RCA ANT751 How is it on VHF?

SWHouston

SWHouston

Moderator
Staff member
#21
#21
Greetings Jim welcome to the Forum :welcome:

I'm sure that Lowe's and Home Depot will be very glad to hear that, a new market area for them ! :D

But speaking of using Ladders for Antenna Supports, right now I'm re-wiring my Coaxial distribution in the house here, and have a C1C setting on a Ladder for one of the HT areas. ;)

Have a good Day ! :)
S.W.
 
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woodlacto

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#23
#23
Just purchased the ANT 751. Live 11 miles from the transmission towers. Receive UHF beautifully, but zippo on the two local stations that broadcast VHF. Haven't tried roof or attic yet, but I would have thought I'd get reception from the 2nd floor of my house. Walls are wood stud, batt insulation (w/o foil vapor barrier) and vinyl siding, so shouldn't have issues with that. No trees or obstructions. I am Newbie & know nothing about the specifics of signal loss/gain, etc. Any help would be appreciated. Thx.
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
Staff member
#24
#24
woodlacto,
Please go to TV Fool and enter your location details to produce a chart. Copy the BOLD LINK info and post it back here. We'll be better able to help you then.

Outside is always better, even without foil face insulation you'd be better off outdoors.

What RF channels are you trying to get on VHF?
 
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woodlacto

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#25
#25
MrPogi,
Thanks for your help. The TV Fool Chart is here: TV Fool
Specifically, I'm trying to receive these VHF stations:
WHEC-DT, Real channel 10, Virt 10.1
WHAM-TV, Real channel 13, Virt 13.1
Both these VHF stations are surrounded with a yellow band, shown in the chart at the bottom of the page (VHF Hi). I don't know what the significance of the yellow band is.
Thanks again!
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
Staff member
#26
#26
That's strange, as i HAVE A vhf 8 about the same signal strength as your 10 / 13, and I'm hitting a good signal at 20 degrees off the beam on a radio shack U75-r, which is designed for UHF only. You should be getting a solid signal from them at 10 miles. Hmm?

I would first check to see if your antenna is set up correctly: make sure all the connections are correct.

Anybody else?
 
W

woodlacto

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#27
#27
Well, the antenna set up is pretty straightforward. I unfolded all the elements on the RCA ANT 751, and connected one end of the 'transformer' to the antenna and the other end to a co-ax cable, which connected to the TV. At first I thought the transformer might be bad, so I bought a replacement at a local electronics store, but neither the original nor the replacement works to pull in the VHF signal. When attempting to receive the stations I was physically holding the antenna (while on the 2nd floor of my house). Might that have an effect? Thanks again.
 
dkreichen1968

dkreichen1968

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Staff member
#30
#30
You may want to try and pick up some cheap rabbit ears and try them. There seems to be something strange going on, like the VHF is somehow being filtered out.
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

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#31
#31
dkreichen1968 said:
You may want to try and pick up some cheap rabbit ears and try them. There seems to be something strange going on, like the VHF is somehow being filtered out.
Click to expand...
Or the vhf section is not connected?

Yes, I would run out and buy a set of rabbit ears - at a place where you can return them - to check it out.
 
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woodlacto

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#32
#32
Problem solved! It was operator error, after all. Deleted all stored OTA channels on my TV, connected the ANT 751, and then directed the TV to search for channels. It "found" the problematic VHS channels without a hitch. Thanks to Mr. Pogi and dkreichen1968 for help/advice.
 
Cutthecable

Cutthecable

DTVUSA Member
#33
#33
Just installed an RCA-ANT751 today and I am very impressed. I replaced a customers Sat dish (DirecTV) and used the existing J pole and 15ft coaxial lead in. The location was a little low on the building for my liking but on the right side of the building to point the antenna, but what the hell give it a go I say. The TVfool dBm signal strength looked good on paper, sometimes in practice things don't match, when it comes to antennas and location signal strength, with what you expect if you know what I mean.

Anyway the client was only looking for the local Springfield MA channels about 10 all up from a combination of VHF-HI (ch11) and UHF from about 9 miles distance. So I was very surprised to pull in the bulk of the Hartford CT channels from 38 miles out. All up he is pulling in 28 channels. Not bad at all.

This antenna is a very cost effective answer for those just wanting the local channels where you also need to pick up the VHF-Hi band channels. Client gets antenna installed for $100 all up and saves $70/month on the sat bill. Another happy cable cord cutter by TVictory TVictory
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
Staff member
#34
#34
I put an antenna on the side of a house using a dish network J pipe. Dish had installed the J pipe at 5 feet above the ground! I moved it up the wall far enough to get LOS to the SLC, UT towers, plugged the holes left in the lower location, and put a "sleeve" - used to join 2 sections of fence rails - in the J pipe. I re used all the Dish wiring, only had to replace a splitter / joiner. I put a U75r on it and got the customers every channel available.

It's great when dish and/or cable companies do the wiring for you and leave you an antenna mast to boot!
 
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woodlacto

DTVUSA Jr. Member
#35
#35
Am planning to do the same: Ditch satellite service, & use their mast to mount RCA ANT751 and to use their wiring. Question: Currently, four cables come from the dish. Does it matter which of the four I use to connect to the ANT751? Secondly, can/should I use the existing splitter that the satellite co. installed? Thx.
 
dkreichen1968

dkreichen1968

Moderator
Staff member
#36
#36
Did all four wires run to a single receiver? Or, did they go to different receivers? I had good luck with converting a dish. There were two coaxs from the satellite dish, but only one actually went anywhere.

Pogi, Do you know anything about the splitter?
 
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MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
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#37
#37
I've removed every one of those splitters in Satellite systems: They are n/g with OTA antenna systems. They are usually marked "Zinwell". They combine the LNBs from the dish.

Find *ONE* RG6 wire from the dish, and bypass the splitter/ combiner. If it then splits to multiple TV sets, replace the existing splitters.
 
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brian.betteridge

DTVUSA Member
#38
#38
i'm having issues with vhf on my ant751, as some already know from my previous thread. I have one vhf station (ABC) about 23 miles away and I'm not getting it. However, I get UHF channels about 30 miles or more away, even if the antenna's not pointed in the proper direction. I'm also running about 5db of gain on an amplifier and still no ABC.

@woodlacto - what do you mean you deleted the stored channels? Did you do this before you ran the autotune? Or are you referring to autotuning?
 
G

guest

Guest
#39
#39
Rca ant

Jim you should be getting at least 60 channels from where you are at. If you get the DTV GreenDish in South Florida you will get from 57 to 80.
 
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