Long UFH cable run from OTA antenna

[heboland]

Hello List, Winegard,
First of all this post should fit here with DTV because DTV is what is forcing my long cable solution. I would appreciate some suggestions to solve this problem.

Alternately I would like some technical information regarding Winegard products that would allow me to midify them to suit my needs.

My problem description and some approaches I've considered follow. I would appreciate a response to this post so I know my first post got read. - Heboland

Before DTV I got fringe VHF analog TV reception from Portland, OR. UHF doesn't reach here and the Hi Band VHF left is too weak for DTV.

Portland has UHF translators on Mt Hebo a short distance away, but they are occluded at my house. At a remote high point on my property, I have a clear view of the translators, but that point is 300 yards from my house. The cable path will be thru timber.

In an ideal world I would buy 3 AP4800-like preamps and space them between 100yd lengths of RG-6.. Two would pass supple power on to the upstream units.

As near as I can tell, Winegard doesn't offer a preamp that passes thru supply power. My understanding of the AP4800 circuitry is that a 60~ supply power is sent up the coax. That causes a problem with mixing Winegard preamps with say TERK inline amps.

[winegard]

Good afternoon heboland -

The AP-4800 preamplifier requires 60mA of power at +12VDC to operate and as all preamplifiers is designed not to allow an AC/DC voltage out of its input connection, so they can not be cascaded in series. The AP-4800 can be powered by either AC or DC power in a range or +12VDC-+24VDC or from 15- 24VAC. Your cable losses would be much lower and possibly no line amplifiers would be required if you use a larger cable such as RG11/U at 3.58 dB loss per 100’ or .412 cable at 2.68dB loss per 100 feet verses RG6/U at 5.62 dB per 100 feet at 750 MHz.



You might want to look on the internet for CATV line extenders which have approximately 35 dB of gain and are designed to be cascaded in series. These line extenders are powered by an AC voltage and will require their own power supply.

[heboland]

Thank you Winegard for your response.
UHF channel 43 is the top end of my range, so 750 MHz is a good frequency for comparison. Yes lower loss cable simplifies the problem, but brings its own, such as connectors and price per foot increases. RG-6 on the other hand is readily available.

I assume if Winegard made CATV line extenders, you would have mentioned them specifically. I will look into that possibility, but what I've seen of CATV so far are expensive bidirectional amplifiers.

Thanks especially for the specifics on the AP4800! It might be an oversimplification, but I think it only takes one additional rf choke to pass the supply power thru the device. That choke may have minimal effects on the NF and possibly the gain, but the pass thru amps don't need to be as good as the mast preamp.

Of course that wouldn't be a popular product for you, but maybe I could perform that addition myself. Your comments please!

One other AP4800 component I would appreciate more technical information on is its power injector. Does it inject 60~ supply? As it ships, could it power more than one AP4800? Could I use that injector to inject DC instead of AC?

I'm new to this site, so I not sure if one response is all I should expect, or if a dialog is possible here. Heboland

[heboland]

Hello list, winegard,
I'm replying to myself here! I have my 300yd cable working now using RG-6.

Most discussion groups I belong to, I post the solution for continuity. Since I didn't use any Winegard products in my solution, I don't consider such a post proper here.

I'm happy with the response I got here. I don't see a need to continue my membership here. In my remaining time as a member, I will post my solution here only if Winegard invites me to do so.

Otherwise if any member wants to know the details, I'll respond in a private message (PM). Heboland