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Two antennas again (semi-OT)

 

 

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backuppc at sundquist

Apr 9, 2008, 4:18 PM

Post #1 of 3 (396 views)
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Two antennas again (semi-OT)

mythtv folks:

This is pretty much a followup to my posts in the earlier thread
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/318560#318560

I was waiting for spring to try moving the antenna from the attic to the
roof in order to get better reception. Well, spring is here.

To recap my setup: For tuners I have a pcHDTV 5500 and an HDHR. I had
bought two directional UHF antennas since the "you got questions, we got
answers" folks at Radio Shack said that's the way to go since we are
located in between the two antenna clusters. The smart folks on this
list suggested I'd be able to get the closer cluster out of the back of
the directional antenna, and in fact I got just as good reception with
one antenna pointed to the distant cluster as I did with both. So I
took the second one out of commission.

Now, I am considering putting up both antennas on the roof, but set up
this way: Both would point to the distant cluster. One would plug into
my 5500 and the other one (with a splitter) into the two HDHR inputs.
This way I don't have as much splitter losses. It also makes sense
location-wise, too, since the first logical mounting spot is near my
mythtv box (combined FE/BE, with the 5500 PCI card), and the other
location is nearer my home network router, where I could plop down the
HDHR. I've already got the two antennas so all I'd be shelling out for
is two mounting kits and a bit of RG-6, and the grounding wire, so why
not?

My question is this: These two logical spots on the roof are about 28
feet apart. Is this far enough apart such that they will not interfer
with each other? Does the fact that they are not merged make
interference less of an issue? I am looking at channels ranging from 14
to 43.

Thanks for any advice.

J.S.

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hah at alumni

Apr 9, 2008, 4:29 PM

Post #2 of 3 (353 views)
Permalink
Re: Two antennas again (semi-OT) [In reply to]

> mythtv folks:
>
> This is pretty much a followup to my posts in the earlier thread
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/318560#318560
>
> I was waiting for spring to try moving the antenna from the attic to the
> roof in order to get better reception. Well, spring is here.
>
> To recap my setup: For tuners I have a pcHDTV 5500 and an HDHR. I had
> bought two directional UHF antennas since the "you got questions, we got
> answers" folks at Radio Shack said that's the way to go since we are
> located in between the two antenna clusters. The smart folks on this
> list suggested I'd be able to get the closer cluster out of the back of
> the directional antenna, and in fact I got just as good reception with
> one antenna pointed to the distant cluster as I did with both. So I
> took the second one out of commission.
>
> Now, I am considering putting up both antennas on the roof, but set up
> this way: Both would point to the distant cluster. One would plug into
> my 5500 and the other one (with a splitter) into the two HDHR inputs.
> This way I don't have as much splitter losses. It also makes sense
> location-wise, too, since the first logical mounting spot is near my
> mythtv box (combined FE/BE, with the 5500 PCI card), and the other
> location is nearer my home network router, where I could plop down the
> HDHR. I've already got the two antennas so all I'd be shelling out for
> is two mounting kits and a bit of RG-6, and the grounding wire, so why
> not?
>
> My question is this: These two logical spots on the roof are about 28
> feet apart. Is this far enough apart such that they will not interfer
> with each other? Does the fact that they are not merged make
> interference less of an issue? I am looking at channels ranging from 14
> to 43.

28 feet apart sounds like plenty to me, but if you are dealing with
diffraction then they may be in separate "hotspots" for various frequencies.
Here's what I consider a very authoritative source on antennas:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/erecting_antenna.html

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gull at gull

Apr 9, 2008, 4:48 PM

Post #3 of 3 (357 views)
Permalink
Re: Two antennas again (semi-OT) [In reply to]

On Apr 9, 2008, at 4:18 PM, backuppc [at] sundquist wrote:
> My question is this: These two logical spots on the roof are about 28
> feet apart. Is this far enough apart such that they will not interfer
> with each other? Does the fact that they are not merged make
> interference less of an issue? I am looking at channels ranging
> from 14
> to 43.

If you aren't combining the signals from the two antennas then your
interference concerns will be minimal. If you mounted them very close
together they might distort each others' patterns, but that's about
all I can think of. In RF terms "close" would be a few wavelengths at
the frequency of interest. 28 feet is quite a large distance at UHF
TV frequencies (about 14 wavelengths) so it should be just fine.

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