In article ,
Jim Chandler wrote:

On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:08:54 -0500, Joseph Gwinn
wrote:

In article
,
stryped wrote:

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 don't
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 messing 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 take things back, etc.

ANy advice is appreciated!stryped

One assumes that use of a tower, rotator and directional antenna, an
expensive option, is necessary.

Be aware that an omnidirectional antenna has far *less* gain than a
directional antenna, and so may not work at all (even with an
amplifier), depending on how far you are from the various transmitting
towers.

It's hard to see how one could misinstall a rotator to cause this
effect. It sounds like your rotator is either worn out, broken or too
small for the antenna.

I would look into replacing the rotator and perhaps the antenna as well.
Local radio amateurs will know what does and does not work in your area.

Joe Gwinn


One of the most common problems with ratators is that the mast clamps
aren't tightened sufficiently and they eventually work free. Align
the rotator to North, aim the antenna north and run a self tapping
screw through the back plate and mast. It won't get out of alignment
again. I do that with my ham antenna. I don't think that putting the
omni on with the directional will help but I could be wrong. If all
else fails, go to satellite service and you won't have to worry about
it. These new digital signals are not as strong as the old analog
signals and if you're not aimed directly at them you will have
problems, or at least tha's my understanding of the situation.

I thought they all came with the anti-rotation feature. Oh well. I do
recall lots of discussion in the 1950s and 1960s abut who made good and
bad rotators, and there was a wide variation in rotator quality. My
father's solution was to figure out where the various stations were, and
build a rhombic antenna point in at the most distant. The rhombic was
in the attic and built of #14 bare wire, straight out of the Radio
Amateurs' Handbook. Cheap, simple, and worked just fine with the black
and white TVs of the day.

Joe Gwinn