Community Forums

Chuck Q · 06-11-2019, 02:15 PM

So any downside to putting 2 OTA antennas in parallel ???

mjeffrey · 06-11-2019, 02:21 PM

Why? Can you explain your problem or what you are try to do.?

Chuck Q · 06-11-2019, 02:26 PM

Not really sure where I am headed with this, just curious about areas with weak signals. And if it would improve reception.

mjeffrey · 06-11-2019, 02:29 PM

So you are building a better antennae!

I think the are some good designs online and probably youTube videos.

Other than being bigger, I don't see a down size.

BillJinOR · 06-11-2019, 02:44 PM

I did this at my old house, not the rv, one pointed at the large city near me and the other pointed at another 40 miles away. It worked fine in my case as both antennas (roof mount) lead to a splitter and to a single cable feed to my LR Tv. From my experience it works well if the tv stations Transmitters are distant and in two different locations i was able to receive both cities locals.

Chuck Q · 06-11-2019, 02:47 PM

Thanks, think I will play with this for a while.

reubenray · 06-11-2019, 03:44 PM

While on my past trip there was a campground in between some hills where I could not get any OTA signals. There were several seasonal campers there that had antennas similar to the below link. I never could catch them at home to see how it worked. It was installed on a telescoping pole at the rear of the RV attached to the ladder.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7RGNWF..._t2_B0748KYTZN

swsarmyknife · 06-11-2019, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Q

So any downside to putting 2 OTA antennas in parallel ???

Not really any downsides, but also not necessarily any advantages. I could see that if towers are in 90 deg offset than having two antennas lets you point to two different directions and with a combiner the two antenna's might pick up more stations on one TV.

Bigger antenna's or specifically their element size determine most of the gain they receive. The old style TV antenna's found on homes roofs would for example pick up father stations than the small collapsible RV rooftop antenna's. But the RV has an advantage and that is it can be moved to be closer to a tower.

Lastly no matter how big the antenna or how many antenna's you have, you cannot amplify a signal that's not there. So don't expect any miracles in remote areas.

ByeTheWay · 06-11-2019, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Q

So any downside to putting 2 OTA antennas in parallel ???

Not a bad idea. OTA signals can vary a lot from location to location. I've been in places where I get 20+ channels and the guy next to me gets none. I use a King air antenna mounted on top of my old bat wing base/stand. One caution: King Air comes with a signal booster, make sure the other one that came with the coach is not connected. When everything is connected properly a small led light is visible on the bottom of the King Air.

If the idea stems from Truckers using 2 cb/10meter antennas, where one is acting as a ground plane, it won't help because you are receiving not transmitting.

astrocamper · 06-12-2019, 09:49 AM

Back in the analog days we would see ghosting from the multipath of the signal from to different sources. I don't know if there would be simply issues with a digital signal.

swsarmyknife · 06-13-2019, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocamper

Back in the analog days we would see ghosting from the multipath of the signal from to different sources. I don't know if there would be simply issues with a digital signal.

Digital reception will just cut out if the interference is too great. On AM/FM radio this is still relevant and is mostly caused by the same carrier wave arriving at different times from bouncing around objects taking a longer path.

John Hilley · 06-13-2019, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reubenray

While on my past trip there was a campground in between some hills where I could not get any OTA signals. There were several seasonal campers there that had antennas similar to the below link. I never could catch them at home to see how it worked. It was installed on a telescoping pole at the rear of the RV attached to the ladder.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7RGNWF..._t2_B0748KYTZN

I have used that antenna and it worked well. A friend tried one at Imperial Dam LTVA north of Yuma and it worked very well. The ability to rotate with a remote is a real plus.

Info on stacking antennas

SkiSmuggs · 06-16-2019, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reubenray

While on my past trip there was a campground in between some hills where I could not get any OTA signals. There were several seasonal campers there that had antennas similar to the below link. I never could catch them at home to see how it worked. It was installed on a telescoping pole at the rear of the RV attached to the ladder.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7RGNWF..._t2_B0748KYTZN

Those are reputed to be junk. Here is a video of recommended outdoor TV antennas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRsQDcehmB4

In addition to those 3, he recently tested the Antennas Direct Clearstream 2V and recommends it. Smaller than the 4V he recommends in the video, but more RV friendly.

msaffa33 · 06-18-2019, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reubenray

While on my past trip there was a campground in between some hills where I could not get any OTA signals. There were several seasonal campers there that had antennas similar to the below link. I never could catch them at home to see how it worked. It was installed on a telescoping pole at the rear of the RV attached to the ladder.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7RGNWF..._t2_B0748KYTZN

We have the same antenna on a telescoping pole attached to our ladder it works. Brings in channels