Newbie looking for some expert advice

[BoxeoBoricua78]

Hello everyone, new to the forum AND the OTA movement. Here's my situation: My wife and I just cancelled our DirecTV services about a week ago (wife was fed up with the $160 bill every month) and have decided to try the OTA experience. The house (Townhouse w/3 floors & basement) is fully wired with coaxial cable for servicing at least 5 TV's. From reading some posts on here I understand that in order to use existing coaxial run I will need to eliminate all the DirecTV Multi-Switches and splitters. My dilemma is that the channels I wish to receive are located just under 100 miles from me. I would want to pick up at least one NYC signal (WNYW Fox New York) to keep up with my favorite sports teams. I am aware that the possibilities of me being able to receive a reliable signal from the towers on the Empire State building to my location (Lehigh Valley, PA) are slim to none, but I figured I would let the experts at TV Fool give me their honest opinion on this before I make any purchases on equipment that may be useless for my application. Would be happy with just the local Philadelphia major network affiliates, but would be THRILLED to have the NYC channels as well. Thank you all in advance.

Here's my TV Fool TV signal analysis results
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b94e5ef7f79fa

[BoxeoBoricua78]

ANY input would be helpful guys...I need to know what antenna to spend my money on, thinking about a Channel Master CM-5020 or CM-3020. I am approximately 78 miles from the towers on the Empire State building in Manhattan. If I were to mount one of these antennas on my roof with a mast it would sit at about 40-50 feet above ground. I called Antennas Direct and spoke to someone there who told me that from my location I would NOT pick up any Philadelphia channels, only local Scranton channels, which was news to me. Again, ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated folks. Thanks.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b941658c405ef

[tonyp063]

I'll defer to the experts, but honestly I don't think you have a snowball's chance in Hades of getting any NYC stations.
The only one I can see on your report is WABC at a -22 NM
WNYW doesn't even show at all.

Were it me I'd save my money & just work with the Philly & Penobscot Knob transmitters

[BoxeoBoricua78]

Thanks for the input tonyp063, I also noticed that WNYW does not appear on my report, what confuses me is that it's showing 8 signals from over 100 miles away, 3 of which are over 140 miles away but a lone NY signal. I don't know what to make of it but, that's why I'm here looking for help. I may just have to take your suggestion and concentrate on the Philly and Scranton towers.

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WNYW will not be received due to the mountains blocking the signal and transmission signal strength is not strong enough to reach your location due to the mountains at your location blocking the signal.

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The Philadelphia Digital Broadcast Tv Signal Strengths at your location are very weak signal strength.

I recommend receive the , Mountain Top , Scranton , Digital Broadcast Tv Transmitters.

And the 3 Allen Town transmitters that are , 2.3 and 2.2 miles South East.

WBPH , WLVT , WFMZ. are Very Strong Signal Strength and will be received with any Tv antenna aimed in any direction.

I recommend Above the Peak of the Roof install a , http://www.antennacraft.net , HBU44 antenna aimed at about , 346 degree magnetic compass direct.

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

Use a Real and Actual magnetic compass to aim antenna.

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For 5 or more Tv's connected use a , http://www.channelmasterstore.com , CM3418 distribution amplifier.

Screw on 75 ohm terminators on any unused outputs of the distribution amplifier.

Check , http://www.amazon.com , for the distribution amplifier and 75 ohm terminators.

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Here are some above the roof antenna mounts.

www.ronard.com/909911.html
Use the , ronard(911) , 5 foot tripod antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html.
Use the , ronard(4560) , eave antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html.
Measure around the chimney and use a , ronard(2212) , ronard(2218) , ronard(2224) .

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at , http://www.ronard.com.

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As always , trees and tree leaves , plants and plant leaves , have a Negative Effect on Broadcast Tv Reception and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own roof and building.

Some and not all Negative Effects are.

Absorbing and Blocking Reception.

Multi-Path Tv Signal Reflections Bouncing All Around.

The Best Practice is to install the HBU44 antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions to reception in the directions of reception , North West , South East , South.

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The Tv's Must Channel Scan for the , OTA=Over The Air , ATSC-Digital Broadcast Tv Stations/Channels , often named the ~ DTV Channels ~ Antenna Channels ~ Air Channels ~ in the Tv Setup Menu because the transmissions travel thjrough the Air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

Some digital tv's will Automatic channel scan for cable tv channels.

DO NOT channel scan for cable tv channels.

Go into the Tv Setup Menu and select ~ DTV Channels ~ Antenna Channels ~ Air Channels ~.

Channel Scan for , ATSC-Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

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You can Test reception of the Philadelphia Tv Stations.

Aim the HBU44 antenna at about 174 degree magnetic compass direction and scan for channels.

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Digital Broadcast TvTuners can develop - Digital Glitches - that are not cleared out with simple channel scans.

To clear tuner do Double Rescan.

http://www.wchstv.com/DoubleReScanAlert.pdf

[BoxeoBoricua78]

Thanks teleview, I appreciate the in depth explanation as well.

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Some Tv stations are streaming the programing and can be received over the internet with computer , some computers can send to the Tv.

And some Tv's have the internet built in to the Tv.

And there are devices that can send the video and audio from the computer to the Tv.

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You can put a Sling Box connected to a Tuner at a location , a friends house or realitives house , that will receive WNYW , and stream to your computer / Tv.
www.slingbox.com
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And you can check into this. http://www.aereo.com.

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Here is a way to receive free satellite Tv channels.

It is , FTA-ST = Free To Air-Satellite Tv.

Here are starting places to learn more.

www.ftalist.com

www.manhattan-digital.net

[BoxeoBoricua78]

That is definitely something to think about, I was actually considering getting a Roku box as well to compliment the antenna and compensate for coverage i'm not getting from the OTA channels. Good stuff teleview, keep it coming folks...i'm like a sponge right now, absorbing any and all information coming my way on this subject, and the forum is a great tool to network and learn new things from people that actually know what they're talking about...research is KEY for making informed buying decisions.

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Consumer Reports , December 2013 , Page 42.

Has Pratical and Useful information about Roku and Other streaming devices and the pay services that can be received.

The monthly cost of the streaming services are Low.

However if ordering pay per-view movies and other pay per-view , the cost of the pay per-views add up quick and the monthly cost will not be low.