Antenna Selection Marin County
 

I am looking to get OTA HDTV so that I can throw away Directv.

My plot: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1dda9ad7270320
I would love to get ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox/PBS, and it appears they are all from pretty much the same direction.
I will do an gable-mount antenna facing south, but I would love to get a more compact array over a ten to twelve foot one, as my wife will go nuts.

There is an existing double-coax line at the gable from the satellite dish, and it home runs to my closet in the basement and then to the TV locations.

Thanks in advance!

A Simple reception situation. That will receive Many Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

Station K14MW-D has a application with the FCC - Federal Communications Commision to transmit on Digital VHF low band Channel 03.

And KTVJ-LP has a application to transmit on Digital VHF low band channel 04.

The current Tv channels are made up of 3 Tv channel bands of frequencies.

VHF low band channels 2 thru 6.

VHF high band channels 7 thru 13.

UHF band channels 14 thru 51.

So your location can have Tv channels in All 3 Tv channel bands.

More Tv stations will be transmitting on the VHF low band channels in the future.

I recommend install a , All channel , All band , antenna Now.

I recommend above the roof in such a manner that the roof and house are not blocking reception to the , north west , south east , east.

For reception of , in the Current Plus Pending Digital Channel List , the Digital Tv stations down the list to and including , KKPX-DT REAL UHF Digital channel 41 , virtual number (65.1-2-3) ION and Qubo and ION Life.

Install a Winegard HD7082P antenna aimed at about 125 degree magnetic compass direction , here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.
________

Install a Winegard HDP-269 preamp.

________

For 1 Tv connected use No splitter.

For 2 Tv's connected use a , HFS-2D , 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , HFS-3D , 3 way splitter.

For 4 Tv's connected use a , HFS-4D , 4 way splitter.

Buy the HFS splitters at , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.hollandelectronics.com.

______________________________________

As always , trees and tree leaves do a good job of , reflecting , reducing , blocking , Digital Tv reception and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own roof and house.

It is best to install the HD7082P antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the directions of reception including your own roof and house.

The Tv's Must Channel Scan for the Broadcast Tv channels , often named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the Air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

Some Digital Tv's will automatic channels scan for cable tv channels.

Go into the Tv setup menu and Select , 'Air Channels' / 'Antenna Channels'.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

__________________________________________

Here are places to buy antennas and etc. , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.amazon.com , http://www.winegarddirect.com.

__________________________________________

I recommend Remove All satellite system , multi-switches , diplexers , splitters , amplifiers , power injectors , power supplies , and etc..

And if there are any cable tv componets from the past , remove them also.

__________________________________________________

Here are some Strong and Sturdy antenna mounts , http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html , http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html if using the eave antenna mount use the #4560.
http://www.ronard.com.

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing the word ronard in the soidsignal search box or buy from ronard.

http://www.solidsignal.com.

I'd suggest a Winegard HD7694p aimed South East of you. That antenna is not that large, IMO. You could also try something like the CS2-V if you want something a bit more "dishlike" with higher WAF. :) I think either would likely serve you well.

As long as that coax isn't used for anything else, it's fine to use.

Good luck and report back.

OK, I just ordered the ClearStream™ 2V. I will install it next week when it arrives and report back.

Is there a particular ceremony that is prescribed for the removal of the dish to appease the gods of HDTV? Perhaps drink some single malt from it?

Thanks so much. You have no idea how confusing this is for us ordinary folks!

Well, there's always thermite on a cold night! :D

But seriously, if you own the equipment (which I assume you do), you can likely unload it on ebay for a few bucks if you part it out. The LNB might be worth something. I think I got about $15 for the LNB on the dish that was here when I moved in. I reused the mount and scrapped the rest, but I did consider making a bird bath with a perch on it! Kinda seemed appropriate! ;)

Feel free to ask questions. We're all pretty much ordinary folks here.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

When I decommissioned a Wildblue dish from my rooftop, I kept the dish and used it to pull my granddaughter around the yard in the snow. It made a decent snow saucer.

Here's what I would do.:D

So I installed the Clearstream 2v pointing 125 degrees at 25'
No amplifier (hasn't arrived yet), around 50' of coax.


No channels.

Next step is to install preamp, then upgrade to Winegard antenna.

Will keep posted

Don't say that! You should have channels. Did you do an antenna channel scan on your tv? That's required. Plus tune it from east to south to find the best aim. The plot is a starting point that doesn't account for everything that is a factor at your location.

Ok, on my Samsung I now have KPIX, KRON, and KQED, but no others. Antenna at 137 degrees magnetic.

I did channel scan on my Sharp 6 times and got nothing. I scan after every change in orientation, correct?

Picture is beautiful on PBS!

So I have one weird situation. I can now get 10 channels (a few repeats), so I am getting close. Once I get Fox and NBC, I will declare victory.

The issue is that while my Samsung LED gets these channels, I get nada on my Sharp Aquos 42". It finds no channels. I even moved it into the room where my Samsung was and plugged it into the same Coax connector just to make sure it wasn't wiring. Any idea why this would happen.

I have to say I am also disappointed to see that neither the Samsung nor the Sharp has an Antenna strength indicator. Makes antenna pointing harder!

How old is that Sharp? Have you check its specifications to ensure it has an ATSC tuner, then followed its specific setup instructions for use with an antenna? The Aquos product has been out for over ten years.

If you are re-using in-place cable from the satellite service, have you removed any multi-switches or the like that were needed for the satellite service?

Your location is severely terrain-blocked. You have a 1000' peak dead in the line of sight to Sutro then a 400' ridge line immediately in front of you. You will find that when signals are blocked by terrain such as this, the available signals might be in various locations (if they're even there). You may have to try multiple antenna mounting locations to see if you can find one that makes enough stations happy to keep the wife happy with the reception. You may also find that you're going to need a larger, high-gain antenna so that you can better deal with the multipath that is assuredly present, so the wife might end up unhappy anyway.

You might also try an FM trap to see if that helps with KNTV. You've got near line of sight to a cluster of FM transmitters that overlooks Sausalito.

As I stated before , and will now expand on.

The Tv Must Channel Scan for the Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

The Tv tuner Must Be a Digital Broadcast Tv tuner , also known as a ATSC tuner.

DO NOT channel scan for (QAM) cable tv channels.

And also DO NOT channel scan for Analog broadcast Tv channels , by them selfs.

The Tv tuner in the Tv Must Be a Digital Broadcast Tv tuner , also known as a ATSC tuner.

Often named the 'Air Channels' / 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv setup menu.

-->If<-- the Tv does not have a Digital Broadcast Tv tuner also known as a ATSC tuner then a Converter Box must be used to receive the Digital Broadcast Tv channels.

Here are some converter boxes.

http://www.epvision.com.

http://www.channelmasterstore.com.

Also I recommend the antenna setup I recommended.

And as I also stated , All satellite system hardware must be removed , multi switches , diplexers , splitters , amplifiers , power supplies , power injectors , and etc..

If there is any cable tv system wardware from the past , that must be removed.

Yes it it Ok to use the coaxes that are in or on the house , for the antenna system.

__________________________________

As a Test , to prove reception , connect a New looooong coax to the antenna and run the New looooong coax from the antenna through a open door or open window , direct to the Tv , No splitters , No couplers , No ground block , No amplifier , No nothing.

Scan for Digital Broadcast Tv channels.

What is reception like now??

So I have the ClearStream™ 2V, and I even raised it another 5 feet in a vain attempt to get more signal. Is this a bad choice of antenna?

Also, I will try different mounting locations, but will it ever be the case where I would point in a radically different direction than the tower? It seems most of my signal comes from 139 degrees. Would I ever try 90 degrees or 200?

Thanks so much.

Sharp is from 2007 or 8, so it is not new. But is is a LC42D62U and has an integrated ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuner. I used the channel search function specifying over the air (not cable). It runs the 70-channel sweep, but finds nothing. I tried resetting by unplugging the cable and running channel scan, then plugging it in and running channel scan again. At one point, I got one channel, so I suspect the tuner is not blown.

I am using the feed cable from the satellite because it is there, but it connects in the wiring closet to a standard splitter and then to the two TV locations. No satellite gear inline.

http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/pdf/tel_man_LC42D62U.pdf

Check pg 24.

Pages 22 and 23 of the LC42D62U owners manual show a signal strength meter.

Pages 22 and 23 also have information about setting up the Tv to scan for , Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

And also else where in the owners manual is information about , cable tv channels , broadcast tv channels.

Scan for the Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

Yes, in fact the manual does show that meter. Sadly, the TV has a cool feature where that option is greyed out and unavailable until a signal is found using channel scan. And it does not seem to work for channels that it has not found already.

Does the Tv find any A.T.S.C. Digital Broadcast Tv Channels??

It found one, once. That is when I was able to try the signal strength meter. But I lost that one on a rescan.