Don_M

Piggie

Glad you started posting sir, good to have your knowledge over here. I have found it a very nice community.
Guess you have noticed that Trip guy wandering around here also.

Yes I have used those calculators. holl_ands had done some nice work on this subject. According to his calculators my cm7777 should be in overload, but yet my weakest station pins the meter (163 KW at 37 miles at 300meters on Ch28 to my U-75R at 23 ft and it's LOS), but it's not that weak of a signal. Anyway my point is my CM7777 seems to be dealing with it, leading me to believe they are a little more tolerant than holl_ands calculations predict. And of course mileage varies when it comes to RF, I know that well.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.

Piggie

Suzzie I can't remember, did you post your TVFool plot in another thread?
Could you post it again or post it. It's much easier to give you the best answer if we can see your plot. TV Fool then post the link back here.
A recommendation is a CM7777 is the right amp will be more obvious then.

Most likely what you describe is called tropo or tropo skip. This is where stations from outside your normal range come in because the radio waves travel past the horizon. This condition will not only give you temporarily more channels, it can also over whelm local channels removing them from your reception during the event.

Also stations can come in so strong, it fools you as to which way to station is coming in from. So that is normal in strong skip, it's sometimes hard to figure which direction the station peaks on the rotor.

In general, if you live in the boonies, the amp up at the antenna makes a big difference if you have 50 ft or more of cable.

Lightning really bothers VHF digital channels (real channel, not the one that shows up on the TV or Converter Box). Another factor is UHF will break up when the wind blows. This can be over come with antenna pointing sometimes, and other times it takes an antenna that is more directional on UHF channels.

Post us your TVFool plot and we can go from there.

Don posted at the same time as I did, but read twice what he says the CM7777 would replace the indoor amp. Running both would almost certainly result in a much worse signal.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.

suzzie

Piggie: tvfool says my results can be referenced at TV Fool im not sure what it says but it looks like alot of channels are reachable. Do you think an omnidirectional/smart antenna would work for me so i don't have to keep rotateing? Or would the 7777amp do the job? Please check out my condition and addvise. all the info that has been posted has been very helpfull,thanks to everyone.
thank you very much:suzzie

Don_M

Kind words indeed. Thank you!

Piggie

Suzzie, something happened with the link you posted. Try again.

go here TV Fool

Put in your address and the height of your antenna.

Then the resulting page has a bold link at the top that you copy and paste here.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.

suzzie

i have no idea how to copy/paste anything,never did it. i don't see the bold link that seems like it may be what i need,sorry.if you can explain i can do otherwise thank you for the help you have allready given me.
thanks:suzzie

Jay

Hi Suzzie,
Once you receive your TV Fool Results, you should see a message like this at the top:
I edited out one of the "/" so the link wouldn't parse and you could see the example above.

Highlight the bold link starting with the "h" in "http" while holding down your mouse, select and highlight all the way through to the last bolded number which in my example above is "2",

once highlighted, right click anywhere within your browser and select copy.

Come back to the forum and reply to this post or use the quick reply option, right click inside the message box and select "Paste" which should then paste the link in the message box. Then "submit reply".

suzzie

TV Fool
Please check out my tvfool and advise my situation
thanks:suzzie

Piggie

Suzzie, first girl you didn't say you lived 18 miles ESE of me, and pick up some of the same channel. Though you are far enough away to pick up some I don't. But our antenna solution is very very similar.

Good thing you are at 30 ft, because that is needed in our area. Hope your VHF/UHF antenna is a big one.

Just for my interest I would love to know the model number of your amp and what channels you get after suggestions. Help me a lot in the Gainesville and Orlando threads over at the AVS forum where I post.

Don M nails it without your plot. Channel Master 7777 is your preamp, period. (actually you nailed it also, but with the data we have now, it's a no brainer). Channel Master CM 7777 Titan2 VHF/UHF Antenna Preamplifier with Power Supply (CM7777) | CM7777 [Channel Master]

And as Don says, remove your indoor amp, sell it on craigslist, throw it away, just don't use it. It will ruin the beauty of the signals out of CM7777.

The CM7777 has to be mounted up at the antenna. Also another good hint if you are installing it yourself is to not use quad shield between the antenna and the amp, with a rotor, it's too stiff. Be sure to leave enough cable so it can rotate and hand a little below the amp so the rain water drips off and not in the amp.

That should make things much better. But remember Suzzie you are DEEP FRINGE and some stations there one night won't be there the next.

If you buy the CM7777 please hang around to tell us the results.

__________________
The more I understand, the less I know.