[Bgormley]

I have a TV that gets very poor UHF reception. I have a VHF/UHF rabbit ears type antenna so I can now get 1 UHF channel but the other 2 are pretty much unwatchable. I wonder if it would do any good to purchase a "bowtie" antenna and attach it to the rabbit ears. These are, of course, made for UHF reception but I'm wondering if it would help since I already have an antenna made for UHF. Can an extra UHF antenna "double up" the signal or would the bowtie add nothing? For anyone out there who understands how an antenna works this is probably an easy one.

[n2gun]

if you want a good signal i would suggest a outside antenna on roof. you would get very little help with the bowtie.

[kiwiguy]

I agree with the above.

If the signal ain't there, no amount of localised antennae will help.

You need to have an external antenna, UHF does not travel well trough walls etc.

[hewee]

A outside antenna is best and then they are also rate in how many miles away you can pick up so if your wanting to watch something that is 60, 80, 100 miles away your need a bigger antenna. Then getting a rotor also helps out.

[wacor]

Originally Posted by hewee

A outside antenna is best and then they are also rate in how many miles away you can pick up so if your wanting to watch something that is 60, 80, 100 miles away your need a bigger antenna. Then getting a rotor also helps out.

A rotor definately helps to fine tune to get the best picture. I would never put up one of the big antennas outside without a rotor as these antennas are somewhat directional. and at 100 miles in my experience you are iffy at getting a decent signal unless the technology has improved. we had a cottage that was about 100 miles from several of the stations. most of the time you would get a lousy signal. once in a while it would be ok. generally speaking as i recall the typical distance to get a tv signal is the distance to the horizon and that is 50 miles i think.
now if you want to install a tv tower that goes up in the air 100' you can improve on that.

[Frank4d]

Along with the above, my moms house was wired with twin-lead which I replaced with RG-6. I also installed a 20 something dB pre-amp and a new outside antenna to replace the one that had been hit a couple of times by lightening. Mom's TVs went from receiving 3 channels to about 20 channels (about 50 miles north of Indianapolis, Indiana).

[hewee]

Originally Posted by wacor

A rotor definately helps to fine tune to get the best picture. I would never put up one of the big antennas outside without a rotor as these antennas are somewhat directional. and at 100 miles in my experience you are iffy at getting a decent signal unless the technology has improved. we had a cottage that was about 100 miles from several of the stations. most of the time you would get a lousy signal. once in a while it would be ok. generally speaking as i recall the typical distance to get a tv signal is the distance to the horizon and that is 50 miles i think.
now if you want to install a tv tower that goes up in the air 100' you can improve on that.

I had one years ago and I tell you I would pick up channels 100 and more miles away. Funny when it was overcast out it worked better. Now these were the UHF channels. Was a VHF channel I got also but it did not come in very good but really what was on it was also on the local channel so no big deal. Don't know if I lived in the same place if it would be the same because of all the other homes and changes in the last 25 years.

[wacor]

Originally Posted by hewee

I had one years ago and I tell you I would pick up channels 100 and more miles away. Funny when it was overcast out it worked better. Now these were the UHF channels. Was a VHF channel I got also but it did not come in very good but really what was on it was also on the local channel so no big deal. Don't know if I lived in the same place if it would be the same because of all the other homes and changes in the last 25 years.

That is amazing you could get that kind of reception without a tower. there is a phenomenon which i think is called skip trace or something like that where signals are extended due to things in the atmosphere bouncing the signals. were you on high ground?? it was flat at our cottage. we were on Lake Huron. probably about 40 miles north of Port Huron where Angelize lived I am guessing.

[hewee]

wacor,

Yea the atmosphere bouncing the signals is just what was going on. It was on the roof of a one story house. It was Sacramento. CA. All was on flat ground and I am not sure but we are close to sea level.
Here is a map and you can see we are in the valley and I outline towns we got channels from.
San Jose and SF are over a 100 miles away and it is not flat getting there. But I bet they have something somewhere that was sending the signals over the hills.
The towns up north are 100's to 350 miles away so they may only come in now and then and even then it was not that good.