Stumped on reception in Everett Wa

[spiderterp]

Hi there, I recently cut the cord and I am having some trouble figuring out why I am not receiving some channels that look like I should be receiving them. See info below and I would appreciate any help! Hopefully I have provided the necessary info. Thanks in advance.

Antenna: Antennas Direct - ClearStream 2V Long-Range HDTV Antenna Model: C2-V-CJM 50+mile

Pointed around 155 degree (Southish)

Pre-Amp installed (do not have the specs for the pre-amp but can email the guy that installed it and ask if necessary).

3 way splitter installed after preamp

Tuner: Tablo 4 tuner DVR

Link to TV Fool analysis:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d24334a2051f46

The channels that I want and I am receiving: ION, IONLife, CW(not well), CBS, FOX, KIRO, KONG, AntTV, HOT-TV

The channels I want and am NOT receiving: ABC, NBC, better reception for the CW.

[ADTech]

What is the antenna looking into?

[spiderterp]

If you mean which direction it is looking South with a skew to the East.

[ADTech]

What is in front of the antenna? Open space, forest, etc...

[spiderterp]

I guess I would say pretty much open space. The antenna is mounted on our roof, no mountains between my house and the towers. Some trees I suppose but not a dense forest or anything. I am not sure how to get the terrain map. I hope this helps.

[ADTech]

Can you identify the pre-amp in use?

Did you test reception in the mounting location before actually mounting the antenna?

[spiderterp]

We did not test reception, we installed the antenna in the only location we could access. The pre amp is a Winegard LNA-200.

[GroundUrMast]

The terrain rises significantly south of downtown Everett. As a result, you don't have a clear line of site toward either Queen Anne or Capitol Hill in Seattle. I would suggest you exhaust all reasonable options in an attempt to find an acceptable mounting location for the existing antenna... The C2V is a well built antenna and can be an excellent fit in many Seattle market applications... But, you're in a pretty deep hole for Seattle TV reception. Most of the residential areas in the Everett city core would still have 2-edge conditions if they used a 100' tower to mount their antenna.

If I lived in the same area and was starting from scratch, I'd opt for a full size antenna system such as an Antennas Direct DB8E + Antennacraft Y10713 + RCA TVPRAMP1R preamplifier. This combination provides the best gain and aiming flexibility of any that I'm aware of. Still, aiming the antennas will be an exercise in compromise. I'd start with the Y10713 pointed at about 210° (splitting between Capitol Hill and Gold Mt.) and fine tune from there, trying to make real CH-9, 11 & 13 reliable. I'd also expect to need to tweak the aim of the UHF antenna to find the best overall reception reliability. If your tuner has a signal quality meter, it can be a huge help when fine tuning antenna aim. Again, in the Seattle market, like many other markets, aim is a compromise.

I'd expect that any obstructions such as trees or building material between the antenna and transmitting tower make for less reliable reception... The closer the obstruction to your receiving antenna, the more likely you'll have problems.

[ADTech]

Most likely, the antenna needs to be moved, probably higher in the air, perhaps elsewhere. TV signals often don't follow our wishes for convenient or easily accessible mounting locations

You could go with a much larger, conventional-type antenna and it might be more directional and may work better if that's the only spot you have that you can use.

You're in a valley and are shadowed from the signals from the downtown area, so most of the signals are passing over your head with only diffracted (bent) signals reaching your rooftop. Such signals are usually much weaker and they tend to get scattered and/or layered by the time they get to your antenna. That's why it's important to both test reception and to be willing to try different locations and heights for the antenna.

That pre-amp doesn't raise any concern for overloading, it's fairly robust in that regard.

[Ben Myers]

Originally Posted by spiderterp

Hi there, I recently cut the cord and I am having some trouble figuring out why I am not receiving some channels that look like I should be receiving them. See info below and I would appreciate any help! Hopefully I have provided the necessary info. Thanks in advance.

Antenna: Antennas Direct - ClearStream 2V Long-Range HDTV Antenna Model: C2-V-CJM 50+mile

Pointed around 155 degree (Southish)

Pre-Amp installed (do not have the specs for the pre-amp but can email the guy that installed it and ask if necessary).

3 way splitter installed after preamp

Tuner: Tablo 4 tuner DVR

Link to TV Fool analysis:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...d24334a2051f46

The channels that I want and I am receiving: ION, IONLife, CW(not well), CBS, FOX, KIRO, KONG, AntTV, HOT-TV

The channels I want and am NOT receiving: ABC, NBC, better reception for the CW.

The problem stations seem to be at magnetic south or about 195 degrees true.

[spiderterp]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it. It appears I need to get my antenna higher.

[GroundUrMast]

I would try that before replacing the C2V.

[Ben Myers]

Originally Posted by spiderterp

Thanks to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it. It appears I need to get my antenna higher.

Or turn it more to the west.

[spiderterp]

If I were to mount the antenna at a higher location does anyone have a resource I can use or advice as to how to calculate what the ideal height would be?

[ADTech]

Raise it until it works or you run out of capability to raise it.

You can play with the height in the TVFool simulator all you want for entertainment, but small changes in height are well within the error margin of a number of the input variables which leads to a useless calculation.

[GroundUrMast]

Though it's counter-intuitive, in a few cases, lowering the antenna has solved reception problems for a few folks. Be persistant and resist the temptaion to dismiss odd locations that may seem like they aren't worth investigating. You may get lucky right away, but this could take some trial and error.

[brg88tx]

spider, how do you like the 4 tuner tablo? how good is the tuner compared to the tuner in your tv? I'm debating about getting one.

[spiderterp]

brg88tx, so far I really like the Tablo. I was able to use an old Seagate HD, formatted fine and I did not have to buy a new one. The tuner is great, it shows the signal strength plus you choose which channels you want to show up in the guide. I appreciated being able to eliminate displaying shopping and religious channels. I love the feature that allows you to watch from anywhere, you can access your dvr recordings or live tv. From ANYWHERE in the world. I love this because while on a business trip to a country where I did not speak the language I was frustrated that I could not stream Netflix in the evening. It also displays closed captions which I really needed as I have Deaf friends.

As for the cons, when you are watching a recorded show it does not display when you fast forward so you have to guess when to stop, if you are watching a recorded show and stop it and want to pick it up again later you have to start all over from the beginning. It does not come with its own remote so you need a tablet or Roku to control it. I use my iPad for setup and troubleshooting and the Roku for daily use. When you are watching a show and go back to the guide to see what is on next you have to go all the way out to the main menu for the guide (on the Roku) to refresh itself. In my view the cons are fairly minor, I looked on the Tablo forum and there are many complaints of the same issues so I am hoping for an update in the future.

I hope this helps!