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OTA Reception goes WAY down after sunset, help?

487 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by redline65, Jan 26, 2004

Sterling

Discussion Starter · Jan 26, 2004

I mounted my indoor silver sensor antenna outdoors and that improved my reception considerably.

But now the signal all but dies at sundown. Why would that be?

I'm guessing it's because it's an internal intenna?

I also have a crappy radio shack 10db gain device on it.

Can someone help me figure out what is happening?

Also, maybe I just need to upgrade to an outdoor antenna and quality gain device if necessary.

I'm in Utah, Utah Valley and about 30 miles from the tower. I have about 50' of shielded RG cable to the antenna.

Thanks!

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NightHawk

· #2 · Jan 26, 2004

An antenna upgrade is proably all you need. At 30 miles an amplifier is not even necessary with a good high gain outdoor antenna under normal circumstances.

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arxaw

· #3 · Jan 26, 2004

You need a high gain UHF antenna and a high quality low noise preamp.

Examples:

Channel Master CM 4228 8-bay bowtie

Channel Master CM 7775 UHF preamp

Forget about the stuff from Radio Shack or TERK.

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redline65

· #4 · Jan 26, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by arxaw

Forget about the stuff from Radio Shack or TERK.

I'm getting excellent results with Radio Shack antenna #15-2185 mounted in my attic, and I'm 40 miles from the broadcast towers. Almost all of my channels are at 85-90% signal strength.

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ThumperBoy

· #5 · Jan 26, 2004

If you don't have line-of-sight to the broadcast towers (due to elevation and terrain), your reception is from the signal bending over/around hills or mountains. This type of reception can vary quite a bit with the atmospheric conditions. In my area after a hot day, the reception on non-line-of-sight stations drops out due to a thermal inversion reflecting the signals up instead of down. Moving the location of the antenna and raising it with a taller mast can help in some cases.

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arxaw

· #6 · Jan 26, 2004

Quote:

...I'm getting excellent results with Radio Shack antenna #15-2185 mounted in my attic...

redline65,

You are also in an ideal reception area, with the signals traveling partially over water and fairly flat terrain, where most any antenna will work.

Sterling's location has mountains to deal with. He needs a better performing antenna than the RS15-2185.

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redline65

· #7 · Jan 26, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by arxaw
redline65,

You are also in an ideal reception area, with the signals traveling partially over water and fairly flat terrain, where most any antenna will work.

I didn't realize that. I guess Antennaweb.org was wrong about me needing a medium directional antenna.

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