# improving HDTV Signal



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

My neighbor just purchased a DB8 Antenna along with a 12db pre-amp and installed it in his attic. He is receiving a few channels but not all of them and was wondering if he went with a more powerful pre-amp (neighborhood of 24db) if it would improve his signal levels?


----------



## EXTREMUM (Jan 18, 2008)

What's the range on his antenna? Also, he may want to try fine-tuning the antenna, pointing it in a different direction.


----------



## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

He would probably do better to get the antenna outside where it was designed to work. As well as get his antenna pointed in the correct direction, Point him at www.antennaweb.org to get a better idea where his stations are.


----------



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

I believe the range for his antenna would be 50 miles and we are about 30 miles from the transmitters.

He does not want to install the antenna outside as he is not capable of climbing ladders and the only viable place to put it would be on the top of the garage facing smack dab into the house. 

The antenna is aimed correctly from everything I can see.


----------



## eakes (Sep 22, 2007)

A higher gain pre-amp will not improve the situation, and is quite likely to make reception worse. Once the gain of the amp exceeds the loss of the transmission line between antenna and receiver, one will not see any difference in reception because both undesired noise and desired signal are amplified equally by the pre-amp.

An antenna placed almost anywhere outside will perform better than the same antenna positioned in an attic - even if the antenna is pointed directly at the house.

I once experimented with an amplified omni-directional antenna. It worked much better mounted on an 8-foot pole leaning against a stepladder sitting on my patio than it did anywhere in the attic.


----------



## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

Yep, too much gain can hurt just as bad as not enough. Each situation is different and the best bet is to experiment with a good antenna with a good amplifier (able to be adjusted for gain), various cable (RG-6) lengths, and directional experimentation.


----------



## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

DB8 has a pretty narrow beamwidth, plus being only for UHF reception.

If any of the stations he's missing are more than 10 degrees to either side of where he's aimed, he might miss them.

There are at least 2 VHF digital stations in the Atlanta area - WXIA-DT 11.1 (10) NBC and WGTV-DT 12.1 (12) PBS as of (7-08).

ABC WSB-DT 21. (39) is apparently lower powered and may be a problem.

If any of the missing stations are VHF the DB8 might have problems pulling them in.


----------



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

Jim5506 said:


> DB8 has a pretty narrow beamwidth, plus being only for UHF reception.
> 
> If any of the stations he's missing are more than 10 degrees to either side of where he's aimed, he might miss them.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. Turns out, he is upset that he is no longer picking up WPCH 17.1 which will be carrying 45 Braves games this year. Since I am no longer picking up WPCH either, I am suspecting something may have happened with the station. 
Looking over his signal levels, Most of the channels (which he is receiving and include the Big 4 and CW) are in the 45 to 58 range with WSB being his best at 71.


----------



## Buzzdar (Sep 19, 2006)

YouTube - Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!

Above is a link to show what hdtv antenna i have build it works great. in picking up certain station. now i guess my question is can i make 2 or 3 of these antenna's and some how connect them all together to get even better reception from all different directions.?

what would i need to do to get this to work?


----------



## genap (Aug 26, 2006)

mine has been going in and out for a couple of months. I think they have been having trouble at the broadcast tower and have been running on low power.


----------

