antenna reception

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danshot

New Member

• Sep 25, 2011

• #1

I am trying to rotate my directional TV antenna to the proper direction for the best reception. My problem is, I'm getting good reception on all channels with me touching the antenna or even standing near it.. But whenI walk away, as little as three feet, TV reception diminishes some what. Breaks up on certain channels. Does anyone know why this is and what I can do to compensate for me not having to stand near the antenna? The antenna is amplified. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

 

skmdmasud

Member

• Sep 25, 2011

• #2

May be you can buy a bigger antenna. try attaching a foil paper with you antenna or may be a big piece of PCB board and see it it helps.

 

alec_t

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #3

What sort of antenna? Yagi? Dish? Does it have a reflector?

If all else fails, get your wife/friend/dog to stand near the antenna while you enjoy your TV watching

 

crutschow

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #4

You could rotate the antenna a few degrees and than walk away and see if the reception changes. Continue doing this until the reception is the best.

 

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sram

Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #5

Question comes to mind: Is touching the antenna always improves reception? If so, why is that? Grounding issues? Mutual capacitance/inductance ? I've seen this many times while playing with antennas.

Thanks.

 

RCinFLA

Well-Known Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #6

If you are talking about an indoor antenna, there will be many RF reflections indoors, including your body.

 

D

danshot

New Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #7

This is an indoor antenna. I have it in the attic. It's a pretty cheap one I bought in a magazine for about 40 bucks. I guess it's a yagi design. So I guess it has a reflector. Since I hooked this one up, my reception is a lot better. But I do get pixelation from time to time. I tried the turning a little and walking away. did that at least 10 times. But when I walked away the reception immediately got noticably worse. The tin foil thing didn't work either. I hoped someone out there may have had a solution to this distraction.

 

Externet

Well-Known Member

• Sep 26, 2011

• #8

Grab any piece of wire and attach it to an antenna point that reception improves when touched there. Let that length of wire drop to the floor or hang to various places for best results, and come back with findings.

Another way is to move the antenna to another spot in the attic; not just rotating. Waves are picky about paths and obstructions.

Your body is a comparatively massive conductor that picks RF and conveys / reflects more signal strenght.

 

RCinFLA

Well-Known Member

• Sep 27, 2011

• #9

ATSC HD digital TV is very vunerable to multipath (reflections, 'ghosts') reception.

Use the FCC database to find out what direction the TV stations are. **broken link removed**

Go to bottom of page (blue section) put in your Lat and Long and radius of search area from your house.

 

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PatM

Member

• Sep 27, 2011

• #10

Although mainly for outdoor antenna's , this site can give good information about indoor antenna positioning also.

**broken link removed**