A few questions to reduce Fox TV and JER's recent discussion about reception and amplifiers to practical terms even I can understand and use to improve my lousy tv reception. No intent to put anyone on the spot; just a genuine interest in "getting it".
a) signal quantity is what's available at my antenna location?
b) signal quality is signal quantity reduced by line leakage and sources of RF noise between my antenna and my tv?
c) the signal at my antenna is similarly reduced by a quality component, i.e., distance and obstacles between the transmitter and my antenna?
d) even with low signal quantity I might have adequate reception if signal quality is high?
e) a (low noise) pre-amp is best used where: e2) signal quantity at the antenna is marginal; and/or e3) you have distribution losses (distance, cheap cable, splitters) between the antenna and tv(s)?
f) "NM" or "noise margin" on tvfool reports is the result of an analysis of "background noise" between the transmitter and my location?
g) is it possible to recieve a signal from a negative NM source?
h1) if my antenna is outside, do I need to worry about leaking cable tv signals, light dimmers, speed controllers and flourescent ballasts? h2) Do microwaves, wireless routers, and radio frequency remotes affect reception with inside antenna? Outside antenna?
i) assuming our "multi path issues are from reflective objects that are relatively close to the receive location", what can we do about it?
j) Fox TV, can you clarify this sentence: "I have not seen one location at that distance that if enough signal strength was there that I could not receive the signal, and have not really seen a situation where an amplifier would solve any reception problems."
That must mean more than: if there's a strong enough signal to have reception I'll have reception. j2) Is the point that most reception problems are not signal strength problems? Is the point that most reception problems are: j3) insufficient gain antenna; or j4) line losses? These seem to be common sense. Is there something more complex I'm not getting? [again, no interest in playing "gotcha"; just trying to "get it"...]
k) should I expect (hope?) a C2 at 20 feet above grade will capture my stations at the antenna (before distribution)? My stations are 30 to 50 miles, over water and through trees, some uhf and high vhf are 1 to 2 edge multipath, all NM's are above 16dB? (leaving aside for this question the fact that transmitters are in 3 general directions 20 - 49 degrees apart)
l1) my uhf antenna is not the highest gain antenna available (42xg). with no pre-amp I get no uhf reception; with a CM7777, I get uhf reception that varies with aim and weather. would a higher gain antenna grab more signal ( l2) how do I know if there's more signal available?) and l3) reduce the gain needed to be supplied by a pre-amp?
Sorry, I guess that's all a bit much but I hope some of you will tackle some of these questions for the benefit of the rest of us non-engineers and non-hobbyists trying to recover tv lost upon the digital transistion.
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