clements wrote:
>> As for what equipment seems to work best, our most effective
>> installation in SW Kitchener used a pair of our cheapest antennas and
>> picked up all of the Canadian content available, plus most of the US
>> stations transmitting out of Buffalo as well.  This antenna has a VHF
>> element integrated into it, which does help pick up a couple of
>> Canadian channels that are unlikely to transition to UHF, which is
>> something that all of the US has apparently done.
>
> How do you connect the two antennas together?
>
> I have a 4-bay antenna.  Where I am in Mississauga, CN Tower and Buffalo
> are 90 degrees, and I'm getting all CN Tower stations and some Buffalo
> stations.  I want to try two antennas, one pointing at CN Towers and the
> other pointing at Buffalo.  But, I don't certain how to connect the two
> antennas together.  Online reading says just use 2-way splitter with
> exactly same cable length.  But, I'm not sure.
>
>> A preamplifier will almost always help.  You can split the signal
>> after the amp's power inserter.  If you need to split it more than
>> once sometimes a distribution amp can be of benefit as well.  A four
>> way splitter is almost always a two way split with each output split
>> two ways again.  Three way splitters will usually have outputs labeled
>> -3.5dB and -7.5dB.  The signal is stronger on the -3.5dB because that
>> one is not split a second time like the other one is.
>
> Right now, I am not using any preamp and the cable length is 30m.
> I'm told, this is the reason why I get so few Buffalo channels.
>
> PS.
>     Could this be a topic of short show/tell/demo for KWLUG?
> --
> William
>
>
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