Reception Sooke, BC Canada
 

I live in Canada in Sooke, B.C. which is located on the opposite side of the straits, facing Port Angeles. I am able to get most Seattle stations pretty clear but don't get KIRO. Can someone in Port Angeles, or nearby, tell me if they get KIRO. My antenna is 30 feet high & I live on a hill overlooking the water so I think in total my antenna must be about 100 above the water. I think maybe the antenna needs to be higher to get more reception but not sure. Any thoughts from my American neighbours would be greatly appreciated.:)

May need more information, like TV Fool location report, what kind of antenna, etc.

Use these instructions to generate your TV Fool Report: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=14508

Welcome, Cesar:

It doesn.t look very promising on a generic report for Sooke; KIRO doesn't even show up at 50 feet:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...51342921aa976a

It does show up at 500 feet, but is extremely weak:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...51341f5b3eab15

If you click on the KIRO callsign in the report you can see why. The transmitter is on the left and your location is on the right
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...ALLTV%26n%3d25

Here is a report at 50 feet down by the water at postal code V9Z 0S7, coordinates
48.359322, -123.752918
KIRO does show up
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5134572140a4db

and the terrain profile there looks like this
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...ALLTV%26n%3d22

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.p...2&d=1458786242

The black arc at the bottom of the profile is the curvature of the earth.

Some of the signal makes it to Victoria, but not much to Sooke or Port Angeles.

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.p...3&d=1458848378

I used a different software to draw this terrain profile:

http://forum.tvfool.com/attachment.p...4&d=1458850717

HOWEVER, if you are getting some Seattle stations now, there might be some hope for KIRO if you upgrade your antenna system. What are you using now?

Smoke Reception
 

Hi & thanks for all the feedback.

I am using a HD Stacker TV antenna bought from Denny's TV Antenna. It is attached to a tower about 25 feet tall.
http://www.dennysantennaservice.com

I am getting lots of Seattle stations at present: Komo (incl Comet & Grit TV), King (incl justice television), KCTS, KZJO, Q13 FOX, Antenna TV and KWDK (these are clear 95% of the time). I get several other stations occasionally. My house is on a hill, I estimate around 75 feet off the water and the antenna is another 25 feet high. I have clear line of sight to port Angeles. Initially when I installed the antenna it was just sitting on my deck but when I raised it up on the tower I got many more channels (so reception is very height sensitive). Maybe it just needs to be a bit higher to get KIRO - who knows?

Thanks for all your help & special thanks to Seattle for TV since Canada makes no effort to broadcast to my community.

Thanks for the information about your antenna. Are you using a preamp? If yes, which one?
KIRO doesn't look any better at 75 feet using the same V9Z 0S7 location that I used above:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...513476e051baf4

or 100
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5134492ef6f856

However, the wavefront from the transmitter is not uniform, so a small change in height or location might find a signal hot spot.

I don't have your exact location. Can you try reports at different heights using the interactive map browser by placing the cursor at your antenna location using this:
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=90

Keep in mind that the report is only a computer simulation, and is known to be less accurate with 2Edge signals. You are already doing better than predicted, because the lower limit is NM -15 dB, which is the noise floor. Signals weaker than that are buried in the noise and can not be recovered.

If you want to experiment with no guarantee of improvement, there are several things you can try in addition to more height.

If you are not using a preamp, you can add one. If you are using a preamp, you can switch to one with a lower noise figure.

You can use a UHF antenna with more gain than the UHF section of the Stacker, and combine it with the Stacker with a UVSJ. The Stacker would then be only for VHF-High, real channels 7-13.

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/r...psngrbviyw.png

The Antennas Direct 91XG has a gain of about 15.5 dBi for channel 39. It also has a tilt feature that allows you to raise the front of the antenna to intercept signals coming in from higher elevations. Calaveras has a horizontal stack of two 91XGs, giving him an additional 2.5 dB over one:
http://www.aa6g.org/DTV/index.html

The current champ for UHF gain (16.5 dBi for channel 39) is the Antennas Direct DB8e with both panels aimed in the same direction.

Cesar,

I still think an accurate TV Fool Report would be useful. Use these instructions to generate your TV Fool Report: http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=14508

Jake

I think this shows the limitations of a two dimensional calculation. The path from Seattle to Sooke can refract over a mountain that is not directly between the transmitter and receiver. That said, the power of channel 39 is lower than other Seattle stations by too many db to be overcome by antenna gain.

i see this post and it makes me feel better about my life.. HAHAHAHaaaaa sorry :)