<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 5:05 PM, Barry Martin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:barry3martin@gmail.com" target="_blank">barry3martin@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><blockquote type="cite"><pre><span class="">Both antennas feed into a VHF/UHF combiner (e.g. Radioshack # 1502586
<a class="m_-2464335741138400993moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-vhf-uhf-gold-plated-splitter-combiner" target="_blank">https://www.radioshack.com/<wbr>products/radioshack-vhf-uhf-<wbr>gold-plated-splitter-combiner</a>
)
</span></pre></blockquote>I'll preface with a "YYMV" ('your mileage may vary') disclaimer.
As I mentioned in my original reply, the channels reported by the
digital station now are not accurate as to what their actual
broadcast is. A station which during the NTSC (analog) era as
"Channel 6" was transmitting at RF 6 on the VHF band. Now with ATSC
(digital) "Channel 6" keeps that nickname because that's what
'everybody' knows it as but they really transmit at RF 36, a UHF
frequency. (It just so happens 6 went to 36.) OTOH locally Channel
4 stayed at RF4, so they were NTSC RF 4 and now ATSC still RF 4.<br>
<br>
IOW don't go by their 'nickname' for trying to figure out their
frequencies nor bands. Wikipedia, TVFool, etc., will give the
information you need.<br>
<br>
With that introduction and reminder, here Channel 4 (transmits at
VHF RF4) is literally 2 miles to my NE. The rest of the local
stations are at an antenna farm 17 miles SSE. To receive Channel 4
I needed to "split the line" and add a rabbit ear antenna. So I
inserted a trusty 2-way splitter/combiner, which worked to get
Channel 4 but did some weird stuff to the UHF stations. Tried a
different 2x; still wrong. Eventually found out it's not a good
idea to use a splitter/ splitter-combiner/etc. to add together
signals from a VHF antenna and a UHF antenna. One wants a
"Diplexer" which (apparently) is also known as a "UVSJ" or "UHF VHF
Separator Joiner". That fixed my reception problem! The UVSJ looks
similar to the TV Accessories Department 2x splitter but instead of
passing everything (VHF and UHF) one connector passes only VHF
signals and the other only UHF signals into the coax to your
TVs/MythTV, etc. (There's a similar one for OTA and Satellite -
wrong option.<br>
<br>
Now, I'm not stating the Radio Shack Splitter/Combiner is wrong, I'm
just saying for _my_ application it was wrong and just wanted to let
you know of the possibility. If you have a junk box you might have
one already: there were devices sold with the rabbit-ear-and-bow-tie
(or circular) antenna that had inputs marked "VHF" and "UHF" -- the
screw terminals on the back of an TV is probably a diplexer.</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Right,
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">I have a channel that is actually on RF12,</span> which is why I'm using a VHF-UHF combiner, aka UVSJ (UFH VHF Separator Combiner). It has frequency filters and is not an arbitrary line splitter/combiner. There's nothing that says that an UVSJ has to be limited to one direction.</div><div><br></div><div>BTW, TVFool has been all FUBAR'ed ever since the FCC began moving down its repacking plan. Other alternatives exist with more complete data sets.</div></div></div></div>