Another guy that need help picking up stations

nitram · 9-Mar-2012, 10:08 PM

I'm having trouble picking up stations and this is really confusing me. I have two Tivo premieres connected through a monoprice splitter My antenna is a Clearstream 2 that I got with the Tive through the Best Buy bundle. My biggest problem is that I don't know how to aim this thing. I tried mounting several different places inside and outside but the only place I could get any sort of stable reception is in the bedroom upstairs. So I mounted it there... in the closet. At around 25ft, this is the highest place I've tried. It's passable but I still can't pick up a few stations very well, the most important one that I'm lacking is PBS.

I want to note that the reception in my garage behind cinder blocks was better than ANYTHING I got outside. No trees, the house next door is kinda close, but from the front of my house I have a perfect LOS.

Here's my TV Fool reports...

@ 10 FEET http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...0b8610e361f642

@ 25 FEET http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...0b86e25ae1b35d

@ 50 FEET http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...0b8631535c74e7

On average, my Tivo reads
6.1 (FOX) ~ upper 60s
10.1 (PBS) ~ mid 20s
13.1 (NBC) ~ mid 70s
21.1 (CW) ~ upper 80s
23.1 (IND) ~ upper 50s
33.1 (ABC) ~mid 50s
34.1 (HSN) ~ mid 20s
42.1 (CBS) ~ upper 80s
68.1 (MYN) ~ lower 90s

Everything else is 0.

Electron · 10-Mar-2012, 4:52 AM

Tivo Premier 'digital broadcast tv tuners' are trouble prone. The television transmitters signal strengths are Very Strong at your location. The flat surface of the loops of the C2 UHF antenna are directed at the the television transmitters at about 240 degree magnetic compass. (South West) The reflector screen behind the flat reception loops is a screen that reflects more signal to the reception loops. Here is how to aim antennas for future reference , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html. Put the antenna in a window on the second floor that looks to the south west will get Very Good reception -> Many tv stations/channels. As a test connect a known to be good RG-6 coax cable to the antenna and run the coax DIRECT to a Tv that has a Digital Broadcast Tv Tuner. No splitters , No couplers , No Tivo , No nothing , just the coax Direct to the Tv with a Broadcast Digital Tv Tuner. The Tv Must Scan for Digital Broadcast Tv Channels some times called the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' because the tv transmissions travel through the air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna. Do Not scan for cable tv channels. How is the reception now??

Electron · 10-Mar-2012, 5:00 AM

The broadcast digital tv tuners in the Tivos are trouble prone. So that you are not tempted to connect the Tivo during the test , I recommend disconnect the Tivo Completely and put the Tivo in a room where there is no Tv.

Dave Loudin · 10-Mar-2012, 1:40 PM

The antenna should be just fine, and it is almost equally sensitive over a very wide range of angles. Just aiming to the southwest as a start should work.

The splitter you linked to is a 4- way. Are you using all of them? If not, then either get a splitter with the right number of ports or get terminators for the ports you are not using. With the strength of your signals, you just might be getting multipath from signals coming in the open ports.

nitram · 12-Mar-2012, 7:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Loudin

The antenna should be just fine, and it is almost equally sensitive over a very wide range of angles. Just aiming to the southwest as a start should work.

The splitter you linked to is a 4- way. Are you using all of them? If not, then either get a splitter with the right number of ports or get terminators for the ports you are not using. With the strength of your signals, you just might be getting multipath from signals coming in the open ports.

Thanks for the reply, I finally found time to play around with this thing again. Dave, you were right on the 4-way splitter. I bought and hooked up a 2-way and saw around a 5% signal boost, but I still cannot pick up PBS. I still don't understand why my signal is better inside the house than outside?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electron

The broadcast digital tv tuners in the Tivos are trouble prone. So that you are not tempted to connect the Tivo during the test , I recommend disconnect the Tivo Completely and put the Tivo in a room where there is no Tv.

Electron, I also attempted to remove the splitter and Tivo from the setup, but honestly saw no further improvements compared to what I was seeing earlier.

Electron · 12-Mar-2012, 10:45 PM

The next step to try is , The tv channels of the of tvfool radar map green reception zone are Very Strong . PBS is Very Strong at your location. And so are reflected tv signals that are received from the surrounding area. With the antenna inside the house the signals are reduced. I recommend a , 1296F variable attenuator form ,http://www.solidsignal.com , to Dial Down the signal strength of the received main signals and reflected signals. That way the tuner can more easly filter out the out of phase reflected signals. Also you can contact the engineering department of WBIQ UHF channel 39 PBS. Many times the engineering departments of of tv stations will be able to help with local receptions. The engineering department are interested in the reception of the signal and many times will bring test equipment to the house to have a look at whats up with the reception and help you resolve the situation.

nitram · 13-Mar-2012, 4:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electron

The next step to try is , The tv channels of the of tvfool radar map green reception zone are Very Strong . PBS is Very Strong at your location. And so are reflected tv signals that are received from the surrounding area. With the antenna inside the house the signals are reduced. I recommend a , 1296F variable attenuator form ,http://www.solidsignal.com , to Dial Down the signal strength of the received main signals and reflected signals. That way the tuner can more easly filter out the out of phase reflected signals. Also you can contact the engineering department of WBIQ UHF channel 39 PBS. Many times the engineering departments of of tv stations will be able to help with local receptions. The engineering department are interested in the reception of the signal and many times will bring test equipment to the house to have a look at whats up with the reception and help you resolve the situation.

Good info. I'll try this as soon as I can... thanks.