I’ve been fighting this since the big switchover to digital in 2009. I have tried various setups since then with various and less than acceptable results. Jumping to today, here is my setup:
Antennas Direct DB4 on a mast @ ~20ft above the ground. Brand new RG6 coax throughout, 30’ from antenna to 4 way (Motorola BDA-S4) amp/splitter. One output with 25’ coax to one TV; one with 25’ to second TV; one with 50’ to main TV; the final output is terminated at the splitter. All TVs are HD. I am 47 miles away from the transmitter.
I aimed the antenna with a magnetic compass, and verified(?) the aim with the TV fool’s TV map with ‘satellite’ mode on. (I placed the locator right on my chimney). Compass and tv map both indicate correct orientation – luckily between two small cypress trees about 20 feet away.
The tv fool report indicated that I should be able to receive all the channels I am interested in with merely a set-top antenna.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b94aa4435d510
Channel scans on all three tvs show at least 135 channels available.
Now the problem: I randomly get dropout on a variety of channels – I can watch channel 2 (real ch43) all day, then it is unwatchable due to dropout the next. Some channels dropout every few seconds all the time, others just dropout randomly, and a handful don’t show at all – even though they scanned as available.
Real channels 38, 31 (and many others I don’t watch anyway) dropout to the point of just not working. 43, 41, 7, 9 drop so often that I frequently can’t watch. On the plus side, many channels come in just fine – very strong, no dropout.
I’m at my wit’s end (a moderately short trip…), but I am committed to NOT paying for cable. What in the world could be wrong?