Re: Second Rural Converter Box Attempt
- From: lorincantrell@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 17:49:00 -0700 (PDT)
On Sep 3, 1:36 pm, dmaster <dan....@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I just finished installing a converter box for my Mother (zip 61301),
and the results surprized me, and may be of use to others.
Initally, my Mother had a medium range outdoor antenna on a one story
tower. She is a little lower than the surrounding terrain and has
large trees 50 - 100 yards away on all sides except the South. Her
choices were either Peoria or the Quad Cities, and needless to say,
both gave only marginal reception of 3 or 4 stations.
Last summer, I upgraded the antenna to a large (huge?) Winegard (8200
I think), a high power Winegard pre-amp, and about 30 feet of RG6
cable. I installed my old Samsung 451 HD Tuner as a Digital to Analog
Converter for my Mother's analog TV. The results were unspectacular,
to say the least. While she could watch as many as 5 analogs (from
good to barely watchable) from Peoria, only 2 digitals 35.1 and 43.1
were reliable. I resigned myself to the fact that my Mother was in
one of those coverage holes that make some people here in
alt.tv.tech.hdtv complain that the digital conversion is a disaster.
This summer, I purchased a MicroGem converter fromwww.solidsignal.com
with the government coupon. I'd already put an Insignia from Best Buy
at the family cottage, and that had worked very well, but the MicroGem
claimed to be a little more sensitive. I replaced the Samsung with
the MicroGem, and realized that I'd forgotten that the MicroGem
doesn't pass the analog signal while the Samsung did. So, I installed
a 1-to-4 10dB (probably 4 or 5 dB per output) amplifed splitter (or
distribution amp) as well to provide an antenna feed to both the TV
and the MicroGem.
Since common wisdom says that I was probably over amplifying the
signal by now, I checked the analog reception first. First, towards
the Quad Cites, I got 4, 6, and 8 (the networks) perfectly! Scanning
with the MicroGem produced 8.1, 18.1, 6.1 and 24.1 completely
solidly. Even 4.1 was reasonably solid. I swung the antenna towards
Peoria and once again, every *analog and digital* channel was rock
solid. Even 8.1 (off axis by 60 degress) was still usable. 6.1
locked just fine, but broke up ever few minutes, so I left it off the
favorites list. Oh, and of course, great digital means subchannels.
So my Mother can get 2 more PBSs, a weather channel, and two
independents as well.
The bottom line from my Mother, "I've never had TV so good. It looks
so good I might just watch all night!" If I had had any idea how good
reception could be for the "middle of nowhere" place I grew up, (after
45 years of just barely watchable TV) I would have found the money to
have made the changes years ago.
A couple of points I learned:
The analog pass-through in the Samsung must be a splitter. Replacing
that splitter with an amplified splitter (as evidenced by the analog
reception) made a night and day difference. Don't assume you'll have
too much amplification; try it.
While I didn't do a head to head comparison with the amplified
splitter in place, the MicroGem seems to lock a weaker signal than the
Samsung. Also, the Samsung tended to break up sometimes on Ch. 35
(the local and only really strong signal), but the MicroGem pegged its
meter at 100 and never budged. Either the Samsung was overloading, or
some strong multi-path was causing the breakup. In either case, the
MicroGem was clearly superior.
For those in bad reception rural areas, my cost was:
Antenna about $100 shipped, open box item fromwww.solidsignal.com
Winegard Pre-amp about $50 shipped fromwww.solidsignal.com
Amplified splitter about $40
MicroGem converter box about $20 after government coupon.
Total is roughly $210.
I realize $210 may be a lot for some people, but consider... $190 of
that was necessary just to get reasonable *analog* reception. (What
my Mother had previously was not reasonable by any comparison.) The
actual incremental cost for excellent digital reception was only $20.
Compare those costs to just one year of satellite or cable, and the
$210 is nearly insignificant.
Anyway, to those debating what to do, I've firmly swung back to the
camp of "great digital reception is available to virtually all of us
in the USA". It may just take saving up a little money and doing a
bit of work. But, wow, the results are worth it. Take it from my
Mother. }:)
Dan (Woj...)
If I owned my own home I would have outdoor antenna on an anchored
tower almost immediately. As it is, I get every broadcast network
except for PBS with a $12, unamplified set of rabbit ears I bought at
Wal-Mart. Digital broadcast TV rocks.
I also recently set up a new system for a sibling and using the tuner
in the DVD recorder pulled in every available digital channel in the
KC metro area with rabbit ears set on top of a nearby bookcase facing
a sliding glass door. Every channel is rock solid.
-beaumon
.
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