Two Antennas

[stryped]

I have a very old large Radio Shack directional antenna that is about 12 years old. It is on top of a tower. I get all the stations I want with the exception of channel 5 that used to be no problem but now goes in and out. I have a rotor but it was not put on properly because the wind blows the antenna around.

ANyway, I am tired of fooling with it. What I want to do is to get one of those round, omni directional antennas and mount it on a 5 foot pole on top of the existing antenna, use a diplexer to connect that antenna to my new antenna, and be done with it. My thinking is this will give me the little signal boost I need to get the channel. I dotn want to fool with this very much as I hate climbing on the tower. DOes this sound like it will work?

One reason for wanting to increase the signal is I bought my wife a 19 Dynex tv for Christmas. great picture. But when you tune to channel 5 and the signal starts messign up and you tune back to a known good channel the tuner messes up and can now get no good channels. If you tune the tv off then back on it can get the known good channel now.

I took the tv back and got another one and the new one did the exact same thing. I am so frustrated. I live a long way from town and it is hard to find time to ake things back, etc.

ANy advice is appreciated!

[tigerbangs]

Please give us your location, either a zip code or your coordinates, so we can advise you properly. What you say is channel 5 may not be transmitting on channel 5 after the digital changeover.

Also please note that an omni-directional antenna is almost NEVER a proper replacement for aq directional antenna on a rotator: they have no gain of their own, and don't work beyond 10-15 miles from the transmitters.

[stryped]

42206. Channel 5 is Nashvile. I has always been clear until recently.

[tigerbangs]

You are well-past the sell-by date on that Radio Shack antenna: it's time to replace it with a new antenna, new RG-6u coaxial cable, and probably a preamplifier, In their best days, the Radio Shack brand antennas were mediocre performers, and 12 years out in the weather has undoubtedly taken it's toll. Your idea about adding an omniirectional antenna is not a good option: it will likely do more harm than good, as it is likely to introduce multipath interference that will make some channels even worse.

Since WTVF in Nashville is actually on VHF channel 5, a low-band VHF channel, you will need a new all-channel antenna to solve your problem. I would recommend a Channel Master Crossfire 3671 or a Winegard HD-8200u to replace your existing antenna. If you are having trouble with your rotator, now if the time to replace it, and I would use a Channel Master 9521a, and be sure to mount it securely to your tower. If your existing rotor wire is 12 years old, replace it with 3-conductor class-2 yupe wire that has double insulation.

It sounds as if you are using multiple TV sets in your home, and, unless you are using a high-quality preamplifier, chances are good that you have a distribution issue that is causing issues on some of your weaker stations. I strongly suggest including a preamplifier like a Winegard AP-8275 or a Channel Master Titan 7777 to be sure that you have enough signal running to each TV set in your home.

Follow this advice, and all your Bowling Green and Nashville stations will come in clearly on each TV set in your house

http://www.channelmaster.com
http://www.winegard.com
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/AntInstallGuide.pdf