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Injecting 17V on the RG-6 to the antenna did the trick for me

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    Injecting 17V on the RG-6 to the antenna did the trick for me

    I connected an antenna and I tried powering the receiver with 9V DC and I tried relocating the antenna (18.75" Romex wire) via RG-6 cable to various locations but always got inconsistent results. I have both cars equipped with 40m transmitters and several 8 m transmitters. I finally was going to try an inline amplifier at the antenna to try boosting the signal and found in my spare parts an old Terk DC supply that came with a Terk antenna that we used to use years ago for the tv. This DC supply basically injects 17V on the RG6 line to the antenna and blocks the DC voltage from going to the tv end. Suddenly this thing is rock solid. I still haven't installed an inline amp. Just putting 17V DC on the RG6 line that connects the antenna to the receiver did the trick. I would say the RG6 cable is about 20-30 feet.

    #2
    Cool! Obviously, Terk did this for a good reason. Anyone know the theory behind it?
    Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
    HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

    HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

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      #3
      It is probably just a fluke that the added components, (at least a bypass capacitor (to block the dc from going to the tv) and maybe an inductor and resistor or 2) have created a better impedance match. With RF, impedance plays a big part of the overall signal propogation
      Over The Hill
      What Hill?
      Where?
      When?
      I Don't Remember Any Hill

      Virtualized Server 2k3 Ent X86 Guest on VMWare ESXi 4.1 with 3 SunRay thin clients as access points - HSPro 2.4.0.48 - ZTroller - ACRF2 (3 WGL 800's) - iAutomate RFID - Ledam - MLHSPlugin - Ultra1wire - RainRelay8 - TI103 - Ultramon - WAF-AB8SS - jvESS (11 zones) - Bitwise Controls BC4 - with 745 Total Devices - 550 Events - 104 scripts - 78 ZWave devices - 42 X10 devices - 76 DS10a's 3 RFXSenors and 32 Motion Sensors

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        #4
        Jack,
        Are you trying to destroy my faith in magic!
        Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
        HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

        HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

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          #5
          Mike,

          With RF it is ALL magic

          J
          Over The Hill
          What Hill?
          Where?
          When?
          I Don't Remember Any Hill

          Virtualized Server 2k3 Ent X86 Guest on VMWare ESXi 4.1 with 3 SunRay thin clients as access points - HSPro 2.4.0.48 - ZTroller - ACRF2 (3 WGL 800's) - iAutomate RFID - Ledam - MLHSPlugin - Ultra1wire - RainRelay8 - TI103 - Ultramon - WAF-AB8SS - jvESS (11 zones) - Bitwise Controls BC4 - with 745 Total Devices - 550 Events - 104 scripts - 78 ZWave devices - 42 X10 devices - 76 DS10a's 3 RFXSenors and 32 Motion Sensors

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            #6
            Not all magic...just most of it!
            Tasker, to a person who does Homeautomation...is like walking up to a Crack Treatment facility with a truck full of 3lb bags of crack. Then for each person that walks in and out smack them in the face with an open bag.

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              #7
              Solid after adding an inline amp

              Well fwiw the magic wore off and the inconsistency /dropouts returned. I added the inline amplifier (the original reason for injecting the DC) and it's been working great now for a day and a half and has been solid with no dropouts. The voltage is injected near the receiver and the inline amp is about 25 feet down the RG6 with the antenna about another 12 feet beyond that. Note that powering the receiver with 9V DC didn't work for me. Both 40m in the cars outside, several 8m's and a fob are solid. I bought the inline amp from Radio Shack and it's pretty rugged and I bet it would work installed outside, in the attic, any where. The inline amp does need voltage i.e. you need to inject voltage onto the coax and this thingy can be installed by the RFID receiver. Install the amp on the antenna end of the cable. Radio Shack also sells an inline amp with the separate voltage injector if you need it.
              Last edited by twking; October 16, 2007, 05:49 AM.

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                #8
                I should also state to people:

                Recently I put my server down into the crawl space from the third floor.

                As such, all my hardware went with it.

                I moved my CheaperRFID receiver down there and tacked it to a stud as far from the PC and as centered on my house as possible.

                I seem to have picked up quite a bit of distance (I can now "see" the cars at the end of the driveway)!

                I think my metalized insulation in the attic was killing my signal...

                I should also mention that my receiver and antenna is now horizontal instead of vertical.

                Strange!

                --Dan
                Tasker, to a person who does Homeautomation...is like walking up to a Crack Treatment facility with a truck full of 3lb bags of crack. Then for each person that walks in and out smack them in the face with an open bag.

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