X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: dave w on September 24, 2011, 03:38:18 PM
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FWIW
Yesterday I was rummaging through a junk box which I don't explore often, I found an old Radio Shark "Archer VHF/UHF/FM Amplifier". Since I had hacked my CM15A with the "F" connector antenna rework, I decided to hook it between the antenna coax and the CM15A to see if I could increase the pick-up range for RF remotes.
The results: It definately impoved the reception. I suddenly have 100% reception from two remote motion sensors that was no longer being received after I had accidentally knocked down the antenna in the atic.
I have no empirical measurement and will do some mobile Palm Pad investgation next week.
Point being; if you have an old TV antenna amp, it can be used make the steller reception of the CM15A even better (yeah, I'm being funny) if you have the "F" connector hack installed.
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I have an RCA ANT706A amplified indoor antenna in the attic. For getting off the air FM signals into a few receivers.
As a test. I have patched it into my CM15A with F connector and it did give good reception distances.
One that was designed to do the Analog CATV Hyper Band. Ch 38 is 307.2625 MHz to 311.7625 MHz. X10's 310 MHz is square in the middle of CATV CH 38. ;D
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..... I suddenly have 100% reception from two remote motion sensors that was no longer being received after I had accidentally knocked down the antenna in the attic.
:)% I would have guessed... it would have been easier to just set the antenna back up. rofl
Seems to me I've read a couple other posts from people using the amplified antennas. If I remember correctly one user reported errors in signal reception. Where RF noise was interpreted as X10 RF signals.
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:)% I would have guessed... it would have been easier to just set the antenna back up. rofl
OGW (oh gee whiz) I did. But moved it a little more central in the attic. Apparently the old location, by luck, was a "sweet spot" for the remote sensors. But even at the original location it seemed that weather conditions had an effect on reliable reception. Oddly the dryer the weather the worse the reception. I wonder if moisture in the roof has some effect. The antenna amp (initially) seems to have remedied that. More data to follow.
Yes the very broad band amp will add noise, but so far the amp has definately made an improvement. Me thinks replacing the CM15A (only used for all House Code RF reception) with a WGL V572, and carefully placing the CM15A on the track of an approaching CSX coal train, is the soon to be executed solution.
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Broadband amps will amplify everything within their passband but they will not increase the noise level relative to local signals like X-10 RF so they are almost always an improvement. Most of the noise is just white noise - it's not other signals. As for noise being interpreted as an X-10 signal, that's extremely unlikely. The tuning of the receiver rejects out-of-band signals. I've done extensive testing (and, while I never made use of it and have forgotten more than I remember, 50+ years ago I knew enough about this to have an FCC license) and have only seen one very wideband and very inexpensive superregenerative Chinese made receiver that tended to be overwhelmed by the amplified signal, but the result was lost signals not misinterpreted ones. Multiple superregenerative receivers in close proximity can interfere with each other but, again, the result is lost signals not ones spontaneously created out of the noise. I've never seen an X-10 signal that I (or something like an X-10 security device) had not sent and I have never managed to capture an RF collision between multiple X-10 RF sources.
How do you think the much, much, much, much, much weaker signals from satellites like those that have left our solar system are received? It's because of good antennas and lots of amplification.
There are design flaws in X-10 PLC switches and modules that will allow brownouts and spikes to cause unintended ONs which are frequently misinterpreted by observers.
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Broadband amps will amplify everything within their passband but they will not increase the noise level relative to local signals like X-10 RF so they are almost always an improvement. ............As for noise being interpreted as an X-10 signal, that's extremely unlikely.
Thank you! That's really helpful (and good to know) information (+1 from me). I am good at this point with the modified CM15A I am currently using. But knowing I could replace the antenna with an "F" connector and an amp'ed antenna is nice to know.
Thanks to dave w for starting this thread too... this is good stuff.
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Thanks to dave w for starting this thread too... this is good stuff.
Well it is too bad we have to "work so hard to make it work..." .
Remove IR filters from cameras, add new antennas to CM15A's, tape coat hangers above our Slim Line switches, hot glue dribble antennas on our motion sensors, use all sorts of work arounds in AHP, change gears in our Ninjas and Sentinels, for techies, re-tune the PLC and RF receiver section of modules, plug 7 watt nightlights in Appliance Modules to keep them from flipping back on if you look at them wrong, find ways of sticking nightlights in our two wire wall switch circuits so we can continue to use them after nanny gov takes away our incandescent bulbs, I can keep going if you want...
[SND FX: softly playing background music begins to build to cresendo]
I think it proves once you get hooked on X10 you are willing to jump through some hoops and do some tricks to stick with X10. rofl
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... I think it proves once you get hooked on X10 you are willing to jump through some hoops and do some tricks to stick with X10.
A lot of people give much of themselves by sharing technological knowledge and experiences. I have always felt that I am proof that even just average guys can benefit from what others have contributed. I really believe that what we can do with this X10 stuff..... is near limitless.