cawgijoe
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"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on Apr 25, 2024 6:51:33 GMT -5
Try a rescan....ABC6 says they have boosted their power.... I did, but no difference. I get some stations that are much farther away, but not those two. It really is weird because it's been known all my life that ALL the TV stations broad cast from the "towers at Roxboro" ... all of them on a hill 14 miles from my house. I can get 3, 10, 17, 29 and 48 .... but not 6 or 12 with this digital antenna. There is a big regular antenna in the attic and when I used to use that it was fine. I had tried another one and that was not good, so I have this one now. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NQ46FHR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1Anyway ... fortunately I never watch broadcast except sometimes PBS which I can stream, and last couple years the World Cup was on 29 and we watched that. Amazing how I went from having two satellite dishes in the backyard up until 2017 ... then just ditched it for Apple TV. Yeah...so it appears that your current indoor antenna is not capable of pulling in the weak signal from those underpowered stations. Most of us stream our content and/or have a cable or satellite package also and if we have an antenna rarely use it because most of what we watch is available via the internet or cable/satellite. I have Directv and streaming packages, some included with my cell phone service (Hulu/Disney). I like having the "backup" off air channels especially when the signal is blocked due to heavy rain or snow. So that is nice. I also know that the picture quality OTA is better than the satellite or cable broadcast. I appreciate that. It's nice to have options. By the end of the year we will move into a new home for retirement and I plan to cut costs by dropping DTV and picking up a streaming cable/satellite replacement service for half the price I pay now. Looking at Youtube TV. The antenna will bring in local channels that may or may not be available via Youtube. Edit: I also plan on adding an off-air DVR so we don't have to watch live.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 25, 2024 7:47:39 GMT -5
Hi leonski - I don't expect to get the claimed distance from that antenna. From what I understand, the antenna amplifier is supposed to be smart enough not to amplify (and distort) strong local stations. I do hope to more than double the station count with the new antenna, though. I get 11 channels on my current $9 (non-amplified) Wal-Mart antenna. My audio amigo (who has an amplified antenna) gets 37. I won't be able to elevate the new antenna above the current 9-foot ceiling. There is a bedroom above my listening room, and an expensive installation on the roof or above is not economically feasible since I'm selling this house. I will, however, try to set up the Roku today & see what we can get there. Boom PS: One of my audio amigos suggested that I put hinges on the baking rack that I'm attaching things to at the rear of my audio rack. I think it's a great idea, but I'll need to put some self-stick foam on the rack to prevent vibration from causing rattles.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 25, 2024 10:37:44 GMT -5
ROKU QUESTIONS...
The Roku is now set up & working.
Stuff we notice right away:
The picture is darker than with our Cox cable box. I presume we should reset the TV for correct black levels in Roku service (as we'd previously done with the Cox cable box)? The TV volume is significantly lower with Roku than it was with our Cox cable box. I assume this is normal and that the Roku remote volume control should be used to compensate? The number and variety of Roku channel packages is bewildering. I'm sure that somewhere in the mix is an offering that fulfills all our needs, but have no idea how to find it.
I'd prefer to pay for a package that includes everything my wife wants so that she doesn't have to constantly swap between the Roku remote and the Samsung TV remote (antenna vs. Roku)? The channel list that she insists on as a minimum is:
ABC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) CBS Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) NBC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) PBS Baton Rouge Whatever channel has Herr Doktor Feel (Dr. Phil) - I don't watch this one. Whatever channel has Whale Women (My 600 pound life) - I don't watch this one either. MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - Another the wife likes The History Channel The UFO Channel - Secrets of Skinsucker Ranch, etc. - I don't watch this one either. HGTV - Let's spend a fortune fixing up one old house after another... And maybe a few (but very few) others.
Package selection recommendations?
Boom
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Post by garbulky on Apr 25, 2024 11:05:00 GMT -5
ROKU QUESTIONS... The Roku is now set up & working. Stuff we notice right away: The picture is darker than with our Cox cable box. I presume we should reset the TV for correct black levels in Roku service (as we'd previously done with the Cox cable box)? The TV volume is significantly lower with Roku than it was with our Cox cable box. I assume this is normal and that the Roku remote volume control should be used to compensate? The number and variety of Roku channel packages is bewildering. I'm sure that somewhere in the mix is an offering that fulfills all our needs, but have no idea how to find it. I'd prefer to pay for a package that includes everything my wife wants so that she doesn't have to constantly swap between the Roku remote and the Samsung TV remote (antenna vs. Roku)? The channel list that she insists on as a minimum is: ABC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) CBS Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) NBC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) PBS Baton Rouge Whatever channel has Herr Doktor Feel (Dr. Phil) - I don't watch this one. Whatever channel has Whale Women (My 600 pound life) - I don't watch this one either. MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - Another the wife likes The History Channel The UFO Channel - Secrets of Skinsucker Ranch, etc. - I don't watch this one either. HGTV - Let's spend a fortune fixing up one old house after another... And maybe a few (but very few) others. Package selection recommendations? Boom I plugged your question into ChatGPT premium I find it to be a good brainstorming partner. Here's what it says:
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 25, 2024 13:44:59 GMT -5
Well - I’ve done it AGAIN! I didn’t read the description well enough prior to placing an eBay order. I ordered two drives for my Synology RAID. Dumbazz that I am, I ordered SAS drives instead of SATA. The two interfaces are NOT compatible. Adapters are available, but not all adapters work. If your host device doesn’t have the SAS chipset (most consumer products don’t) then your SAS drives are expensive paperweights. And, having ordered from eBay instead of Amazon, no return is possible. The ad even said “check compatibility before ordering,” so I’ve nobody to blame but myself. No more placing orders in the middle of the night for me!
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Apr 25, 2024 13:58:13 GMT -5
TV broadcasting in general has changed in recent decades. In the old days there were fewer individual stations... but the local stations often broadcast with MASSIVE amounts of power from REALLY BIG antennas. There was also a lot less local interference, both actual interference from radio sources like WiFi and cell phones, and high frequency noise from things like power supplies. And, as I recall, most folks also had pretty big antennas. The suburb where I lived with my parents was about fifty miles from NYC... and so about 50 miles from the main local broadcast antennas on the Empire State Building. While you could get quite a few stations, even with rabbit ears, we had a nice big antenna on the roof that was at least fifteen or twenty feet long. And, back in those days, broadcasts for the main local stations were often delivered with a LOT of power. And, yes, there was some degree of diffraction and bounce involved as well. Modern digital broadcasts are more line-of-sight... And most modern broadcasts are done at much lower power levels... (power costs money)... And there is a LOT more interference these days... And you also need to remember that digital reception, like digital HDMI signals, is more "binary" in nature. (You don't get "fuzzy weak stations"; a station is either clean enough to get a good picture or you get NO picture.) And, to be quite blunt, I don't think there are anywhere near as many stations as their used to be. Most people I know seem to agree that they get fewer local stations these days than they did "back in the good old days"... With antennas there is almost always a direct tradeoff between directionality and gain... The more gain an antenna has the more critical it will be that it is aimed in exactly the right direction... This isn't a problem if you happen to live near a single location where most major local stations broadcast from... But, if that isn't the case, or you live near two main broadcast hubs, you may need a rotor... Another option is to have two separate antennas... Or, if you live NEAR two main broadcast hubs, you can choose a LESS directional antenna, so it can get both... You can also sometimes make strategic choices... For example, while very directional antennas only receive from ONE direction... Many less directional antennas actually pick up pretty well from two opposite sides... The most well known example of all this is the "classic no-cost T-antenna for FM"... (That's the one made out of a T-shaped piece of 300 Ohm antenna wire.) If you position one of those horizontally... It will get the best reception from stations that the flat sides of the "T" are pointed towards... And it will get almost NO reception from stations that the ends of the legs are pointed towards... But if, instead, you position the "top of the T" vertically... Then it will have less gain but will tend to pick up signals from any direction. So that would be a good choice if, for example, you are surrounded by several strong stations, in various different directions. (Technically signals can actually also be broadcast "vertically or horizontally"... but that's sort of above the level of this discussion.) HOWEVER... A really important thing to take away from this discussion is that small "table top" and "stick on" antennas tend to be directional. And, especially if your antenna is located relatively low, broadcast signals are VERY easily blocked by obstructions. Even something like a screen door, or metal pipes in a wall, or a metal appliance like a refrigerator, can block a signal. (Solid metal will totally block a signal... but even things like walls and trees will reduce the strength.) Therefore, you should ALWAYS experiment with different locations, and with pointing the antenna in various different directions. Moving an antenna a few feet, or pointing it at a slightly different angle, can make a major difference in reception. (And, depending on where you are, it may not be at all obvious what orientation will work the best until you try a few.) One Minor Beef, if I may? 910 MILES? TV frequencies are pretty much 'line of sight' with a few atmospheric exceptions. When I was a kid? I 'DXd' the TV going to non-local channels and once picked up a weak signal from Milwaukee.....call it 80 miles PLUS another 15 or 20 to the South 'Burbs where I lived. I would NOT expect to get TV any further than that unless I put UP a pretty expensive antenna and rotor.....My house antenna was 'typical' for the time and probably not aimed perfectly for those stations.... This was far in advance of digital anything except TOES. Different 'skip' and alphabet soup phenom can cause very long distance reception but do NOT count on it..... RF amplifiers, as all amps do, tend to amplify noise as well....A good, quiet amp really helps in this regard. MONK? In your review? Please rotate antenna 15 degrees than 30, than 45 from 'greatest' signal strength. Just to see how well it does off-axis....
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Apr 25, 2024 14:09:22 GMT -5
There is one thing which can safely be said in general about small low cost antennas... which is that they vary a lot. Your assumption about "what antenna amplifiers should do" is somewhat optimistic... There is no real standard... and very few low cost antennas offer any sort of specifications you could compare. The actual pickup elements very widely between antennas... And the actual quality and capabilities of the amplifiers inside them vary as well... I would NOT expect an antenna amplifier to "be smart enough" to do anything... A low cost amplifier may or may not amplify all stations equally... If you're lucky it may have an automatic gain control that prevents it from overloading on strong signals... But some do and some don't... Some may favor better long distance reception (at the cost of being very directional)... While others may favor being able to handle multiple strong local stations without overloading (at the expense of not handling weak stations well)... And some may offer switches to select between those options... or to switch between different elements that pick up from different directions. Your best bet is to try to find reviews about specific brands and models of antennas... (And try to find reviews from folks in situations similar to yours.) Hi leonski - I don't expect to get the claimed distance from that antenna. From what I understand, the antenna amplifier is supposed to be smart enough not to amplify (and distort) strong local stations. I do hope to more than double the station count with the new antenna, though. I get 11 channels on my current $9 (non-amplified) Wal-Mart antenna. My audio amigo (who has an amplified antenna) gets 37. I won't be able to elevate the new antenna above the current 9-foot ceiling. There is a bedroom above my listening room, and an expensive installation on the roof or above is not economically feasible since I'm selling this house. I will, however, try to set up the Roku today & see what we can get there. Boom PS: One of my audio amigos suggested that I put hinges on the baking rack that I'm attaching things to at the rear of my audio rack. I think it's a great idea, but I'll need to put some self-stick foam on the rack to prevent vibration from causing rattles.
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Apr 25, 2024 15:03:37 GMT -5
The one advantage to OTA with antenna is the ability to view when/if the internet goes down, or in our case since we still have Directv, when the rain or snow comes into play. My condolences...we had DirectTV with a dish, and if we got more than a few inches of snow or had really heavy rain - we'd lose coverage also. Luckily for us in Cincy, it typically quickly melted and the heavy rain didn't last long. Luckily, we were able to switch to Spectrum for internet, and that solved that. Not long after that, we switched to internet-only from them and then go to streaming. Had we done streaming with DirectTV...their internet was dog-slow anyway. Not workable with them! Mark
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 25, 2024 15:10:46 GMT -5
Here in Louisiana, it can rain heavily for DAYS. Not unusual for both power and cable to go out. I can create my own power with the generator, but once cable is gone, only the cable company can restore it. For that reason, I'll probably keep my $9 Wal-Mart on-air antenna. It only gets 11 channels, but we only need the local ones anyway during a hurricane.
One of my audio amigos has informed me that several of the Roku internet channel packages have our local channels included, so we may just get one of those for everyday use.
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Apr 25, 2024 15:35:40 GMT -5
Here in Louisiana, it can rain heavily for DAYS. Not unusual for both power and cable to go out. I can create my own power with the generator, but once cable is gone, only the cable company can restore it. For that reason, I'll probably keep my $9 Wal-Mart on-air antenna. It only gets 11 channels, but we only need the local ones anyway during a hurricane. One of my audio amigos has informed me that several of the Roku internet channel packages have our local channels included, so we may just get one of those for everyday use. Do you still have satellite-based internet service? If it's hard-wired...very different. I also recently learned even DirectTV now has a hard-wired option instead of satellite only. Mark
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 25, 2024 16:37:56 GMT -5
No - no satellites on our system.
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Post by leonski on Apr 26, 2024 2:10:01 GMT -5
There is one thing which can safely be said in general about small low cost antennas... which is that they vary a lot. Your assumption about "what antenna amplifiers should do" is somewhat optimistic... There is no real standard... and very few low cost antennas offer any sort of specifications you could compare. The actual pickup elements very widely between antennas... And the actual quality and capabilities of the amplifiers inside them vary as well... I would NOT expect an antenna amplifier to "be smart enough" to do anything... A low cost amplifier may or may not amplify all stations equally... If you're lucky it may have an automatic gain control that prevents it from overloading on strong signals... But some do and some don't... Some may favor better long distance reception (at the cost of being very directional)... While others may favor being able to handle multiple strong local stations without overloading (at the expense of not handling weak stations well)... And some may offer switches to select between those options... or to switch between different elements that pick up from different directions. Your best bet is to try to find reviews about specific brands and models of antennas... (And try to find reviews from folks in situations similar to yours.) Hi leonski - I don't expect to get the claimed distance from that antenna. From what I understand, the antenna amplifier is supposed to be smart enough not to amplify (and distort) strong local stations. I do hope to more than double the station count with the new antenna, though. I get 11 channels on my current $9 (non-amplified) Wal-Mart antenna. My audio amigo (who has an amplified antenna) gets 37. I won't be able to elevate the new antenna above the current 9-foot ceiling. There is a bedroom above my listening room, and an expensive installation on the roof or above is not economically feasible since I'm selling this house. I will, however, try to set up the Roku today & see what we can get there. Boom PS: One of my audio amigos suggested that I put hinges on the baking rack that I'm attaching things to at the rear of my audio rack. I think it's a great idea, but I'll need to put some self-stick foam on the rack to prevent vibration from causing rattles. One of the main points in 'amplified antennas' is that they amplify Noise as well as signal..... I recommend the ARRL publications series for the Real Overachiever..... www.arrl.org/arrl-antenna-bookFor for Keith? It isn't just directionality V sensitivity. It would appear that the number of elements governs this to a large extent en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-periodic_antennaAs the number of elements.....rises...the antenna gets physically longer (the 'boom') and directionality increases as does sensitivity. If you are aiming at ONE 'antenna farm' of transmitters, and are in the far fringe? You'll need a major antenna.....But at the expense of needing a rotor if you wish to get stations from another direction..... I just bult a 2meter Ground Plane antenna. Radiates equally in a full circle. But for my poor 5 watts? If I get it up 10 feet or more, I'm good. Given how ham radio works, all I really need to do is get into a local (maybe up to 10 miles) repeater which broadcast what I send IN out with more power, expanding my coverage.....
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Post by codyjenkins on Apr 26, 2024 6:07:16 GMT -5
I did, but no difference. I get some stations that are much farther away, but not those two. It really is weird because it's been known all my life that ALL the TV stations broad cast from the "towers at Roxboro" ... all of them on a hill 14 miles from my house. I can get 3, 10, 17, 29 and 48 .... but not 6 or 12 with this digital antenna. There is a big regular antenna in the attic and when I used to use that it was fine. I had tried another one and that was not good, so I have this one now. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NQ46FHR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1Anyway ... fortunately I never watch broadcast except sometimes PBS which I can stream, and last couple years the World Cup was on 29 and we watched that. Amazing how I went from having two satellite dishes in the backyard up until 2017 ... then just ditched it for Apple TV. Yeah...so it appears that your current indoor antenna is not capable of pulling in the weak signal from those underpowered stations. Most of us stream our content and/or have a cable or satellite package also and if we have an antenna rarely use it because most of what we watch is available via the internet or cable/satellite. I have Directv and streaming packages, some included with my cell phone service (Hulu/Disney). I like having the "backup" off air channels especially when the signal is blocked due to heavy rain or snow. So that is nice. I also know that the picture quality OTA is better than the satellite or cable broadcast. I appreciate that. It's nice to have options. By the end of the year we will move into a new home for retirement and I plan to cut costs by dropping DTV and picking up a streaming cable/satellite replacement service for half the price I pay now. Looking at Youtube TV. The antenna will bring in local channels that may or may not be available via Youtube. Edit: I also plan on adding an off-air DVR so we don't have to watch live. If connected to the internet, rain and snow is no longer an issue with Directv, at least with the Gemini in your system(not positive this is required) it will switch to their streaming feed upon request during weather interruptions. Last time I checked, live TV services like Youtube tv do not offer surround sound which is a killer for me.
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cawgijoe
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"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on Apr 26, 2024 6:57:01 GMT -5
The one advantage to OTA with antenna is the ability to view when/if the internet goes down, or in our case since we still have Directv, when the rain or snow comes into play. My condolences...we had DirectTV with a dish, and if we got more than a few inches of snow or had really heavy rain - we'd lose coverage also. Luckily for us in Cincy, it typically quickly melted and the heavy rain didn't last long. Luckily, we were able to switch to Spectrum for internet, and that solved that. Not long after that, we switched to internet-only from them and then go to streaming. Had we done streaming with DirectTV...their internet was dog-slow anyway. Not workable with them! Mark Here in Northern Virginia snow is rarely an issue even with the dish mounted on the roof. I've had Directv since the second year they were out and except for the now yearly rate increase, it's worked very well for me. The rain fade is also rare and usually happens during the summer with a thunderstorm. Our new home will have the traditional choice of satellite or cable. Internet is through Firefly which works very well. We will give streaming and antenna a go.
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Apr 26, 2024 7:09:47 GMT -5
ROKU QUESTIONS... I'd prefer to pay for a package that includes everything my wife wants so that she doesn't have to constantly swap between the Roku remote and the Samsung TV remote (antenna vs. Roku)? The channel list that she insists on as a minimum is: ABC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) CBS Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) NBC Baton Rouge (specifically local news & weather) PBS Baton Rouge Whatever channel has Herr Doktor Feel (Dr. Phil) - I don't watch this one. Whatever channel has Whale Women (My 600 pound life) - I don't watch this one either. MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - Another the wife likes The History Channel The UFO Channel - Secrets of Skinsucker Ranch, etc. - I don't watch this one either. HGTV - Let's spend a fortune fixing up one old house after another... And maybe a few (but very few) others. Package selection recommendations? Boom We've been very happy with Hulu + Live. I looked up your zip code and took screenshots of what they have in your area (below). In addition to those channels, you get a lot of content you can stream like movies, Hulu originals, etc. + cloud DVR service, ability to watch on a computer anywhere you are, etc. All that for the price of $76.99/month. You can also do other "add-ons" (special movie and sports packages, etc.) Go for a free trial and see what you think. Once you start the trial and start an account, you just add the app to your Roku home page and then sign in the first time you use it. Easy-peasy... Mark
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cawgijoe
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"We made too many of the wrong mistakes." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on Apr 26, 2024 7:36:13 GMT -5
doityourself.televes.com/uswinegard.com/blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/ultimate-guide-televes-antennas/www.youtube.com/c/antennamankitztech.com/Lots of good info with Antennaman....Televes has somne interesting preamps.... My current rooftop antenna is a Winegard. 34 years old. Works great and looks great. I had a Winegard preamp which was fine, but switched to a Kitztech 200 for the extremely low noise floor and recommendation from a good EE friend who is an expert in RF. He is the guru when it comes to antennas of any kind. With Kitztech, you can call them for recommendations and actually speak to the engineer/designer. Small business. Fot the new house, I decided to give Televes a try and bought their "V Zenit MIX passive antenna". UHF/VHF. Got a great deal through Lowes awhile ago. Also purchased a Ktiztech KT-100VG and a Televes mast amplifier that filters LTE/5G. I'll try both to see which is better for my location. Their "BOSS Tech" antennas get great reviews also. Check the above site for more info if interested.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 26, 2024 8:23:15 GMT -5
We've been very happy with Hulu + Live. I looked up your zip code and took screenshots of what they have in your area (below). In addition to those channels, you get a lot of content you can stream like movies, Hulu originals, etc. + cloud DVR service, ability to watch on a computer anywhere you are, etc. All that for the price of $76.99/month...Mark Mark, you're a lifesaver! I'm showing Hulu+ to the boss today!
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Post by jason05216 on Apr 26, 2024 9:52:30 GMT -5
We use YoutubeTV for local stations. It include all the major "cable" channels as well. It's about the same cost as Hulu+.
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Apr 26, 2024 9:55:17 GMT -5
I would reiterate that, if you're trying out small or indoor antennas, you MUST try different locations and orientations. The smaller an antenna is, and the lower it is, the more it will be subject to being blocked by even tiny obstructions. For something like a WiFi antenna, at shelf height, even a few inches, or a metal bookend between the antenna and the router, can make a huge difference. And, for TV and FM antennas, both the exact location, and the exact orientation (angle), can both make a huge difference. Experiment a little bit... Sometimes even adding a few feet of wire, and putting that antenna on the top shelf, instead of the middle shelf, can make a big difference. I've never had a satellite dish... but I do remember some entertaining stories from back when I lived on Long Island. This was in the early days of DirectTV and Dish Networks. Back then most people had "a professional installation" but most "professional installers" were pretty new to satellite TV dishes. One year a lot of people signed up for satellite TV during the winter months... And then, in the spring, when all the trees "leafed out", they discovered that big leafy trees DO interfere with satellite TV signal strength. (And it's even worse when it rains and those leaves all get wet.) The obvious solution was to put up a tall pole to get the dish above the trees. But there was sometimes a problem there too. The orientation of satellite dishes is critical... at some locations they need to be aligned within a fraction of a degree. So, if you have a tall thin pole, it may flex enough, or twist enough, when a breeze blows on that dish to cause weak reception. (And, in the early days, many "professional installers" really weren't familiar with these sorts of issues.) My condolences...we had DirectTV with a dish, and if we got more than a few inches of snow or had really heavy rain - we'd lose coverage also. Luckily for us in Cincy, it typically quickly melted and the heavy rain didn't last long. Luckily, we were able to switch to Spectrum for internet, and that solved that. Not long after that, we switched to internet-only from them and then go to streaming. Had we done streaming with DirectTV...their internet was dog-slow anyway. Not workable with them! Mark Here in Northern Virginia snow is rarely an issue even with the dish mounted on the roof. I've had Directv since the second year they were out and except for the now yearly rate increase, it's worked very well for me. The rain fade is also rare and usually happens during the summer with a thunderstorm. Our new home will have the traditional choice of satellite or cable. Internet is through Firefly which works very well. We will give streaming and antenna a go.
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Apr 26, 2024 10:29:01 GMT -5
I've never been into Ham Radio... but, way back in the day when FM radio was a big deal, I had a big rooftop antenna... (If you actually know the models it was a Radio Shack knock-off of a Finco FM-4G ). We were out in the suburbs so most of the worthwhile stations were in NYC in the same direction... Back in those days I could actually get 40 or 50 stations... (But, sadly, most of them weren't playing the sort of stuff I like to listen to.) And, yes, more elements usually means either more gain, or more directionality, or both. Basically, you gain a few dB of gain for every additional driven element. And then you've got driven elements and passive elements. Passive elements can be either reflectors or can be used to control or focus the signal. On the "desktop" side of things... You can get an antenna that's omnidirectional - at the cost of maximum gain. (If you're in a strong signal area, hanging one of those simple "300 ohm T antennas", with the legs VERTICAL, sometimes works surprisingly well.) Or a simple dipole - which, like a dipole speaker in reverse, picks up best from the two "sides" and rejects signals from "the two ends". (That's what you have with a "300 ohm T antenna" with the legs horizontal - reception from the flat sides - and NOT from the ends.) Or something with at least one reflector element - which picks up from only ONE direction. (So, if you're between two sets of broadcast antennas, you would want a dipole and not an antenna that forces you to "pick a side".) (NOTE that we're talking about FM... and for old-style analog broadcast TV... for digital TV the proper dimensions would be different.) From what I understand the new digital TV antennas are even fussier about this sort of thing. Being digital you don't get "weak signals"... either the signal is "good enough" or it isn't and you don't get the station. And, for those into DIY, you can even try building your own antenna... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACWdzkHSVXEAnd here's your "pro tip" for that... What MATTERS is the exact dimensions and the fact that your antenna itself is made out of metal... And those critical dimensions include the exact spacing between wires and metal parts... That's something you'll want to look up or get from a proper construction article. And you should make sure that any "supports" are non-metallic and non-conductive... So, for example, you can make a perfectly functional antenna out of aluminum foil, taped to a sheet of cardboard, using clear boxing tape... Or you can use thin gauge wire cut and shaped properly... Or, if the spacing works out right, metal nuts and washers on a piece of threaded rod (I've seen that done for impressive WiFi antennas). (But make sure that you connect it to the terminals using proper coax or twin-lead of the proper impedance.) You also need to be beware of really goofy Youtube videos about this sort of thing... For example, there is a video that claims that "you can get thousands of channels if you connect an old phone SIM chip to your TV antenna terminals". (A phone SIM chip isn't going to do anything for TV reception... other than count as a piece of metal attached to the wire.) ........................... One of the main points in 'amplified antennas' is that they amplify Noise as well as signal..... I recommend the ARRL publications series for the Real Overachiever..... www.arrl.org/arrl-antenna-bookFor for Keith? It isn't just directionality V sensitivity. It would appear that the number of elements governs this to a large extent en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-periodic_antennaAs the number of elements.....rises...the antenna gets physically longer (the 'boom') and directionality increases as does sensitivity. If you are aiming at ONE 'antenna farm' of transmitters, and are in the far fringe? You'll need a major antenna.....But at the expense of needing a rotor if you wish to get stations from another direction..... I just bult a 2meter Ground Plane antenna. Radiates equally in a full circle. But for my poor 5 watts? If I get it up 10 feet or more, I'm good. Given how ham radio works, all I really need to do is get into a local (maybe up to 10 miles) repeater which broadcast what I send IN out with more power, expanding my coverage.....
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