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Combining Multiple Antennas

2597 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by taz291819, Jan 19, 2007

mattdp

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2007

The subject recently came up in our local HDTV thread about combining multiple antennas, particularly UHF antennas.

So, I've got a question for you guys: What would it take to combine three UHF antennas and not degrade the PQ.

Here's my (hypothetical) scenario:

Antenna #1 (90deg)

ointing at La Crosse, 60 miles away. Channels 14, 19, 25, 30, 31.

Antenna #2 (210deg)

ointing at Rochester/Austin/Mason City stations, 35-60 miles away. Channels 15, 18, 20, 24, 46, 47.

Antenna #3 (335 deg): Pointing at the Twin Cities, 75 miles. Channels 16, 17, 22, 23, 26, 29, 34, 40, 41, 44, 45, 50 (and others).

Say I had these three identical antennas, hooked into two antenna combiners in series, all fed into a pre-amp, what would happen?

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biker19

· #2 · Jan 16, 2007

Sounds like a lot of work/investment for a few chs - even if it works.

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NightHawk

· #3 · Jan 16, 2007

There might be lot's of issues with multipath and signals combining out-of-phase. The results are unpredictable. There would also be a 5 dB loss in sensitivity for any one antenna due to the combiner. To avoid that you would need 3 pre-amps. To avoid both problems you could use a 3-way manual selector switch.

Lot of work alright,

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jspENC

· #4 · Jan 16, 2007

I wouldn't do it. Use a rotor instead. Then you can use a CM 4228 or Ant. direct 91XG and/or pre-amp if needed-- and stack antennas if necessary if all those channels are 'must have'.

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mattdp

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 17, 2007

Ok... thought so, I was kinda planning on putting up the separate VHF, UHF and FM antennas I already have, and mount them in the same direction and use a rotator. I just thought I'd ask how hard it would be to do a multiple directional setup.

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taz291819

· #6 · Jan 18, 2007

You would have major problems trying to do a multi-antenna setup. There are too many channels too close together, ie, 14-17, would really cause you problems.

Now, with a two-antenna setup, you could use a MyHD card, since it has two seperate inputs. Using the My Favorites function, it would work just fine.

It's that third antenna that would screw you up.

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rhmuir

· #7 · Jan 19, 2007

If you had to do an antenna in a gated community(with rules but you could possibly sneak a small antenna in), what whould anybody suggest.

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bfoster

· #8 · Jan 19, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by rhmuir /forum/post/0

If you had to do an antenna in a gated community(with rules but you could possibly sneak a small antenna in), what whould anybody suggest.

I would suggest putting up whatever antenna I felt was necessary on my own property. I would print this FACT SHEET from the FCC to show anyone that wanted to question the placement of said antenna.

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rhmuir

· #9 · Jan 19, 2007

THANKS, Afeter reading your article I can do most anything to receive adequate digital chanels. With that being said the compromise might be to put up the least obtrusive antenna. Which is the suggeston for that? Also understand that 2 antennas might be also accepatable e.g. channels 2-6 and UHF separately.

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taz291819

· #10 · Jan 19, 2007

For UHF, I like the looks of the XG-91, and it performs like the Channel Master 4228.

As for VHF, I have no idea.

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