Set-top antenna improvement

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

We have a small Gemini set-top UHF antenna for HDTV OTA. Seldom use it but
we have to for "Smallville", since Time-Warner Cable here in Austin does not
broadcast the WB station's digital HD channel yet. ( I say "yet"
hopefully.)

Last night, the station, which usually comes in pretty well, was in and out.
Maybe because the sun was higher due to DST? Don't know. Anyway, I had 50
feet of coax cable in my toolbox. With that and a little joiner to hook
cables together I also had a few of, I was able to move that little set-top
antenna to another room and set it up pointing in the right direction,
through a (closed) window. That completely fixed the problem. The program
came in beautifully, from beginning to end.

So, just as one might expect, pointing your antenna toward a nearby window
works better than making it receive through a couple of walls.

"Smallville" good last night, btw. Glad they ended that "witch" sub-plot.
Thought they might have jumped the shark when Lana started flying around in
slow motion doing martial arts. My wife and I (average age: 57) must be the
oldest viewers in the demo, at least that still know what they're watching.
We have seen every single "Smallville", since the first. Looks great in HD.
Have to say, those kids are getting pretty damn old for high school. Good
they never have to actually take a class.

mack
austin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Mack McKinnon" <MckinnonRemoveThis@tvadmanDeleteThisAsWell.com> wrote
in newsrx7e.2901$h6.1645@tornado.texas.rr.com:

> We have a small Gemini set-top UHF antenna for HDTV OTA. Seldom use
> it but we have to for "Smallville", since Time-Warner Cable here in
> Austin does not broadcast the WB station's digital HD channel yet. (
> I say "yet" hopefully.)
>
> Last night, the station, which usually comes in pretty well, was in
> and out. Maybe because the sun was higher due to DST? Don't know.
> Anyway, I had 50 feet of coax cable in my toolbox. With that and a
> little joiner to hook cables together I also had a few of, I was able
> to move that little set-top antenna to another room and set it up
> pointing in the right direction, through a (closed) window. That
> completely fixed the problem. The program came in beautifully, from
> beginning to end.
>
> So, just as one might expect, pointing your antenna toward a nearby
> window works better than making it receive through a couple of walls.

UHF travels well through plaster, lath and drywall, but it completely
fails to pass through some exterior surfacing, including the chicken-wire
that some contractors put under stucco. Glass windows will pass signals
quite nicely, though, as you seem to have discovered!

> "Smallville" good last night, btw. Glad they ended that "witch"
> sub-plot. Thought they might have jumped the shark when Lana started
> flying around in slow motion doing martial arts. My wife and I
> (average age: 57) must be the oldest viewers in the demo, at least
> that still know what they're watching. We have seen every single
> "Smallville", since the first. Looks great in HD. Have to say, those
> kids are getting pretty damn old for high school. Good they never
> have to actually take a class.

Heh heh. You are not the oldest viewers of Smallville. I watch it
myself and have a few years on you. The HD version is carried in Canada
by CityTV.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:07:32 GMT, "Mack McKinnon"
<MckinnonRemoveThis@tvadmanDeleteThisAsWell.com> wrote:


>We have seen every single "Smallville", since the first. Looks great in HD.
>Have to say, those kids are getting pretty damn old for high school. Good
>they never have to actually take a class.

Heck, I thought they were all graduating a couple of years back.

Next fall they're all still in High School.

Whatever.

They should have called the show LEX, but that was taken

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Dave Oldridge" <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote
> UHF travels well through plaster, lath and drywall, but it completely
> fails to pass through some exterior surfacing, including the chicken-wire
> that some contractors put under stucco. Glass windows will pass signals
> quite nicely, though, as you seem to have discovered!

In our case, with the set-top antenna on the set-top, the signal has to pass
through a brick outer wall, wood or a glass window pane, insulation of some
type, drywall, a room (air), then two more layers of drywall. So brick,
insulation & 3 layers of drywall. No chicken-wire. Sometimes there is a
foil involved in rolled insulation but I don't think that is so in this
house; I think it is more likely rolled pink fiberglass.

Could be something wrong with my description, something else that I haven't
thought of or don't know about. It's not as though I built the house or
have examined the inside of the walls lately.

Does anyone know if the sun being higher (actually, up rather than down)
because of DST would affect UHF?

mack
austin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Mack McKinnon" <MckinnonRemoveThis@tvadmanDeleteThisAsWell.com> wrote
in news:OpE7e.294$hu5.54@tornado.texas.rr.com:

>
> "Dave Oldridge" <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote
>> UHF travels well through plaster, lath and drywall, but it completely
>> fails to pass through some exterior surfacing, including the
>> chicken-wire that some contractors put under stucco. Glass windows
>> will pass signals quite nicely, though, as you seem to have
>> discovered!
>
> In our case, with the set-top antenna on the set-top, the signal has
> to pass through a brick outer wall, wood or a glass window pane,
> insulation of some type, drywall, a room (air), then two more layers
> of drywall. So brick, insulation & 3 layers of drywall. No
> chicken-wire. Sometimes there is a foil involved in rolled insulation
> but I don't think that is so in this house; I think it is more likely
> rolled pink fiberglass.
>
> Could be something wrong with my description, something else that I
> haven't thought of or don't know about. It's not as though I built
> the house or have examined the inside of the walls lately.
>
> Does anyone know if the sun being higher (actually, up rather than
> down) because of DST would affect UHF?

It should not. That part of the spectrum is usually fairly quiet on the
solar front. Of course a good directional antenna pointed right at the
transmitter will pick up less noise and reflections from surrounding
objects. More likely, you're seeing some absorption by trees or
vegetation that just happens to have come along with DST. That said,
tropospheric ducting is fairly pronounced on these frequencies and will,
from time to time distort signal paths. That does affect some paths in
the spring. I've never been in Texas (over it once but without a radio).

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"UHF travels well through plaster, lath and drywall, but it completely
fails to pass through some exterior surfacing, including the chicken-wire
that some contractors put under stucco. Glass windows will pass signals
quite nicely, though, as you seem to have discovered!"

I agree that UHF signals pass through glass quite nicely but I discovered
that after I had windows and a sliding door installed which had an e-film,
my computer wireless didn't transmit too well to my patio. Upon checking, I
discovered that the signal passed well when the door was open but not so
well when it was closed. Now, I know the 2.4GHz frequency of the wireless
is near the top of the UHF band and this attenuation may not apply to the
lower UHF freqs.
--
Bearman
If it's got tits, tires, tubes, or transistors, it's trouble.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"bearman" <noyb@home.com> wrote in
news:2ZidnRgrMLPIccLfRVn-rw@comcast.com:

>
> "UHF travels well through plaster, lath and drywall, but it completely
> fails to pass through some exterior surfacing, including the
> chicken-wire that some contractors put under stucco. Glass windows
> will pass signals quite nicely, though, as you seem to have
> discovered!"
>
> I agree that UHF signals pass through glass quite nicely but I
> discovered that after I had windows and a sliding door installed which
> had an e-film, my computer wireless didn't transmit too well to my
> patio. Upon checking, I discovered that the signal passed well when
> the door was open but not so well when it was closed. Now, I know the
> 2.4GHz frequency of the wireless is near the top of the UHF band and
> this attenuation may not apply to the lower UHF freqs.

Some coatings will absorb it. When I do get around to an ATSC tuner
here, I will probably put an antenna on the balcony.



--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.

 

[2tv2]

Good Evening!
For HDTV:
Is there a way you can hook up the co-axial cable wirelessly?
If I hook up the co-axial cable to the antenna and place the antenna in another room the hdtv works better but I don't want all that cable and don't want to hook it up each time I watch tv in another room. Is there another way of doing it? I tried an antenna booster but it did not do the work.
Thanks.
Anita