Re: Amplifying TV antenna signal

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Steve Thomas) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Ladies and Gents:
> 
> I just put up a new super-duper TV antenna this weekend.  It's a
> Channel Master Ultra-Hi Crossfire 3671, which theoretically has a
> Reception Range of 100+ miles for VHF/FM and 60+ for UHF.
> 
> The ground elevation of my home is approx 680 feet.  The tower is two
> standard sections of Rohn 25 plus the top section.  The rotor is two
> feet above the top section, with the horizontal section of the antenna
> being 4 feet above that, for a total of 36 feet.  That puts my antenna
> at about 716 feet above sea level.  I have a 300-75 ohm balun attached
> to the antenna with about 75 feet of coax to the TV.
> 
> There are still a few UHF stations I cannot pull in and I'd like some
> hints.
> 
> One UPN affiliate (WRJM) has a tower 1560 feet above sea level
> broadcasting at 2.8 MW on channel 67. According to an online
> calculator, it is 73 miles between my town and the tower.
> 
> Another UPN affiliate (WBAM) has a tower at 1,030 feet [Height Above
> Average Terrain (HAAT)] broadcasting at 1.45 MW on channel 68.  The
> distance is 53 miles.  This one is just strong enough to kick the Blue
> Screen off on my TV, but no picture or sound.
> 
> A PAX affiliate (WBMM) is 51 miles away broadcasting at 2820kW on
> channel 22. I can't find any tower information on them.
> 
> Question is:  what can I do, if anything to pull these in?  I've seen
> pre-amps on the web.  I don't want to bring this tower back down, so
> I'd like to amplify it inline if possible.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Steve Thomas


Avoid in-line amp if at all possible.  Pre-amps mounted at the antenna
is a better soultion.  Inline amps have no capacity to distinguish
noise from signal, hence any interferance or loss of SN ratio is all
equally amplified.

Think of an amplifiers job as "pushing" the signal down the cable,
verus "pulling" the signal from the cable.