Hi,

Has anyone ever tried to use 2 powered indoor DTV antannae with their outputs combined ?
I had a thought, but it might have a problem w/ phase cancellation.
If I installed 2 antennae aprox. 5 feet apart, and combined their outputs w/ a tap or a splitter - using it in reverse- would the signals cancel out if one antenna received a signal that was out of phase, if that is a consideration in the digital realm ? What I wanted to do was position each antenna in the best possible location for a particular group of stations, but use only one piece of coax (CAC-6) to distribute it.
A rooftop installation for me isn't a reality. But 2 antennae on the enclosed back sun porch is!
Presently the signal just is too erratic on the S meter.

I'll bet someone know the real answer to this. :scratch2:
MANY THANKS !!!

Pallophotophone

I have never heard of anyone having luck with combining two TV antennas into one splitter/tuner input. Generally, you get the worst of both antennas, not the best. Your best bet might be to put a small-sized outdoor antenna like a StealthTenna into your sun porch.

Thank You, Chris

I never heard of that one. But it will get tried!

Best,

Bob H.

This could actually make it worse. Receiving from 2 different points can confuse the tuner. trying to assemble the same digital signal from 2 different points at slightly different times and maybe reflected from different surfaces could fugger things up. A bow tie antenna is one of the best for digital and don't take up much room.

combining antennas generally works if one or especially both of the following conditions are met:
1) the antennas are strongly directional and aimed in different directions for the different stations (won't happen using small indoor-style antennas)
2) each antenna/amp is followed by bandpass filters for the desired channels

Otherwise, you will get a strange and unknown combined pattern of reception with a possibility of cancellation as well as reinforcement in any given direction.

Some cities with stations concentrated in two areas instead of one have resulted in well known solutions that even have been named after the city, for example , the "Indianapolis rig." Of course, with stations changing frequencies and sometimes even locations for digital broadcast, these rigs have had to be modified.