# OTA TV reception



## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

Now I'm by no means new to OTA TV, but a strange thing is happening. I put up 3 high gain TV antennas last fall because I wasn't about to let cable jack up my cost anymore. One mast pipe has a stacked VHF and UHF YAGI to the east and the other a UHF YAGI pointed north. They both have preamps. They've worked extremely well all winter long. 44 channels including subs in fact. Just within the last day, they conflict with each other. I first thought one of the power injectors was at fault. Not the problem. I disconnected the U/V antennas. What I found interesting was the UHF pointing north picks up all the channels from the east and north including the VHF channel on the disconnected antenna. My guess is the disconnected VHF antenna is effecting the UHF pointing north. My assumption is signal strength is coming in stronger than it did during the winter. Now I've spent 40 years building antennas from wifi to sat dishes to ham radio. I've never in my life seen something so absurd as this issue. Digging deep to find the answer. Is it some form of short term atmospheric conditions, or do conditions in winter vary greatly from spring? It's been many years since I've played with TV antennas.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would use spectrum analyzer if you did work in the area, you know how use it.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Recheck latest movement at stations eg repacking, using different freqs, etc


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

P Smith said:


> Recheck latest movement at stations eg repacking, using different freqs, etc


I check often. It has nothing to do with it. they're on the same frequency and the only repacks in my area won't begin until 2020.


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

P Smith said:


> I would use spectrum analyzer if you did work in the area, you know how use it.


Good idea. I just happen to have a dongle and the software. Now all I need to do is remember where I put it. The more I organize it seems things get harder to find.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

:facepalm:


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

Think I found the problem. The winegard HP9095P antenna, a great antenna until the chump change cartridge fails. The amps are all working great, the VHF channel comes in great. Time to throw the cart in the trash bin and cluge an antenna matching balun on it. I'm getting too old to drop antennas. Thanx for the replies tho. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the balun works.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

trydave1ce said:


> the chump change cartridge


umm... any technical name of it


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

P Smith said:


> umm... any technical name of it


Well, I spoke to a tech at winegard a couple years ago because the antenna stopped performing well. It's a box that snaps on to the antenna with a female RG6 connector. Looks like a balun on a circuit board inside. The 2 prongs just connect the antenna. He calls it a coupler. IMHO, the terminals on the board weren't the greatest idea. They call it a cartridge.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

that's what I expected...
many possible ways to make match impedance of dipole and coax
1/4 wave transformer 300 ohm to 75 coax - Google Search


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

P Smith said:


> that's what I expected...
> many possible ways to make match impedance of dipole and coax
> 1/4 wave transformer 300 ohm to 75 coax - Google Search


I've got as half dozen baluns in my parts box. All I need to do is solder one them to the leads in the top half of the plastic the cart snaps to. Maybe even fill it with some good caulk. Something I should have done 2 years ago.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

*Winegard Replacement Terminal Board for CA HD Antennas (CB-8269)*
*Brand:* Winegard *P\N:* CB-8269 *UPC:* 615798300654










I ordered two of those Wednesday because I was gathering my antenna inventory for a move and saw that they were missing from new, boxed antennas (they come in their own little white box that is supposed to be inside). I didn't shop around much, but the lowest price I found was at Solid Signal, where they are on sale for $14.99 each, but 1) the shipping on the two was about $8, so if you bought just one, the shipping might be that much, and 2) they were temporarily back ordered. I then found one loose one and canceled the order.

If you shop around, like on Amazon, you might be able to get one for a couple of dollars less, net, because of the free shipping. Or you might find something else on Solid Signal's site that you want to buy, and possibly, the combined shipping charge will be the same as the individual shipping charge would otherwise be for that other item, so that would also be like getting it shipped for free.


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

Don't waste your time. The cartridge is a poor method of connecting to the antenna and WILL fail at some point again. I've been through 2 of them in 3 years. Get yourself a matching transformer and some heat shrink, strip the leads on the matching transformer, slide the heat shrink on the antenna rails. Then rap the wire around the rails and slide the heat shrink over them and shrink them. You'll need to pop the rails up on the end in the cartridge to do this. Then snap them back down. I also put some silicone seal around the ends of the heat shrink. The problem with the cartridge is moisture. Also make sure the antenna rails are pulled away from the boom.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I've installed several hundred Winegard antennas with cartridge connectors over the last 40 years and the only cartridge failure I remember was the one that took a direct ligntning strike. It looked like someone had put a fire cracker in it and was blown apart. 

Winegard bases their manufacture design decisions on their failure and customer dissatisfaction history of the manufacture of at least hundreds of thousands of antennas, and they could make them cheaper by using 10-32 or 10-24 threaded studs and "tootsie roll" balun transformers like they do or did on their bottom-of-the-line antennas, but they chose to make them the way they did based on their experience.


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## trydave1ce (May 5, 2019)

AntAltMike said:


> I've installed several hundred Winegard antennas with cartridge connectors over the last 40 years and the only cartridge failure I remember was the one that took a direct ligntning strike. It looked like someone had put a fire cracker in it and was blown apart.
> 
> Winegard bases their manufacture design decisions on their failure and customer dissatisfaction history of the manufacture of at least hundreds of thousands of antennas, and they could make them cheaper by using 10-32 or 10-24 threaded studs and "tootsie roll" balun transformers like they do or did on their bottom-of-the-line antennas, but they chose to make them the way they did based on their experience.


That wasn't the problem with mine. The lugs that connect to the rails was the problem. Oxidation. These carts by no means are impervious to weather nor are the circuit boards. I'm not a fan of having to drop the antenna every year to clean them. Matter of fact, one of the techs at Winegard told me to use a matching transformer to solve the problem. I'd be more inclined to believe there are no failures anymore simply because most antennas haven't been being used for the last 30 years. As I said, the HD9095P is a work of art. The cartridge is not. If you've snapped enough of them on antennas, I'd think you'd have caught on to the fact they aren't even sealed. They might be great in Arizona. not in northern Illinois. We get a lot of what we call "rain and snow" here.


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