[mythtv-users] Indoor Antenna with PChdtv 5500

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Nov 30, 2006, at 12:41 PM, Yan Seiner wrote:

> Robert Tsai wrote:
>> Can you plug in two OTA antennas into a single capture card? Is that
>> just using a splitter in the "reverse" direction?
>>
>> I currently have two antennae (the $20 circle-in-a-triangle one from
>> Radio Shack), each going into its own capture card, so there are some
>> stations that only have one capture card available. It would be nice
>> to get all stations on both cards (e.g., "reverse split", then  
>> "split"
>> to both capture cards).
>>
> That is not "officially supported" but it can be made to work.  I am
> doing that and I get OK results.
>
> Half the stations in my area happen to be in one direction and the  
> other
> half in a direction 90 deg. from the first.
>
> I got two directional antennas, and set them up on a mast.  The  
> antennas
> must be at least 4' apart vertically; preferrably 8' apart.
>
> Use good quality cable and splitters.  Make sure the cable runs from
> each antenna to the first splitter are the exact same length.  Get  
> is as
> close as you can.
>
> You will lose a lot of signal strength with this setup.  How much
> depends on how close you can get the two antennas electrically.  You
> want the same antenna, the same cable type and lenght, you get the  
> idea.
>
> Both my antennas are very similar, and I have an amplifier after the
> first splitter.  I get pretty good results; only 1 channel comes in  
> much
> worse than on a single antenna.
>
> That's about all there is to it.  You can google for more; most people
> will tell you it won't work, but with a bit of fiddling you can get it
> to work.

I don't have any official numbers for signal strength (frontend  
always says 0% when I tune a channel, but I don't see any drops or  
anything), but I just tried combining my two indoor antennae into my  
single pcHDTV-5500 and am getting better results than before. I was  
having a hard time tuning to 2.1 and 2.2, but could get all the  
others I wanted (this is in San Francisco). With my second antenna in  
an opposite direction I'm now getting 2.1 and 2.2 without an issue as  
well as all the others. No special length of cables (decidedly  
different lengths, actually). Antennae are at the same height sitting  
atop my (way too tall) speaker cabinets on either side of the  
display. Maybe I just got lucky.