Can I hook up two HDTV antennas to my TV to get a better signal?
I want to get the best possible signal of over-the-air channels on my HDTV. It's sometimes hard to get the channels to come in. If I get a splitter and hook up several HDTV antennas on different sides of my home, would that be beneficial? Thanks for any answers.
What would happen if I put many antennas very close together to receive a weak signal? Would they receive the signal worse than only one antenna due to the light signal "collapsing" in many antennas instead of just one?
One approach to look at it is an Antenna Array. Antennas can be placed in certain patterns in order to increase their broadcast\receiving Gain (the figure of merit for “how much power the Antenna can accept from a particular direction”).Meaning, you can increase the sensitivity of the array in certain directions, and point at the direction of you weak signal.This, however, assumes you know where the signal is coming from. If you don't, spatial diversity is a better approach.Read more about Antenna arrays here
Can the same antenna receive and transmit signals at the same time?
Yes, and often to save space and costs engineers will do this (it’s less effective than having multiple antennas, but there are plenty of factors that go into design choices and often sacrificing the second antenna is worth some other benefit).The interesting part happens behind the antenna. We want to be able to separate the transmitted and received signals, so that we can process the received signal without interference. This is done using what is known as a circulator.A circulator is a passive (meaning unpowered) device that typically uses ferrites (magnets) to make sure that signals can only travel in one direction through it. It typically has three ‘ports’, labeled as 1, 2, and 3 above. So in the image above, any signal coming in on port one can only go to port two. Same for two to three, and three to one. Just follow the arrow!Using this, we can set up our antenna and transmit and receive signals as such. We put the antenna on one port, say in our case we put it on port one. The transmit line would then feed into port three, and the receive line would come out from port two. The signal going into port three is redirected entirely to port one containing the antenna, which radiates out. Any radiation picked up by the antenna on port one is redirected entirely to port two, which is what we had designated as our receive line. Since we never send information out on the receive line, a signal doesn’t go into port two, and so nothing travels out of port three.In this way, the transmit and receive signals are isolated from each other. This component usually happens at the very front of a transceiver, perhaps after only the antenna and a filter.Alternatively, you could use a software defined radio to process the signals yourself. Software defined radios try to emulate components using code algorithms and a microprocessor. I don’t know for sure that you can mimic the behavior of a circulator in this way, but I’d imagine people have at least tried!
How To Boost FM/AM Radio Signals ? (Copper Wire Antennas)?
I have this nice sounding radio,Well It's a decent radio the CD and Tape players don't work but the actual radio works.The signals aren't so great even though I live around mountains the Radio is a Philips FW-C550 Mini Hifi System (I guess that's what the front says) There's not really antennas just wires two to be exact coming from the back and those serve as antennas I guess and I can only get a few channels but there's about 2-3 I listen to and there's more I bet I could get If the Antennas were better.How Can I boost the signals ? Can't get a huge antenna bolted to my roof since I live in an apartment and don't really want to spend too much money or none at all If possible.Not sure just give me some polite suggestions thanks a lot.
Antenna design: Cell phone signal repeater?
My dad's house is in a coverage spot, except there is literally like... a cutout shape of his house on the coverage map where the bars drop from 5 to zero. I think it's because the geographic shape of the land around the house, and think if the cell phones were higher up, they would catch a signal. So I want to put a big antenna on top of the house or something, and somehow run the signal down to the house and broadcast it down there. The thing is, I don't really know much about antennas and signals yet. i imagine you'd need to build ( or buy) a electronic component to send out signals from the phone too. Any info helps, I'd like to buy the device if i can, but still want to know the physics behind it.
Is it possible to combine signals from two dish antennas pointing to the same satellite for improving signal quality?
What you asked is, in fact, the basis for something called “space diversity”.There is hardly a line-of-sight link between transmitter and receiving antenna. Most often than not, signals follow different paths by getting reflected from buildings, hills and other obstacles.Source: Robust Satellite-based Vehicle Localization in Urban EnvironmentsThese multiple signals may combine destructively[1] due to some phase errors introduced while reflections, causing multipath fading[2] .If we use more than one (let’s say two) antennas, we can mitigate this effect. Each antenna will face different surroundings and the fading dips would be at different instants for both. By combining signals from both antennas, we can enhance the received signal quality.Ofcourse, We have to choose whether to use identical antennas or different[3] ones, and again how to combine[4] signals from two antennas.Footnotes[1] Constructive and Destructive Interference[2] Fading - Wikipedia[3] Antenna diversity - Wikipedia[4] Diversity combining - Wikipedia
Does the number of antennas on a Wi-Fi router have any effect on the Wi-Fi range?
Yes, but probably NOT in the way that you think. More antennas is not likely to give you more maximum distance, but if they are properly deployed, they will give you more coverage within that maximum distance.A single antenna gives you a rough toroid (think filled-in donut) of coverage: it broadcasts and receives signals that are roughly perpendicular to the antenna. A second antenna in same plane (i.e., pointed the same way) will cause interference effects that will increase range on the plane of the antennas but by destructive interference cause issues elsewhere.A second antenna in an orthogonal plane will create a separate donut, resulting in coverage that's closer to spherical.Add to this that we're now using multiple frequencies and you can get all sorts of interesting effects.
Why WiFi routers always have two antennas?
No, it won't always have two antennas.My WiFi router doesn't have single antenna in it.This antenna is just got the proper of transmitting the signals efficiently. Consider if you're in a two floor building.If you kept the antenna vertical it'll transmit signal efficiently in horizontal direction.If you kept the antenna horizontal it'll transmit signal efficiently in vertical direction.If yours have two antennas and you're in two floor building I'll recommend you to keep one in horizontal and another one in vertical. In this way you can use your router more efficiently.Thankyou..-Jay B
Can you connect two antennas to one tv with a cable splitter?
It's a bad idea. Feeding two similar (same frequency band) antennas into any type of combiner invites multipath distortion plus capacitive interaction between the two. You're more likely to wind up with less signal strength than you have when using either one alone. The way to get more channels is a better single antenna, and maybe a rotor. If you're using an indoor antenna, get a full size one above the roof or at least in the attic if you can. If your antenna is fixed (non-moving), and your TV stations are in different directions from your home, consider a rotor if you have a full size antenna above the roof.
Indoor Positioning: Can I use two WiFi receivers to locate a wireless router?
In theory, this can be done, using triangulation based on signal strengths. In practice, it doesn't work that well, because path loss in most places where WiFi is deployed is far too unpredictable to translate a signal strength into a distance from the access point. The drop in signal strength in most indoor WiFi deployments measures not how far you are from the AP, but instead how many walls are between you and the AP, especially when the walls are the steel stud construction that is pervasive in commercial building construction these days. In one field deployment using a directional antenna with a beam path that passed through a hallway, I could estimate how many people were in the hallway by monitoring the signal strength drop on the link. Too many people and the link would drop entirely. There are also situations (surprisingly common in modern construction) that can lead to ducting, which results in much lower than expected path loss.So while the triangulation strategies offered by the other answerers to this question are theoretically possible, in practice you won't get useful results; the irregularities and unpredictability of path loss result in the "circles of uncertainty" shown in Nachiappan Valliappan's answer looking more like the watch in that famous Dali painting.