I get crappy TV reception.
I live at the end of a long dormatory and thus in it’s “shadow”. Folks on the other end of the dorm get perfect VHF and UHF reception while I get squat.
Is there any way I can boost my signal?
A thought was to dangle some wire outside my window along the side of the building and attaching it to my antennea. Will that work?
And last, do those “Turn your building’s electrical system into a gigantic antennea” devices really work?
Thanks.
Probably not, although there’s no harm in trying. You should spend a lot of time moving the antenna around. In my old dorm room, I bought 50’ of twin-lead 300ohm cable (available from Radio Shack, #15-1174, $5.99) and connected it between the antenna and TV. This let us locate the antenna anywhere within a 50’ sphere of the TV. After about an hour of searching, we found one spot on a wall where we got very good reception. Anywhere else in the room gave us terrible reception. We then moved the TV to that area, and duct-taped the antenna to the wall for permanent mounting 
We didn’t need the entire 50’ length of cable once we found the “sweet spot”.
Generally, no.
I had a nice reply all typed up, then I accidentally closed the window before sending it. Oh well.
Anyway, if you’re using your TV’s “rabbit ears”, you might consider replacing them with an external antenna. I don’t mean a rooftop antenna, you said you’re in a dorm so that would be impractical. For example, J & R music world has a selection. I checked Epinions, but apparently they don’t have a category for antennas. Maybe you could find something on Usenet.
What, no cable TV in the dorms? What third-world country are you in? Even here in Iowa, all the dorms have free cable, with two university-exclusive channels, plus SCOLA (international news programs from around the world via satellite).
But to address your problem, if your line of sight to the transmitter is truly blocked by the typical heavy concrete or brick dorm buildings, you’re kinda screwed. You can improve reception somewhat with bigger antennas, but the proper solution is to get an antenna up on the roof, which they’re obviously not going to permit.
I’d suggest poking around Radio Shack for some antennas, for many years they were a major source for all sorts of geeky TV and shortwave antenna stuff, although they don’t seem to carry any SW stuff lately. I think they sell those flat TV antennas that you can hang out your window, it will lie flat along the wall. Might help a bit.
Why dont you run a wire inside from the other side of the dorm that gets reception?
the other end of the hallway is a long ways down, maybe short of 150 feet. if i chose to do this, would i need to use coaxial cable or would regular 300ohm wiring do? how would i do the connections between antenna (rabbit ears) and a vcr?
You can use either, as long as the impedance is matched on each end. If you’re TV has the two screw terminals to wire an antenna directly, then it’s a 300 ohm input. If it’s the round coax plug, it’s a 75 ohm input. Similarly, if your antenna has two wires or lugs, it’s 300 ohm; if it’s got a coax connector on it, it’s 75 ohm.
Coax cable is 75 ohm, while the twin-lead wire is 300 ohm. You can get away with using the wrong stuff, but you could lose some signal quality.
I’d get a signal amplifier if you’re going to run 150’ of wire, like Radio Shacks 15-1118, for $14.99. This unit is designed for 75 ohm inputs/outputs, so you’d run coax cable. You can get a 75/300 ohm converter if your TV or your hallmate’s antenna aren’t 75 ohm.
Arjuna34
so if i did use an amp where would i best place it? i would have to have it either at the antenna or at the tv, since i can’t place it anywhere in between because it would be in the hallway.
hmm or maybe not. well i guess i could bring in one more hallmate into this scheme. someone in between the antenna and the tv…
I think your best bet would be this… Sneak into a neighbors dorm, someone that is generally clueless about this topic. Stick a splitter on their end, with the good reception, and take it down to your room.
Ok, ok, on a serious note. There are some really good antennas available at Radioshack. I am sure there would be numerous ways to mount one of these in an area that would get better reception. If you can find some way to drape the entire thing across the exterior of the building, then have it hanging out a friends window or something, I am sure that would have better results than what you have now. Oh, and next time, pick a modern dormatory. 
Steel buildings also reflect signal. It bounces off. If you are using an outdoor type YAGI antenna try pointing it toward one of the other buildings that are the opposite direction . you may get lucky.
Also try cutting about 1 inch off both ends of the last,longest, element of your outdoor type antenna.That element is called a reflector. its duty is to reflect,stop, signal from coming in on the back side of the antenna.
It is a good idea to learn where the stations broadcast tower is,it may not be at the station. Aim the antenna toward the tower.
As the guy said, is cable tv not an option for you? I think if you got it or a satellite dish, you’d have a lot of friends.
richard
Most of the time we Americans forget what the WWW stands for.
If you can hook to cable that would be best. If you can talk the administration into a dish,as if that hasn’t been tried before, do it.
I’ve got DSL and that makes me pretty popular already. And I guess I should have mentioned that I do live in a pretty old, rundown, dilapitated dorm, cable/dish is out of the question.
So it looks like I’m going have to set up an antenna in a room on the “strong”(signal-wise)side of the dorm and trail 150 feet of cable above the ceiling tiles down to my room on the “weak” side of the dorm. That is, btw, the way we hooked up a LAN here (unbeknownst to the admin).
The amp would go at the antenna end, to boost the signal. This boost will help counteract signal loss in the 150’ of cable. It also acts as a splitter.
Arjuna34