Help me with reception problems :(

[Frodo Baggins]

I, unlike many other people out there have no cable tv. I have an ATI TV Wonder VE though, so I bought an antenna for my TV tuner and set it up on the highest pont I could get to from my comp. It sits on two nike shoeboxes on the top of a bookcase right above the table from my comp. The reception is still pretty bad, so I'm wondering if there are any ways to improve it

(Think cost tho...If I don't have enuff money for cable, I don't have enough to make my own TV antenna on the roof )

But I was thinking of getting some wire and winding that around my room and tying that to the antenna...

any other ideas?

 

[Oni]

Tinfoil!

Hey, it worked for me when I didn't have cable

 

[Frodo Baggins]

what do you reccomend? buy about 5 buycks worth of tinfoil, make it into rolls, connet it so it crisscrosses in a pattern, then mount it on my ceiling?

 

[Oni]

Actually, I meant just kinda wrap em up and attach them to your rabbit ears, not make a SETI grid out of them.

Although, I bet w/ a SETI-type setup, you'd be going places.

 

[jacheatamobits]

get an antenna booster!

 

[Frodo Baggins]

get an antenna booster!

I ahev one, it's built into my antenna...

What about getting a big coil of copper, and wiring that all around my room and tying it to the antenna?

How much would a coil cost and how much would it help?

 

[Frodo Baggins]

which one of these wires would be appropriate? i know nothing about this type of thing:

http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/cat...um=1&category=Hook+Up+Wire&catalog=RadioShack

 

[Maximouse]

See if you can get your hands on a 75 to 300 ohm converter (about 2 bucks) and some 300 ohm antenna lead. I used to use that a long time ago (before cable hit it big) and got some pretty good reception. 300 ohm wire was the best for picking up tv signals.

 

[Frodo Baggins]

how much wuld that set me back? So you don't think winding about 30 m of wire around the ceilign of y room would help?

 

[Maximouse]

how much wuld that set me back? So you don't think winding about 30 m of wire around the ceilign of y room would help?

Shouldnt cost too much, go to the tv accessory section af a Radio Shack store. They should stock the little transformers for a couple of bucks ( gee I have tons of them floating around) And the 300 ohm cable they usually sell by the foot. 300 Ohm was the standard before cable came out.

 

[Frodo Baggins]

what do you do exactly with the 300 ohm wire + transformer?

 

[Maximouse]

what do you do exactly with the 300 ohm wire + transformer?

Just hook the wire onto the transformer. The other end of the transformer is a female plug that connects to the antenna lead on your tv card (it's only a small thing).

The 300 ohm lead is the best wire for picking up tv/Fm waves. Basically its a flexible antenna.

I used to play with tv reception a lot in the late sixties/early seventies. A hobby called DX'ing. On good evenings I could pick up quite a few distant stations. Cable killed all that, everything is on cable now.

 

[Maximouse]

This is what you are looking for.

300 Ohm to 75 0hm (female) connector

 

[palee72]

Here is an easy "T" shaped antennea you can make... very similar to the one that comes with a stereo.

look toward the bottom 1/3 of the page for the instructions...

 

[Krusty]

Can you afford to buy yourself a fat length of coaxil cable? We used to run a line out our window and put the antenna on the roof. Receptoin increased dramatically when we put the antenna outside on a higher point. We don't do that any more though. When we have a show to watch, we just run the cable directly to the cable box

If the last sentence is not 'kosher', feel free to remove it

 

[Frodo Baggins]

lol, krusty why don't I just get an outdoor antenna?

palee thanks, but I dunno if it'll give me good reception, it's meant more for decor

my idea isn't so good?

 

[Maximouse]

palee thanks, but I dunno if it'll give me good reception, it's meant more for decor

Palee's is the best Thats basically how I used to build my antennas with 300 ohm lead. It will work good. Did you click on it where he told you to? On how to build your own?

 

[Frodo Baggins]

yeah I read it. Maxi , I alryd have an antenna (quite a costly one too!) can I just get a 300 ohm transformer and do all taht stuff?

Hmm..I jsut found I had a radio shack amplifier for antennas/ My anteanna has one built in, should i install two?

 

[Maximouse]

yeah I read it. Maxi , I alryd have an antenna (quite a costly one too!) can I just get a 300 ohm transformer and do all taht stuff?

Hmm..I jsut found I had a radio shack amplifier for antennas/ My anteanna has one built in, should i install two?

If you have an antenna with the leads then get a transformer and hook it up. It should work good.

As far as using 2 signal boosters, you can try it. I dont think it will get good results. If I remember right, I think the second will do nothing but amplify noise. But try it and see what happens

 

[Frodo Baggins]

yeah, I tried it before, I think I got worse results and I couldn't find out why