What to do with 4 Digital Satellite Receivers (forclosed home came with them)

[greenpjs]

#1 - If you are up in the mountains, I doubt you have any wifi signals nearby to pick up. Maybe a neighbor who didn't protect their wireless router, but that is a questionable practice anyway

#2 - Repurposed DirecTV dishes have a distinct DISadvantage for picking up broadcast digital TV signal. They were not designed for the frequencies involved and will not work unless the TV signals are so strong that the coax lead-in picks them up. Buy a real TV antenna and throw the old DirecTV stuff away (unless you subscribe to their service.)

[DA]

That would be the wisest thing to do IMHO. Cables can be moved if the length allows but if the current locations make sense given your new furniture layout, I would just leave all cabling as is. Worst thing that can happen - you will realize they were NOT properly installed to begin with and have to be re-pulled. Even then the old cables can prove useful by becoming essentially pull-strings for the new ones.

I guess I would swap b) and c) - call DirectTV first, see if any deal is to be had with the old receivers in it, then sell them for $10-$20 on eBay if they were not required. I think these days you'd definitely want HD channels and those old receivers are not going to provide that.

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[Donna DeLong]

From what you said, the DirecTV antenna is probably useless for TV or WiFi. Someone said the only thing useful was the DirecTV dish coax cable already installed and running throughout the house.

So, I started researching Over-the-Air (OTA) TV reception via antennas.

This FCC site gave me the GPS coordinates of the mounted DirecTV dish:

And this site gave me exact TV coverage maps for a TV antenna:

These sites told me which type of TV antenna antenna I need: Putting it all together, the web pages say I need a large directional UHF and Hi-V TV antenna with a pre-amp (violet type) and a remote-controlled motor to aim the chimney-mount (tile roof) antenna about 150 degrees north to south.

Specifically, due to line-of-sight terrain problems, my OTA TV reception realistically is only these 4 channels:

1. PBS UHF Strong (-37dBm, ESE 123 degrees)
2. CBS UHF Strong (-51dBm, N 8 degrees)
3. NBC HiV Medium (-60dBm, N 6 degrees)
4. FOX HiV Medium (-67dBm, SSE 141 degrees) And maybe:
5. ABC HiV Weak (-84dBm, ESE 123 degrees)

I found a lot of TV antenna information at

but I haven't found a good online supplier for what I need.

Any suggestions for an online supplier for TV antennas?

[Donna DeLong]

I'm going to take your suggestion and leave the cables where they lie.

I'm currently looking up over-the-air (OTA) TV reception and I found from online resources that I can find the GPS coordinates of my dish antenna as the starting point for a new OTA TV antenna.

Since the roof is a tile roof, I'll probably try to have the antenna mounted on the chimney but going to the coax cable at the DirecTV dish (which I will disconnect and just leave there).

The online FCC web pages tell me I need a large directional UHF & Hi-V TV antenna with a pre-amp (violet type) and a remote-controlled motor to aim to south.

Specifically, due to line-of-sight mountainous terrain, my OTA TV reception realistically seems to be only these 4 channels:

1. PBS UHF Strong (-37dBm, ESE 123 degrees)
2. CBS UHF Strong (-51dBm, N 8 degrees)
3. NBC HiV Medium (-60dBm, N 6 degrees)
4. FOX HiV Medium (-67dBm, SSE 141 degrees) And maybe:
5. ABC HiV Weak (-84dBm, ESE 123 degrees)

I'm still looking up what a "dbM" is and how much amplifier "power" I need to get a good signal out of those figures (-84 dBm to -37 dBm). If you know of a web site that will calculate the size of amplifier needed, that would be helpful as I haven't found a good online amplifier power calculator yet.

[Jim Yanik]

Donna DeLong wrote in news:hhpdq9$224$ [e-mail]:

I think newer receivers don't use "cards" anymore,they have the access chip built right into them,to prevent "hacking". ISTR reading something about that.

[Jim Yanik]

Donna DeLong wrote in news:hhqkv1$k3g$ [e-mail]:

Db(a ratio) in milliwatts = DBm generally specified into a particular impedance,like 600,50 or 75 ohms.

[Jim Yanik]

Donna DeLong wrote in news:hhpffu$3kl$ [e-mail]:

No,just the ACCESS card.

[Char Jackson]

I know it's not a sexy answer, but I used Amazon to buy my last OTA antenna, the DB2. That model works for me because I'm in a flat terrain suburban area. The DB4 and DB8 are increasingly directional, but provide more gain in the aimed direction. Before that, I used Ebay.

In my experience, antennaweb is slightly pessimistic on what I should expect to receive.

[Donna DeLong]

CORRECTION:

[Donna DeLong]

Interesting. I did notice the FCC reception dBm were different than AntennaWeb

AntennaWeb suggested a large directional antenna with a preamp so I'm trying to figure out how to figure the size of the preamp (antennaweb doesn't say).

Is there an online calculator to figure out what preamp power I need?

Given the various received power answerrs from the FCC and TVFool and AntennaWeb URLs, I can summarize my OTA TV signal reception as:

1. PBS UHF Strong (21.1 miles, path 1Edge, Pwr -64 dBm, NM 26.8 dB)
2. CBS UHF Strong (51.4 miles, path LOS, Pwr -51.4 dBm, NM 39.5 dB)
3. NBC HiV Medium (42.1 miles, path 1Edge, Pwr -62.2 dBm, NM 28.7 dB)
4. FOX HiV Medium (-42.1 miles, path 1Edge, Pwr -70.0 dBm, NM 20.9 dB) And maybe:
5. ABC HiV Weak (76.9 miles, path 2Edge, Pwr -105.2 dBm, NM -14.3 dB)

I'm still not sure of some of this stuff yet (eg LOS vs 1Edge, vs 2EDGE or NM power vs dbm power); so my main dilemma now is which amplifier to get.

What is the recommended way to calculate required antenna amplifier power?

[Donna DeLong]

Your suggestion is a good start.

Taking this description of the more powerful $120 DB8-HDTV antenna:

The two specs that seem relevant appear to be: # High gain across entire UHF band (UHF channels 14-69) # Max Gain 15.8 dB

How do I determine if "15.8 dB is enough for my reception area?

Grom the FCC coverage maps, I receive:

1. PBS UHF (-37dBm, NM 26.8 dB)
2. CBS UHF (-51dBm, NM 39.5 dB)
3. NBC HiV (-60dBm, NM 28.7 dB)
4. FOX HiV (-67dBm, NM 20.9 dB)
5. ABC HiV Weak (-84dBm, NM -14.3 dB)

How do I determine if the DB8 antenna, at 15.8 dB, is enough for me given these dBm and dB reception numbers (and is an amplifier warranted)?

[Donna DeLong]

The problem I'm trying to figure out is what OTA TV antenna to buy and what power to use for the preamplifier given these reception numbers.

For example, if I use a DB8 antenna with a specification of:

# High gain across entire UHF band (UHF channels 14-69) # Max Gain 15.8 dB

How do I figure out if 15.8 dB is enough to receive the signal of the PBS station in my area, which apparently has the following reception:

• PBS, KTEH, UHF Analog channel=54.1, digital channel=50,

• Strong signal, Power=-64 dBm, NM=26.8 dB (how do I use these numbers?)

• Distance=21.1 miles, Path=1Edge (does "Path" matter?)

Is it obvious to you or do I need to run a calculation to see if 15.8 dB is enough gain for this strongest station in my area?

[Donna DeLong]

Based on the information in this thread, I've given up on using the 2 DirecTV dish antennas or the 4 satellite receivers for anything other than scrap.

I'm going to concentrate on figuring out how to find the right TV antenna.

To that end, I think it's appropriate that this thread end as I try to ascertain what antenna to get to pluck OTA signals out of the air. I think the tv groups might be more appropriate at this point.

[Donna DeLong]

On Windows, I installed the recommended Network Stumbler v0.4.0 from

I thought it strange that Netstumble didn't find ANY WiFi access points but then I realized that I don't broadcast my SSID and I guess none of my neighbors do either.

Anyway, it seems like there are no wireless APs in the area and even if there were, it seems logically to me that BOTH sides would have to have the stronger antenna to work, so, I agree, a stronger WiFi isn't the way to go.

I'm going to concentrate on trying to pull down the OTA TV signals by trying to figure out how to calculate which antenna will work in my area.

[HeyBub]

Don't mount the antenna on the chimney! The difference between 28,000 miles and 27,999 miles, 5,260 feet is negligible.

Mount the antenna on the ground. It's easier to aim and easier to clear of leaves, snow, and bird shit.

If you're going to use one antenna, you'll have to aim it at at least three different places. Tough to do if it's on the freakin' roof.

[Donna DeLong]

Good point. I think I can mount the antenna on the water tank which is the highest point on the hill anyway that's still my property.

Since I need 123 degrees, 7 degrees, and 141 degrees, I assumed I need a motor that at least moves the antenna 180 degrees.

I looked up the DB8 antenna which gives 15.8 dB of "gain" but I can't tell how many dBs I need from the information that I currently have.

What number on the FCC site for reception tells me what gain I need from the antenna or amplifier?

[Donna DeLong]

BTW, for whoever suggested Netstumbler, I just found out for Windows, Netstumbler has been deprecated in favor of inSSIDer

[HeyBub]

You're STILL thinking terrestrial TV. Forget "high."

You can mount a satellite antenna BELOW GROUND LEVEL (as long as it can see the right part of the sky).

Here's a disguise kit to make your antenna look like a ROCK in the FLOWER BED!

(Scroll down to "Need to Hide Your Dish?")

Not exactly. The antenna has to move in two directions: Azimuth and elevation (left/right & up/down). Think naval guns on a warship. You can get motorized mounts that, once programmed, can swivel the whole contraption to the right position.

They ain't cheap.

The process does, however, cut down on channel-surfing since it takes as much as a minute to reorient the antenna.

[aemeijers]

Pay attention- she is giving up on get satt TV, and is trying for OTA terrestrial stations. She either needs a big yagi with a rotator, or maybe some tuned antennas and a switch box.

-- aem sends...

[Oren]

Any reason you can't watch TV on your computer? I had and lost a link for many shows. You do have a PC and can select and watch what you like.