Help in Anniston, AL to Birmingham stations

[ljstudio]

I am located in Anniston, AL (36201) in a downtown area with a clear shot (no obstructions) from my roof to Birmingham, AL which is 57 miles away & my antenna height is 35 feet. My equipment is a Channel Master 5020 antenna & a Channel Master 7777 amplifier. I receive all of the other Birmingham channels- WBRC, WABM, WTTO, WIAT) clear as a bell & my Panasonic Viera TV tells me I am receiving 85% signal strength on them. The distance in miles (57) & the Azimuth are identical on all of these but the one channel that won't come in is WBRC which is NBC which is broadcasting the Olympics. It won't even come in faintly.
Here is my report & Thanks!:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d5b94f3ddecfc41

[tomfoolery]

. . . my Panasonic Viera TV tells me I am receiving 85% signal strength on them.

I have a Panasonic Viera plasma, and I've noticed that the signal strength meter has little to do with the ability to receive a particular channel. I've had ~60% strength with clean, clear, reliable reception (using a little bow tie hanging under it), and I've had ~95% strength (even 98-99% when tuning my DB4e, in my attic) with pixilation and freezing. What it's not telling you (or me) is signal quality, or so it would seem. An internet search yields complaints about the 'weak' OTA tuner section in those units, though I have no way of vetting those claims.

I'm only mentioning it as it may be of some use to those recommending equipment testing or upgrades or whatever. Mine works perfectly all the time now, with the antenna in a sweet spot, so no complaints, but it might useful for you to know what I've noticed about my setup.

[ljstudio]

Thanks, that's good information that I can use. I did not know about the weak tuner aspect of the Viera TVs...

[tomfoolery]

As I said, I didn't fully vet that info, but I was curious about why I was getting pixilation at 96-98% signal strength on the meter, and that's what I found. And I know (from reading posts on this forum) that strength and quality are two different, and measurable, variables, and quality often has more to do with the ability to receive a station than strength.

Not definitive, but something to keep in mind.

[teleview]

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The CM7777 preamplifier can be over loaded from the strong signal strength Tv transmitters at the top of the channel list , over loaded amplifiers can be the cause of odd reception problems.

Use a amplifier that is more tolerant of of strong signal strengths , use a RCA TVPRAMP1R preamplifier.

The signal you are trying to receive is Weak signal strength and the antenna might be on a dead spot , try moving the antenna up and down and change location of antenna.

Aim the antenna at about 262 degree magnetic compass direction.

Here is how to aim antennas , www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

Use a Real and Actual magnetic compass to aim antenna.

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Digital Tv tuners can develop -Digital Glitches - that are not cleared out with simple channel scans.

To clear tuner do Double Rescan.

www.wchstv.com/DoubleReScanAlert.pdf

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WBRC , Real UHF channel 50 , virtual number (6.1) FOX.

WVTM-DT , Real VHF channel 13 , virtual number (13.1) NBC.

[ADTech]

The NBC station in Birmingham is WVTM which operates on channel 13 at a modest 20 kW ERP.

Best guess is either FM or electrical/electronic interference.

Try making sure that the FM trap is "IN" on the 7777. Try adding an additional external FM trap in addition to the internal trap, you can pick one up at Radio Shack.

If that doesn't solve it, then it's probably electrical noise or something along that line.

[ljstudio]

Thanks a lot, I'll try the FM trap switch after work and then try the Radio Shack external FM trap this weekend...

[ljstudio]

The FM trap switch was set to Off and I switched it to IN and that did not help. I'll try an additional external FM trap from Radio Shack later this weekend...

[ljstudio]

Thanks Guys- I did try all of your suggestions- compass, double scan, suggested RCA preamplifier & additional Radio Shack FM trap- but still no NBC out of Birmingham but that's OK. With the RCA preamplifier instead of the Channel Master 7778 preamplifier, I now get 22 channels instead of the 15 I was previously picking up with the Channel Master so that's an improvement over what I had before.