Need antenna amplifier -- Recommendations?

[Klankster]

I'm in Port Washington and have a good-sized antenna in my attic for OTA HD reception on my HR10-250 TiVo box.  I generally receive OTA digital channels from Milwaukee OK, but I'm getting a lot of signal dropout on MPTV (10-1 etc.)  This is annoying and I'd like to amplify the signal to avoid these dropouts.

Can you give me a recommendation for a quality amplifier that will work well with my box?

[bradsmainsite]

First question would be is your antenna a UHF only or a combo UHF/VHF
antenna.

This is important since ch 10 digital is actually found on vhf ch 8 and is the only
digital vhf channel in milwaukee.

typically an amplifier is not needed for digital ch 10 especially in port area unless
you have some sort of interference in your area on that frequency.

The other issue could be to much signal (overdriving) the front end of the receiver.
A quick check would be to install a 4-way splitter in line and use 1 tap of the 4-way
and terminate the other 3 if you can find some terminating resistors (75ohm) if not just leave the empty and see what happens.

[Klankster]

The antenna is a Channel Master 4228.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try the splitter thing.  I also have some attenuators I could toss in the line though that might be overkill.

What I'm seeing, BTW, is normal, clean reception and suddenly the sound will drop out then after a short period the image will freeze, then it'll resume with picture and image normally.  I'm not seeing any image dropout like chunks of the image getting messed up, so it kind of surprised me that I was getting wholesale dropout without losing bits of the image first.  Does this sound like overdriving?

The research I've done says that the 4228 is also a good VHF antenna for channels 9-13, so I'll be interested to see what the problem turns out to be.

[bradsmainsite]

The CM 4228 is very poor on ch. 7 and 8 and rolls off pretty quick after channel 10
so this could very well be your problem.  Remember digital 10 is actually on ch 8.

You could get just a high band antenna for channels 7-13 then back feed a 2-way
splitter to combine both antennas and this should solve your issues.

Good Luck!

Brad

[Klankster]

Will do!  I certainly appreciate all the help and clarification on what channels are where!

[vetrev]

I live in Port and have a Winegard batwing antenna next to my dish. The batwing comes with a power booster and was installed by D* as part of  a dish package. I receive all of the OTA channels just fine except for 36-1. If I went up to align the antenna a bit differently I think I could get that too.

[waterhead]

The CM 4228 is very poor on ch. 7 and 8 Brad

I have no problem with channel 8 using my CM4228.

I am about 13 miles from the towers, you are about 20 miles. The CM4228 should be just fine for channel 8. I have mine on the roof, you would be smart to get yours up there too.

[bradsmainsite]

I have no problem with channel 8 using my CM4228.

I am about 13 miles from the towers, you are about 20 miles. The CM4228 should be just fine for channel 8. I have mine on the roof, you would be smart to get yours up there too.

As you stated you are not in the same area and have no idea what will work and what will not in the rf relm in any area but your own,

When only a few feet change can make a huge difference how can you say with any certainty what will work and what will not.

He may also not want his on the roof or cannot put it on the roof therefore his next best choice would be a hi-band vhf antenna or something that will have some gain as the 4228 is about -15db down around channel 8 compared to a reference half wave dipole.

That being stated as a fact one now knows that you must have clean good signal before it can be amped (signal to noise ratio) and already being 15db down from a reference dipole this would not be the best choice for the most consistancy.

Hopes this helps some who are thinking about the 4228 if you are any distance from the transmitters.