Quote:
Originally Posted by FOX TV
If you are not near any other sources of RF energy (FM transmitters, Cell phone towers etc) then I am not saying that amps will NEVER help reception problems.
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You did state that you "do not recommend amplifiers at all . . . " and also that issues like mine are not "common" in your market. I'm not trying to pick a word-fight here but . . . to not recommend at all is just as silly as me recommending everybody use an amp.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FOX TV
"I do not recommend amplifiers at all, but they may have a use in the far field areas that do truly have a weak or low signal issue, but those situations are not all that common in our market . . . "
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I admit I don't know what your "market" is. If you have something to do with Fox TV (going by your username), I can say that I get several Fox channels at all my rural properties. There are people who read these forums trying to make decisions on equipment, and such a negative statement can cause as much confusion as a blanket pro-amp statement.
The USA has around 300,000,000 people in it. At least 60,000,000 are in rural areas, and another 140,000,000 live in suburban or quasi-rural areas. That's a lot of people who may not get TV at all, or very well, without some sort of signal amplification. I'll add that I've met many people who tried to get digital TV reception and gave up - without even trying an amp due to some misinformation they read somewhere - or even worse - advice received at the local Radio Shack store. I've heard and read, often, about how amps cannot make a small antenna behave as if it's bigger - yet many times a preamp can do just that. Also read about the digital cliff at 65 miles which is also untrue. Also about digital, or UHF digital only working with line-of-sight transmissions - again, not true. For somebody who's been working with this stuff over the years, they can sift through such conflicting statements. But, somebody with no experience trying to read up first, and then do things right? That can be tough.
I still maintain that preamps and lineamps can be very useful and not just to an esoteric few. My in-laws live in the City of Alpena, Michigan and lost their only two TV channels after the digital change. A $27 preamp and a $45 antenna fixed their problem. The only other option (and I tested) was to install a 40 foot tower and antenna 450 feet from their house on a hill. Then the antenna gets those two channels with no preamp when tested on-site - but with a 450 foot run, a line-amp would be needed, even with RG-11 coax.
Seems the $72 invested was much more cost-effective than the tower and long line-run.
Less advertising throughout
