[kwlug-disc] Home made indoor TV Antenna

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 10:15 PM, Paul Gallaway <paul at gallaway.ca> wrote:

> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 5:08 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
> > I was getting them all before I put in the mast,
>
> Here's where you can drive yourself crazy. Are you sure that putting
> it on the mast was the problem? Or was it a change in tropospheric
> conditions or another weather phenomenon?
>

The weather is absolutely a factor.
This was confirmed to me in the past few days.
On Friday (rainy, thunderstorms), many channels were glitchy.
On Saturday late evening (calm weather), I go them all back, including CHCJ
which is the hardest to get, and on top of all of them, I got WNLO (channel
23 from Buffalo) with a subchannel.
Today, it is gone, along with CHCJ.
Those 2 days, the mast and cable and everything were untouched.

Today, with the nice weather, I moved the mast to its final position, so
have to wait and see.

My (almost) final lineup is:

Stable channels:

Real Virtual Call Sign Network
 20   5       CBLT      CBC Toronto
17   6       CIII      Global
13   13      CKCO      CTV
15   11      CHCH      From Hamilton
25   25      CBLTF     CBC Toronto French
28   28      CICO      TVO
36   36      CITS      From Hamilton

Once in a while channels:
35   35      CHCJ      CTV Barrie
23   23.1    WNLO      CW Buffalo
23   23.2    Bounce

> Your DB8 + CM7777 are just getting two more from Toronto: Omni 1 (channel
> 40) and 2 (Ch 47). I do see a weak signal for them, as well as 32 from
> Buffalo (WLNO), but not enough for the TV to tune any of those three
> channels.
>
> I get CITY too.
>
> Conversely, I look at your results and wonder what else you could get with
> a higher position, a better antenna, and/or a preamp - I think the glass
> half full / half empty analogy applies here, just not sure who has the half
> empty glass :)
>

Yeah, it seems to be that way. Can't get them all. Unless you have those
antennas with one have pointed one way and the other half pointed another.

I would try a DB8 and CM7777 if someone was selling them locally so I can
return them if they don't work. I went to Research Electronics in
Frobisher, and bought some cable ...etc. and they said no returns on
antennas.

Just keep in mind that what you get now may not be what you always get.
> Some channels may improve, others may drop out seasonally or even through
> the day. I'd be curious what changes you see from now through next winter.
>

>From what I read, it seems summer brings in more channels, and they recede
in winter.


> My install was closer to $300 for antenna, preamp, mast,
> tripod, RG6, grounding materials, etc. Paid off by my cancelled basic
> cable bill in about 10 months.I did the labour myself as well. I
> bought the DB8 in 2009 and it sat in my basement for two years so by the
> time I got around to installing it really only felt like I was
> spending $200. There's always competing interests around the house, and
> $300 could easily go into groceries.
>

I don't mind spending that much, if I am assured it will work before
sinking all the money in. Turns out there is too much variation (terrain,
altitude, distance, obstacles, direction, goblins, ...etc.) and there is no
assurance what you can get unless you try and experiment with various
permutations at your specific location.


> My goal with my setup was to be able to get PBS (NOVA, Sesame Street,
> others). That's the one channel we still miss from basic cable.


My plan for this is to try http://adfreetime.com for DNS unlock, and watch
the shows over the internet.

-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
Fast Reliable Drupal
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wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
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