Antenna/Amplifier for Portable Digital Televisions

[Larry Weil]

Continuing the discussion about the poor sensitivity of portable DTVs, I can
really say how poor the Haier is when last weekend I had trouble picking up
WCDC in Hancock, MA, no more than 10 miles from Mt. Greylock.  I was camping
and was using the magnet mount whip from a DTV stick on the car, but still I
had to adjust it several times before I could get the station, and I could
get no other stations besides an unidentified analog station weakly on CH
15.  Note that at this location, which is about 1650 feet elevation, I had
no trouble picking up all the Albany area FM stations on a walkman, but got
none of the Albany DTVs on the Haier.
 
Anyway, I did a little research and found that Ramsey Electronics has an
antenna/amplifier that covers up to 900 MHz in kit form.  Further info can
be found here:
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action
<http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=AA7
C> &key=AA7C.  I wrote and asked if they thought this would be good for use
with a portable DTV, and they said yes, with the proviso that it does not
have type F connectors so adaptors would be necessary.  I will be ordering
one tonight and will report further on if it really works.  For 40 bucks
plus postage plus the time to put it together I'm not risking a lot.
 
Larry Weil
Lake Wobegone, NH