Accident,

When will these new Vbox 164e dual HDTV tuners become widely available? I see they are available on e-bay for $196 ea. but I am not able to find them anywhere else.

No clue, I hope soon since I'm waiting for them :)   I did reach out the company but that didn't go to far.

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

Do you have any experience with Multi-directional Antennas?

My providers are in two different directions. Currently I have two directional antennas ganged together. I was wondering if a good Multi-Directional would work better?

This is a if it ain't broke don't fix it situation.  If your good, just stay as is.  If your not, post some details on the issue your trying to resolve, there might be a simplier and cheaper fix.

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

I just checked antennaweb.org and found that I have 7 HDTV towers located in different directions. They are all located between a 190 degree pattern. These towers are located anywhere from 9.5 miles to 55 miles away from my location. The tower that is furthest away comes in at 100 percent with a yagi antenna. 

I will try to explain my antenna setup the best I can. I have two yagi antennas plus a uhf/vhf/fm antenna that were all connected to a 3 way splitter and a pre-amp.

I recently disconnected the the uhf/vhf/fm antenna from the setup. I think this was causing some problems. I suspect this is becuase I probably should of had a combiner in place.

I have now have the the yagi's one pointing north and the other pointing south. I need to add another antenna to cover the west and or try and get my vhf/uhf/fm antenna working correctly and use it towards the west. All my HDTV channels are within the UHF Frequency range.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

I don't want to ask for any personal info on the internet, but could you give a list of physical channel, distance and compass heading to the stations your trying to pickup?  Antenna setups I can work  out much better looking at a compass.  Also can you list the the antenna makes/models you have available right now.  I'm pretty sure I can come up with a good orientation to satisfy them all and minimal multipathing.  or narrow down to a couple filters you need to pickup to block some signals.

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

I will try to dig up some information on distances, frequencies and antenna types some time tomorrow. I will give you the compass readings as well.

I really appreciate your help with this.

cool.  I'm not going to get a chance to touch this until tommorrow anyhow.

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

Here's the information on my Antenna's, frequencies, distances to towers and compass readings.

I currently live on top of a hill but there is a ridge between me and the towers to the sw.

Antenna

2 - Deep Fringe Uhf Antenna 3023 by Andrew Corporation Channel
1 - 41 Element Color Combination Deep Fringe Outdoor TV Antenna MANT901 by Philips Accessories

Frequency   compass    distance     Current Signal Strength

14                 205             13.4              65-72
15                  16                49.4              79-93
17                 205             13.4              24-27
23                 187             16.2                 0
30                 205             13.4                 58
39                 16                49.4              100
41                 16                49.4              100

I hope this helps.

maybe I should have asked for digital channel also :)  17, 23 and 30 are the ones you are having trouble with?  does 30 come in fine but has issues with bad weather?  Are these numbers with inline amp or without?  And to make sure I'm clear, we are also trying to get fm radio?   are we attempting to get analog tv also, primarily channels 13 and below?

I'm looking up the antennas now for specs then I'll post something inital up.  Once I see the replies to the above, I'll post the full recommendation. 

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

Here's the channel/frequency break down.

Frequency      Channel      Network      Signal

14                     19.1            ABC         65-72

15                     18.1            ABC         79-93

17                     25.1            FOX         24-27

23                     23               UPN            0

30                     31.1             PBS            58

39                     13.1            NBC            100

41                     8.1               CBS            100

Channel 31.1 comes in fine most of the time and 25.1 is marginal and of course 23 plain sucks. 23 is the only analog channel I would like to receive. The others are all digital. I really have no interest in any other analog channels. FM is of no interest eigther since I have XM. If I can receive channel 8 and FM without problems then that would be nice but not necessary. The UHF/VHF/FM antenna was something I was using in the past. If the UHF/VHF/FM antenna can be use that would be great, if not then I will purchase whatever is necessary. I am really looking for the best low maintenance solution that will just work. This is one of the reasons I was thinking of getting an omni directional antenna, however, if I can use what I have that would good as well.

These antennas are installed on top of a 60ft tower with approximately 3 ft between each antenna. I currently only have the two andrews connected to a 2 way splitter then that connects to a high gain radio shack preamp. I have quad shielded rg-6 cable. the run from the antenna to my wire rack is approximately 150 ft.

Again, I want to thank you for all your help.

I would keep the one pointed at 16 there.  it seems to be doing its job right.

if 23 is an analog station, a digital tuner is not going to pick it up, you would need an analog tuner connected to the antennas for it.

If your trying to get 23 with the yagi, you want it pointed about 198-200.  but you'll need the analog tuner to pick it up.  the analog might be a little more forgiving to misorientation so you can try goosing it closer to 205 and see if you can get the signal up a little more. 

you might have better luck trying the phillips antenna to pickup all the other channels leaving 16 as is.  this would also get the fm stations in the area.

if you were to buy somethign new.  something small like the stealth from channelmaster (2010) might do the other channels great.  that antenna is small enough that you could even get 2 and point them about 210 and 180 so they dont multipath.

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

What adapters should I be using? Should I get a combiner when using a vhf/uhf/fm antenna? I noticed my signal went up after removing the philips antenna. I suspected this was because I didn't have a combiner in place. Also, I read somewhere that all cable lengths should be the same from each antenna to the splitter and this is currently how I have the cables.

I will also look into this stealth antenna.

I am having a hard time trying to find the stealth 2010 from channel master.

Do you have a link?

I think you were having a multipath issue and the signal was canceling out.  or the tuner homed in the best signal and it happened to be hte lowest power.

Sorry, its the 3010.  http://www.channelmaster.com/pages/TVS/SpecialMktAnts.htm

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP