exper with clip on antenna?

Archived from groups: alt.video.digital-tv (More info?)

"Mango" <Mango_masher@puny.com> wrote in message
news:2hc1jbFb4tk6U1@uni-berlin.de...
> any one have experience with the clip on antenna to improve HD recpetion
on
> local channels?

No experience with a clip-on antenna but I can answer your other questions.
>
> Also it talks about an average 12db gain?...what is that exactly?...

12 dB gain means an increase in signal power of 16 times. Each 3 dB is a
doubling
of the input power.

A dB gain rating for just an antenna means that it is a directional
antenna and it receives best from just one direction by sixteen times over
that
signal it would receive if it were receiving from all around. (The analogy
of a
megaphone-in-reverse applies here; the megaphone gives sound intensity in
one
direction at the expense of other directions.) A complex multi-element
antenna
provides 8 to 15 dB gain over a set of rabbit ears. (Many variables
involved.)

A dB rating for just an amplifier means that the input signal, whatever the
level, is
increased by 16 times the power from the input to the output. Low noise is
just as important as gain. A noise figure of 2 dB is common in consumer
amplifiers.

< snip >

> Also can i feed that through my sat coax?...that would save me the hassle
of
> running ANOTHER coax.

Yes. You need a frequency-selective splitter/combiner on each end of the
coax run.
If you are dealing with marginal signals, the losses through these
splitter/combiners,
though small, may be intolerable. An additional coax might be preferrable.