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Yes this can be done, but you need a power passing splitter unless the power supply is before the splitter. Otherwise the power will be blocked for the amplifier. And if there is a long cable run to multiple TVs, you may also need a powered splitter, otherwise known as a distribution amplifier. The Channel Master 3414 is a good 4 port distribution amp.
Even though the living room is the main connection, there is likely a splitter somewhere behind the wall that branches to the other rooms. That splitter would need to be a power passing splitter, and a one port power pass would be the best splitter to avoid noise or electrical interference.
Your plan will work if the splitter, power supply, and amplifiers are set up strategically and correctly. And RG6 coax cable is best recommended.
Yes this can be done, but you need a power passing splitter unless the power supply is before the splitter. Otherwise the power will be blocked for the amplifier. And if there is a long cable run to multiple TVs, you may also need a powered splitter, otherwise known as a distribution amplifier. The Channel Master 3414 is a good 4 port distribution amp.
Even though the living room is the main connection, there is likely a splitter somewhere behind the wall that branches to the other rooms. That splitter would need to be a power passing splitter, and a one port power pass would be the best splitter to avoid noise or electrical interference.
Your plan will work if the splitter, power supply, and amplifiers are set up strategically and correctly. And RG6 coax cable is best recommended.
Thanks for getting back with me. I have no way of getting behind the wall to see how it is set up, and I can't get to the crawl space either. I'd say my best bet is going to be somehow to feed the power from the power source to the antenna, then feed that signal into the house where it will be split out behind the walls. I know power supplies are really meant to be used indoors, but I may have a way around this.
You can always try placing the power supply at the main living room TV and see if it works. You may luck out and have a power passing splitter already installed behind the wall. But if you get no signal, then you will know the amplifier at the antenna is not receiving power and is likely blocked by the splitter. Sometimes the splitter is in the attic rather than behind the wall, or it may be a built in cable junction box.
You can always try placing the power supply at the main living room TV and see if it works. You may luck out and have a power passing splitter already installed behind the wall. But if you get no signal, then you will know the amplifier at the antenna is not receiving power and is likely blocked by the splitter. Sometimes the splitter is in the attic rather than behind the wall, or it may be a built in cable junction box.
That's what I'm going to do off the bat, that along with putting the power supply outside, seeing if it works, and finding some way to shelter it from the weather. We just moved in this house a few months ago, and for reasons of property ownership (not to mention I'm a fairly large guy, and crawl spaces are not as navigable to me, as they would be to someone more slender and agile), I can't start going in and trying to find things that are hidden. We have a massive insulation problem with the attic --- it is very "shreddy" and would ruin any clothes I wore up there (not to mention the possibility of smashing a hole into the floor/ceiling) --- and I want to stay out of that area if I possibly can.
The outdoor cable box is locked tight by Spectrum, and not even one of those removal tools (I got one on Amazon) will open it. It may be rusted or corroded shut. I have no plans to get cable --- I am just going to cut the coax between where it comes out of the box and goes into the house. It only has a single input.
It's not all that big a deal to me, bottom line, I will do what I can do. I already get the main Augusta stations with a non-amplified antenna and a cable run of about 30 feet. The way my street is laid out, I seem to have pretty much of a straight shot to the Augusta area. I'd prefer Charlotte, much larger city, news of far more interest, but Augusta stations provide network and syndication duplication (for when the Columbia stations pre-empt programs), and it's better than nothing. Ideally I'd like to get both cities.
Are there any legacy local electronics stores in Columbia that sell TV antennas and accessories? I think there used to be a Wholesale Industrial Electronics, which also had a location in Greenville. Now that Radioshack has closed, choices are more limited, as Lowe's, Home Depot and Walmart have a limited selection in store. Radioshack was a great destination store for electronics, antennas and accessories. The online website has a very limited selection of antennas, as the old Antennacraft factory that sold Radioshack, Archer and Antennacraft antennas shut down as a result of the bankruptcy. In Spartanburg, they still have a local Harley Electronics store that sells antennas and the accessory items.
Are there any legacy local electronics stores in Columbia that sell TV antennas and accessories? I think there used to be a Wholesale Industrial Electronics, which also had a location in Greenville. Now that Radioshack has closed, choices are more limited, as Lowe's, Home Depot and Walmart have a limited selection in store. Radioshack was a great destination store for electronics, antennas and accessories. The online website has a very limited selection of antennas, as the old Antennacraft factory that sold Radioshack, Archer and Antennacraft antennas shut down as a result of the bankruptcy. In Spartanburg, they still have a local Harley Electronics store that sells antennas and the accessory items.
I have driven by that WIE store before but didn't know they sold antenna supplies. It's not evident from their website. Several years ago there used to be Hesco in that same general vicinity, but they closed down a long time ago. I got three 6-foot parabolic UHF antennas from them, put one up, kept one as a spare, sold the other one for $60 on eBay. I'd give my left-whatever to have that third antenna back! The other two eventually succumbed to weather (lost one in a storm). I recall that Hesco even sold antennas cut to VHF channel 3 (presumably from the days when WBTV had some viewership in Columbia, this per the 1963 Television Factbook), but I never got one, it would now be a rust collector anyway. Evidently Hesco is now out of business, they had a store in Myrtle Beach as well. It was kind of like Radio Shack without the retail factor (displays, wide range of consumer electronics, and men in ties taking your address when you buy a pack of batteries ). I hadn't heard of Harley Electronics and will have to check it out next time I'm in that area.
I have restored my old Channel Master rotor, installed new mounting bolts and rust-proofed both the clamps and the metal body of the rotor itself, and have it here ready to mount at the house my son and I are living in right now. The plan now is to make sure all of that is functional, then get the Televes OTARD-compliant amplified antenna when I see if the household budget will allow (no Social Security for another year and a half ), and after all of that is in place, check into the feasibility of repurposing the old Spectrum in-wall distribution system to feed the entire house.
There's a guy out on the West Coast who has assembled a very large online library of Television Factbooks and Broadcasting Yearbooks, great if you're into that sort of thing, for the nostalgia value alone --- back when you could, with the proper equipment, coax anywhere from marginal to acceptable signals from distant markets, depending upon how forgiving you were of snowy reception.
Those parabolic UHF antennas made by Channel Master were considered the best consumer antennas available. But sadly they are not produced anymore, and most Channel Master antennas are now made in China rather than Smithfield, NC. But I do have one of their CM-4248 UHF Diamond Quantum yagis and they are exellent performers. Today's equivalent would be the 91XG from Antennas Direct or the Stellar Labs or Solid Signal versions.
Those parabolic UHF antennas made by Channel Master were considered the best consumer antennas available. But sadly they are not produced anymore, and most Channel Master antennas are now made in China rather than Smithfield, NC. But I do have one of their CM-4248 UHF Diamond Quantum yagis and they are exellent performers. Today's equivalent would be the 91XG from Antennas Direct or the Stellar Labs or Solid Signal versions.
I have a vague memory of someone either taking the CM plans and re-manufacturing these antennas, or doing a feasibility study of whether enough people would want this. I think it was someone in the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association (www.wtfda.org), or someone associated with them. I'd have to look it up. (I am a WTFDA member.)
I have the Stellar Labs clone of the 91XG and it's a good antenna, though the construction is very flimsy, and I lost 3-4 elements on the end, when the antenna fell over in a storm. (I did not have it secured properly, I have since learned the necessity of pouring concrete into cinder blocks surrounding each foot of my tripods.) Very cheap Chinese construction. Thankfully they are inexpensive enough through Newark that I could just buy a new one if I ever want to, though OTARD compliance and the one-meter rule (if indeed that applies to VHF/UHF antennas as opposed to satellite dishes, I'm beginning to have my doubts as to whether I interpreted the rule right) would rule that out for visible neighborhood installations. I have some scrap aluminum in my garage, and I may try my hand at cutting new bowties and jerry-rigging them onto the end of the Stellar Labs yagi. Cutting your own antenna can yield good results as long as you follow the principles according to which the antenna was designed in the first place. In my younger years, I took a corner reflector yagi and extended it to an outlandish length to get WPBO-42 Portsmouth OH (satellite of WOSU-34 Columbus, no longer on the air, they sold their spectrum in the auctions), cut specifically for channel 42, yielded a very solid signal in poor topographic conditions.
In terms of build quality, the Chinese made versions now sold by Channel Master are not as reliable as their original Made in the USA models. I think Winegard is still American made, along with Digitenna. And Televes has excellent build quality manufactured in Spain, and they use technology to improve automatic gain adjustment with their built in preamp. Since I live near the Newark warehouse in Gaffney, I was able to pick up the Stellar Labs 91XG for only $15 and save on the shipping.
In terms of build quality, the Chinese made versions now sold by Channel Master are not as reliable as their original Made in the USA models. I think Winegard is still American made, along with Digitenna. And Televes has excellent build quality manufactured in Spain, and they use technology to improve automatic gain adjustment with their built in preamp. Since I live near the Newark warehouse in Gaffney, I was able to pick up the Stellar Labs 91XG for only $15 and save on the shipping.
Next time I'm up that way, I'm going to have to stop by that warehouse and get a couple of those antennas. $15 is practically giving them away. I could take the one I have now (the one with the 3 or 4 broken bowties on the end that I just snapped off) and saw it down to OTARD specifications of 1 meter, or else use it on DX expeditions as a don't-care-how-banged-up-it-gets, use-it-till-it-breaks-and-throw-it-away antenna to throw in the trunk of the car. My son and I sometimes go to high points such as Little Mountain, Ridgeway in Fairfield County, and even the parking lot of the McDonald's at Blythewood is an unusually good reception "sweet spot", possible to get Greenville and Myrtle Beach there with a small outdoor/attic antenna on a tripod. The topography of Fairfield County is interesting, supposedly according to the TV Fool Longley-Rice-style maps (I say "style" because I'm not sure if they are strictly Longley-Rice), small pockets of the county were even able to get a deep fringe signal on WCYB-5 Bristol VA back when they were still low-band VHF (I think they've migrated to UHF now). Of course, those same maps show WCYB as being available, again, in isolated spots, up to the Ohio River and even a few miles beyond into Ohio itself. I'd have to see it to believe it. WBRA-15 (digital 3, PSIP 15) Roanoke VA is also supposed to be another madman, fringes all the way from far southern Pennsylvania down to some spots around Cheraw and Chesterfield SC. Again, I'd have to see it to believe it.
I've been skeptical of the Televes antennas, wondering if they are really as good as they say they are --- not sure how an antenna could be that "smart" (automatic gain adjustment, etc.). As I said, I may get the OTARD-compliant version in a month or two, depending upon household budget.
Here's the WBRA map --- evidently the mountains do weird things to the signal and force it out into "rays" of sorts. You will encounter this in parts of West Virginia, where one side of the mountain gets Clarksburg, and the other side of the mountain gets Roanoke instead,
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). I hadn't heard of Harley Electronics and will have to check it out next time I'm in that area.
), and after all of that is in place, check into the feasibility of repurposing the old Spectrum in-wall distribution system to feed the entire house.
