The Official AVS Antenna and Related Hardware Topic! - Page 291

Any one have any thoughts on the Eagle Aspen ROTR100? I noticed that it uses coax cable for its signal instead of the three wire cable like others do, which would be convenient for me to not have to drill any more holes to run wire through.

Three wires or not, what's the general opinion as to the best rotator available?

I'm putting my money on "he lives 6 miles from the furthest towers" and it just dawned upon him a ganged antenna would be a really bad idea in that scenario.

johnied; Ok, but one would never know that since you posted directly after me.

If we ignore this anti social, ultra paranoid whinner, he might go away. I bet he lives just outside of East Farmers Bumf*ck, in the middle of nowhere and wonders why he can't get anything.

nwiser - check this discussion
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...+Aspen+ROTR100

Cool find!

It hasn't been a problem for, what, 40 years now to run two wires from antenna to TV, why should it be any different now? The loss through those two devices just isn't worth it. It might not make much difference with anlaog, but this isn't your Fathers TV any more.

thank you for pointing me to that thread. it seems that running it through the coax causes up to 5 db loss on some frequencies...and the main reviewer ended up running a seperate wire with f connectors on each end anyway. I already have coax running into my house from the previous owners cable installation, and since I'm not much of a handyman I was hoping I could get away with just using it for everything. darn.

I have a cordless drill but I dont have a bit long enough to drill through the cinderblock into my basement...so if I run additional wiring I have to go buy a long masonry bit....and then after the holes are drilled I have to seal off the gap with something. I could use some silicone caulk I guess...though some of the other holes that have been sealed around look like they have this black/grey rubbery stuff around them...anyone have a guess as to what that stuff might be?

Since it looks like I will need to use a rotor with its own wire...what's the best one for the money?

Butyl rubber caulk.

With typical antenna VSWR of 3:1 and ATSC Tuner VSWR not much better,
50 vs 75-ohm won't make much difference....
might even be better.....

How old is it? I would just replace it with RG6.
How much of a "handyman" do you have to be to drill a hole?
Ok and............
Almost anything. Since it is above ground on a vertical surface, you have no concern about anything.
Your are already here.

If you don't care about repeated accuracy (which is the selling point of this), anything will do. Even though they are all imported, I would only deal with models from Channel Master since you have their support vs dealing with a no name wonder.

Or you could buy a drill bit extention. That may come in handy on other projects.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is all RG-6 quad shield cable the same?

I've looked at some places like Summit Source, Solid signal, Amazon.com, etc...and the prices seem to vary. What's a reasonable price one should expect to pay for 100ft of RG6 quad shielded cable?

Is the more expensive stuff the price it is only for the name...or is there a quality difference in manufacturers? Is it a big deal to get the copper coated vs. solid copper cable? Also are the compression F-connectors better than the crimp on ones?

I have a station that currently shows no signal during the day, and 20-30 percent every night, but not enough to lock on (on my STB, it takes about 50 percent to lock on) and it does lock on occasionally a couple nights a week. TVfool lists it's signal for me at -127.9 . This station will be increasing it's power after transition, and my signal for this station after transition is listed at -113.1. Roughly, how much of a difference in reception might this translate into? The station is goin from 48 KW to 1000 KW

Every 3db is a doubling of signal power. (does this rule apply to TVFool figures ?) So 127.9 minus 113.1 equals 14.8, almost 15db. So that would be 3 X 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = about 243 times more signal. Even at -113.1dbm, you may not get that station consistantly.

I finally got around to taking pictures of my 91XG/VIP306 setup.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_mu3nxD8i5WE/...h/100_3622.JPG

This is a pretty potent combo for deep fringe reception.

And, it appears, the birds like it, too.

No rotor???

Some of us don't really have two good locations to aim at. All of mine, for example, are pretty much in the same area:



Just point a stacked 91XG and YA-1713 to maximize KNVA and KTBC and I'm set. The YA-1713 is primarily for when KTBC returns to channel 7 in February.

Nope. All of our towers are in the same direction. I get ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and PBS in HD.

You may want to attach the coax to your mask pipe, as it is causing additional stress on the antenna leads. This will break in a matter of time.

Also, route the coax out the back of your 91XG.

Nice set-up, but cable management is POOR.

These Channel Master antennas look so CHEAP...

Cost cutting again...

I wonder if they resized them to work better in the channel 14 - 52 range.

I can't help but notice that a lot of the models aren't available until the end of 2008.

I've not seen a lot of comment on this, but doesn't winter weather cause a great difficulty to an installer's ability to work on a roof or even a tower?

Could a worse time of year for our transition to have been chosen than February?

And shouldn't a company like CM have seen this coming and had their products available for a couple years ahead of time for people to have bought them and installed them before winter weather hit?

In Texas? Yes -- July or August when the temperature on a metal roof or composite shingles can get up to 150º or higher. Working outside in February is a treat out here for installers.

Most of the coax IS connected to the mast with two exceptions...the coax running from the 91XG to the mast (it is attached once it reaches the mast) and from the mast (where, again, it is attached) to the balun on the 306. The coax running to the 306 serves more as a sort of drip loop to keep water from constantly flowing over the balun and seeping into the coax when it rains. I'll take replacing a balun to replacing water logged coax.


The coax IS routed out the back of the 91XG. Not sure what picture you are looking at. It runs out the back of the 91XG through the screen (per the instructions that came with the 91XG), then back to the mast where it is attached (instead of running it straight to the 7777 and putting stress on the UHF input), then up to the CM777. The slack cable coming out the back of the 91XG is pretty much unavoidable.


Poor? The only bit of coax that may be a little poor is the coax running from the mast to the 306. Considering it has survived a direct hit from an F0 tornado as well as a ton of southern thunder storms, I think it works pretty well. But thanks for your constructive criticism. Feel free to post pictures of your setup so we can see how it's done.

The top part of board of a Radio Shack/Archer 15-1117 10db preamp cut open:

The bottom part of the board:

Very hard to tell, especially since the new catalog lists 2 different dimension for the CM4228. The original was 5"L X 39.5"W X 36"H, and thats what is listed in the bottom specs of the catalog for the new one.
But under the picture of it, it lists 5"L X 49"W X 32" H. So they may have, but they shortened the height ??

Stupid, no. Asked before, yes.
No they aren't. Are all 4 cylinder engines the same?

Solid vs stranded vs copper clad center,
Percent of braid coverage & type of and amount of foil shield,
Quality of dielectric and outer jacket,
Where it is made.

All the 'cheaper' stuff is from China. I would NOT buy from Summit Source. They run misleading product listings and threaten you with fees if you chalenge a charge. I'm also less inclinded to buy from Solid Signal.

300ohm; nice pics. A good reason I would never buy anything like that, RS or not.

It might help to add where you would buy buy from. Trusted recommendations on buying are always helpful.

Copper coated versus solid matters only if you are running a long run with DC power (between power injector and pre-amp, for instance) or other low-frequency signals. Though even the voltage drop from the entire 100 feet of copper-coated steel (which presents about 3 ohms of resistance) probably wouldn't bother a pre-amp much.

The next thing to consider is braid coverage, which runs from miserable (some radio shack cables) to 95%, with 60% being pretty typical. I've found 60% to be adequate, but I have no nearby interference sources (like very close TV or FM stations). There's also things like the quality of the dielectric which are harder to quantify. If the cable is very easy to crimp/crease (Phillips, many premade cables), it's probably no good.