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Short-haul OTA TV rebroadcast?

macsrwe

Mar 5, 2010
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Here's my problem: I have good OTA signal in my home. I have an RV parked (unfortunately) on the opposite side of my home from the city, meaning the house eclipses much of the signal. In my old RV, I had the standard batwing antenna, which I could rotate to get strong signal. My new RV has an omni TV antenna without anywhere near the sensitivity. Because of this, I can only get about 20% of the channels, and even some of those pixelate at times. I could run an underground coax out to the RV spot, but that's a huge task.

I was wondering if there was any technology that would let me "rebroadcast" my house antenna signal from the structured wiring panel towards the RV, so the RV could get all those channels. If this were internet, I'd know how to do it in a heartbeat, but the multi-frequency property of TV signals indicates I would need some sort of specialized equipment.
 

Martaine2005

May 12, 2015
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Perhaps a good quality amplified aerial (antenna).
I would get a mobile satelite dish to receive all free to air satelite channels. Or you could of course subscribe to a network.

Martin
 

macsrwe

Mar 5, 2010
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The point is not to modify the trailer, it's to accommodate the trailer, and any other trailers that might occupy that slot with similar omni antennas, with better OTA signal.

We run a small RV park. Sometimes guest trailers are in that slot, sometimes we rent out our own trailer in that slot to short-term snowbirds.
 

dave9

Mar 5, 2017
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Multiple high quality transmitters for each frequency does not seem affordable, and possibly not legal if you're not licensed for each, and I wonder if it's even possible to get a license to rebroadcast the same frequency already being used in an area, or even for a different frequency if you're rebroadcasting someone else's content. I'm doubtful.

Most practical solution seems like putting a network tuner box on your antenna feed, then to a wifi router if that box doesn't have wifi, then a Roku/etc at each TV in the trailers. Amazon has a fair sale on Rokus right now:

https://www.amazon.com/Roku-Premiere-HDR-Streaming-Player-Premium/dp/B07HDBZN7Q

https://www.dallasnews.com/business...cord-cutters-put-antennas-signal-home-network

Have visitors put down a deposit on a Roku if they want to use one, OR just offer them wifi and the optional loaner Roku then they can pick and pay for any internet streaming service they want, on their own, if they don't already subscribe to one and have a way to receive it once their have your on-site wifi to use... but of course, a wide enough pipe for streaming multiple HD signals might increase your ISP bill.

Move the house! ;)
 
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macsrwe

Mar 5, 2010
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I don't understand how this could possibly work.
  • The Roku offers a choice of streaming sites located off over the Internet; but as far as I know, there's no way to get it to even consider playing material from a local source.
  • According to their website, they have a "local antenna" feature, but that's just a bypass that effectively disengages the Roku in favor of the RV's native antenna, which brings us right back to the original problem.
  • I don't have the gateway bandwidth for campers to watch local TV (or movies) as streamed from some remote internet location (if I were streaming it locally myself, I'd have bandwidth up the wazoo).
  • A network tuner box would allow viewing of only one channel at a time, meaning that all campers would have to watch the same channel, which wouldn't fly.
It sounds like there's a germ of an idea here, but I don't see it working with Rokus.

I'm not worried about the legalities of rebroadcast, because it would be a very low-power station and there is nothing else really near us.
 

davenn

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Sep 5, 2009
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I was wondering if there was any technology that would let me "rebroadcast" my house antenna signal from the structured wiring panel towards the RV,


Why do that … too much of a hassle

All you need, and I cant understand why no one has yet suggested it......
A pole with an antenna on it, beside the RV, that is high enuf to clear the roof of the house to get a clear reception path
Prob. only need ~ a 6m aluminium or galvanised tube ... that would clear any house that isn't 2 story
 

dave9

Mar 5, 2017
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I don't understand how this could possibly work.
  • The Roku offers a choice of streaming sites located off over the Internet; but as far as I know, there's no way to get it to even consider playing material from a local source.

There is some setting /feature in it to use (DLNA?) devices, it will take a stream from tuner boxes.

  • I don't have the gateway bandwidth for campers to watch local TV (or movies) as streamed from some remote internet location (if I were streaming it locally myself, I'd have bandwidth up the wazoo).

Maybe, we have no idea how many simultaneous users you'd have or how much of your bandwidth you'd be willing to sacrifice to that.

  • A network tuner box would allow viewing of only one channel at a time, meaning that all campers would have to watch the same channel, which wouldn't fly.
It depends on how many tuners are in the box you pick. I am wondering how many you really need, I mean are people going to a campsite to just watch TV like they were at home?
Maybe it's a bad idea and the better one is just provide strong wifi and let them figure out what they need on their own, but for your own personal use, a network tuner only needs to tune the one station you want to watch at the time.
I'm not worried about the legalities of rebroadcast, because it would be a very low-power station and there is nothing else really near us.

I wouldn't be either, but in this day and age you have to watch out for disgruntled people. If you annoy someone and they have an angle that they think they can use to hassle you, well it's just better to have all bases covered. It doesn't necessarily matter if you're actually interfering with the broadcast as much as it matters whether you'd have the FCC on you if someone used the setup as a way to give you a hard time. Logically it makes no sense to give people a hard time like that, but it happens, people just seek to cause disruption because they were brought up like that, as children their mom gave them more attention when they were disruptive and they haven't grown out of that. :rolleyes:
 

Audioguru

Sep 24, 2016
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Not many people simply watch one channel at a time. Instead they record another 3 or 4 channels at the same time.
Then they are watching TV all the time and do not have time to go camping or anything else.
 

Audioguru

Sep 24, 2016
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I have seen a thread where good TV signals are received on a broadband antenna and it is cabled to another antenna that is blocked by a hill or structure. Then the receiver's antenna receives the "re-transmitted" signal from the second antenna.
 

macsrwe

Mar 5, 2010
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The guying for an antenna mast that tall would require wasting horizontal real estate on all sides that I don't have.

The signal reflector idea seems simple and elegant -- talk to me about it?
 

davenn

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The guying for an antenna mast that tall would require wasting horizontal real estate on all sides that I don't have.

wouldn't need guying
I suggested 6m (~ 18ft) maybe you don't need that much and 5m would be OK mounted correctly at the bottom, it could be free standing aka a flagpole style

what is the distance between the RV and the house ? if you didn't do freestanding .... bolt it to the house and loop the coax across to the RV



There is a simple solution called signal reflector.

The signal reflector idea seems simple and elegant -- talk to me about it?


Unless all the channels are all on UHF, a reflector panel will be huge and a problem in the wind ( even if a grid)
At UHF it may work ..... 2m square sheet of aluminium or a mesh the same size ... less wind resistance

still going to need to be mounted on a pole on one of the sides of the house where it can see both the direction to the TV transmitters and also see the RV


STILL much easier to put a proper antenna on a pole !!!!
 

jthorusen

Aug 26, 2019
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Audioguru's suggestion is probably the easiest to implement. A pair of yagis doesn't have much wind load. If you want to cheat, you can get a broadband amplifier and put it in the line between the two antennas.... just be sure if you do that that the two antennas can't "see" each other... or you will clobber everyone's reception for miles around with self oscillations.

Regards,
Jim T.
KB6GM
 
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