I am looking to hook up a tv in my Catalina 30. The set is digital and all I want to receive are local stations. I was just about to purchase a Shakespear 24" omni directional antenna when I looked at previous post for tv antennas and one writer said he used his VHF antenna for his television. He said all you need is a splitter that uses the VHF cable from the back of your radio. Question, the radio and television use different cables. I'm not familiar with a two into one spliter that splits the two different cable types. Is anyone familiar with this? Does it work or was the writer pulling someones leg? Thanks for any imput.
TV Reception
- Thread starter John Krasnick
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Probably thinking more along the lines of this, but this splits out FM from VHF antenna..
http://www.pyacht.com/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pr+SHA4357S
http://www.pyacht.com/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pr+SHA4357S
Thanks to both of you but I don't believe either will work. The antenna form the mast to my VHF radio uses a RG-58 cable plug and the TV uses a RG-59 cable plug.
I use a simple table top digital antenna.... purchased at Best Buy for about 25 bucks.
It requires a 110 power source... as do most digital antennae. There is a marine product that can be mounted on the mast for substantially more cost.
If I were you, I'd try the cheapo unit first...
It requires a 110 power source... as do most digital antennae. There is a marine product that can be mounted on the mast for substantially more cost.
If I were you, I'd try the cheapo unit first...
Neither of the above suggested devices will work.
The first is a wideband 75 ohm to 2 x 300 ohm splitter, and VHF antenna coax is 50 ohms, so there would be a mismatch, your VHF reception would suffer, and it would possibly blow the transmitter... and the second, which IS meant to go onto a 50 ohm VHF line, is actually a filter which only passes < 120 MHz or so to an AM/FM radio, whereas DTV channels extend to UHF frequencies.
There are some small active DTV antennas (as per that other thread), I would just get one of those, 30' of coax and hoist it with a halyard when you're in port.
The first is a wideband 75 ohm to 2 x 300 ohm splitter, and VHF antenna coax is 50 ohms, so there would be a mismatch, your VHF reception would suffer, and it would possibly blow the transmitter... and the second, which IS meant to go onto a 50 ohm VHF line, is actually a filter which only passes < 120 MHz or so to an AM/FM radio, whereas DTV channels extend to UHF frequencies.
There are some small active DTV antennas (as per that other thread), I would just get one of those, 30' of coax and hoist it with a halyard when you're in port.
Sorry to disappoint but it is actually simpler and cheaper than most thinks. I bought an antenna amplifier from Sayal Electronics (Mississauga) for about $29.99. Yes it is water proof, 26db gain with a power supply than happens to feed 12v via the coax cable. The 12v comes from my DC and the amplifier sits on the very top of the mast. The reception element is actually my Davis wind vane. It is insulated from the base, about 10 inches in height which is roughly 1/2 wavelength for UHF. It is vertical thus omni directional. I drilled a small hole and press fitted the centre core of a coax cable into the shank of the wind vane and then double heat shrunk the connection. Yes I have wireless engineering background ;-) In the Toronto area I got 23 HDTV stations including Buffalo, Hamilton and Toronto. Not bad for $29.95 plus a coax cable. People don't even know I have a TV antenna.
We use an RCA 1400 flat antenna on our boat and it work okay considering our location. When I go to other locations it was very well. The best part is that it is passive (no power required) and mounts to a flat surface.
http://dtvconverterboxes.blogspot.com/2009/02/rca-ant-1400-multi-directional-digital.html
Not all antennas are going to work well in all places.
http://dtvconverterboxes.blogspot.com/2009/02/rca-ant-1400-multi-directional-digital.html
Not all antennas are going to work well in all places.
Try a google on DIY Hi-Def antenna's.
I made one, enclosed it in a PVC tube with 2 caps. (abt 9" long)
Total cost about 6 bucks.
I pick up 11 channels including out local radar channel that broadcasts 24 hours. And it's non-powered.
I made one, enclosed it in a PVC tube with 2 caps. (abt 9" long)
Total cost about 6 bucks.
I pick up 11 channels including out local radar channel that broadcasts 24 hours. And it's non-powered.
Friend of mine just bought an HD antenna from Walmart, mounted a couple of slides on it and runs it up his mast using the coax as the downhaul. He picks up all local channels + HD channels from out to about 100 miles. He has a Catalina 30 also.
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