lbbs wrote:
My low channels and high channels are coming in week (I especially would
like to improve channel 49). I like in a small city of 130,000
population. We have Toronto aprox 40 miles north and Buffalo 40 miles
south of us. I would to find a way to improve my TV signal. One of the
things I would like to try is put a preamp on the antenna, but not sure what
dB rating to use so I don't over amplify my signal (I don't want to improve
some channels at the expense of other good channels). Any ideas?




The right pre-amp mounted at the antenna will make a noticeable
improvement regardless of the antenna age or design. Obviously though,
the better the antenna the better the result. The most important
considerations are pre-amp output capability and noise figure. For UHF
TV, select a pre-amp with a 2db noise figure or less and about a 15db
gain or more. This will improve your overall noise figure below the
typical TV tuner noise figure of 6 db and over come the coax line loss.
The output capability is a function of pre-amp design and db gain. The
preamp amplifies many channels at the same time and a strong TV signal
or multiple weaker signals, even though you might be watching another
channel, will overload the preamp if the preamp db gain is too high. I
have found that the Channel Master 7777 VHF/UHF pre-amp works depending
upon location. The output capability ffor this pre-amp is not really
good; but works for my current location, south east Florida. I get TV
reception ranging from 17 to 110 miles distant from the transmitters,
using a Winegard HD9095 UHF only antenna. The antenna is on a
telescoping mast and the height can be varied from 12 to about 40 feet.
On the other hand, when I was in the NYC area only 12 miles distant from
the WTC (prior to 9/11) overload with this pre-amp was a problem. I was
trying to receive WTNH-DT digital about 80 miles distant and the preamp
got clobbered from the very powerful NYC TV stations.


Also, what about cleaning up the connection at the antenna, by cutting off
the end
that is corroded and reconnecting it to the antenna? Or just cleaning the
connection with sand paper?


Try cleaning the feed point contacts the best you can. I have found that
cleaning more then that results in little value. Usually something
breaks and you end up with a pile of junk.