[kwlug-disc] Cutting the cord

[R. Brent Clements]

I should also mention that an amp would likely help too.  Not a really
high gain one tho, as those are generally meant for fringe areas, and
you are plenty close to all of those transmitters

\Brent

On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 6:52 PM, R. Brent Clements <rbclemen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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