TV tuning and reception

April 28, 2004 3:08 PM

TV Tuning: why is 13 OK, but 9 not so good? Can I improve reception by adding antennas? (Tune in for more)

Ok, so I'm too cheap to spring for cable or satellite. So sue me. In the mean time, I can get crystal clear reception on 9 or 13 but not both it seems. I have both rabbit ears and a nice enclosed 'universal antenna'. Can I use a coax splitter in reverse as a 'joiner' to get reception on both? Will that improve matters?

posted by daver to technology (8 answers total)

It depends on buildings in the way and where the antenna is located--we lost the not-so-good reception we had to begin with in NYC for some channels when the wtc fell. Some antennas/transmitters are also weaker than others.

When I was little, we would put tin foil over the rabbit ears and had a little antenna on the roof of our building, with the cord coming thru the window.
posted by amberglow at 4:00 PM on April 28, 2004

try it. can't imagine it will damage anything.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:02 PM on April 28, 2004

Try cutting a 2.5 foot length of wire and connecting it to the TV. That should be a half wavelength antenna for channel 9.
posted by @homer at 6:28 PM on April 28, 2004

Fair enough, I will try the packaged antenna first, the the 2.5 ft lengh of wire. @homer, I assume the wire nees to be straight?
posted by daver at 7:43 PM on April 28, 2004

Yeah. You'll have to play around with it a little. Actually I guess any big hunk of wire would do. The 2.5 foot length is the ham in me talking.

When I was a kid we just took a big twisted mess of copper wire and hooked it to the antenna terminals on the back of the old sears TV. It seems to work just fine lying on the floor. A quick search of radio shack produces this. Nice stuff for dipoles. Good TV antenna too. ;)
posted by @homer at 9:07 PM on April 28, 2004

Do you live in a city? Do you live in the mountains? How far and in what direction will matter more than what kind of antenna(e) you have. My solution (i live in a mountainous area) was to attach an archer 300/75 ohm ant. to a 20' length of coax and just move it around the room whenever I wanted a different channel. After a couple of hours it was no more strenuous than not having a remote (I had a remote). When I lived in nyc I used basically the same method, but with about 10' of coax instead. This was before/after the WTC fell down and as far as I remember I only could pick up about 4 channels.
posted by headless at 10:48 PM on April 28, 2004

Antenna is still really important though. link kinda technical
posted by headless at 10:51 PM on April 28, 2004

My problem is that I'm all Tivo'd up, and I want to get good recep at all times.

I live in the city, and I am able to get good reception at all times for all channels, just not simultaneously. So, I suspect it's an 'antenna configuration' issue. I'll be attaching a big ol' hunk o' wire soon...
posted by daver at 8:58 AM on April 29, 2004