Reception Question for Lancaster, Pa

tkhk · 16-Oct-2011, 2:40 AM

My husband and I are new to this which seems to be a common first line to many posts as I've gone through many posts as to not bug you guys but alas, I am here. We have an RCA 60 Mile Long Range Antenna (just purchased for $56 from walmart) and Radio Shack 12-259 Preamp, also new. Here is our analysis...
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...60b5e0b9a2e98e

Our issue is that we can not get channel 6.1 ABC and the 12.1 PBS is also very sketchy. We put the antenna on the top of the house aimed at 85 degrees. I am very pleased that we get the ION channel so do not want to change direction but thought that since we get 100% of the 3.1 KYW channel that seems to be on the same line as the 6.1 of which we literallly get a "no signal" option??? Any ideas? We do get (34 channels) all other networks including the CW. We are shooting for signal at three tv's. Would like to be able to run tivo also.

John Candle · 16-Oct-2011, 5:40 AM

What is the RCA antenna model number?? I Never Ever recommend radio shack antenna amplifiers. As you can see , the tvfool pending applications included , only digital , radar plot shows that Most of tv stations are to the north west and west. Is there some reason that you choose to receive WPVI-ABC over WHTM-ABC and WMAR-ABC to the north west and west?? WHYY-PBS is Very Low in signal strength and Will require a very large antenna to receive. What about WITF-PBS to the north west that is much easyer to receive??

John Candle · 16-Oct-2011, 6:01 AM

If the antenna is a ANT751 , channel 7 thru 13 , 14 thru 51 antenna , I recommend turn the antenna around and aim the antenna at about 300 degree magnetic compass. The ANT751 is not designed to receive channels 2 thru 6 in the VHF tv low band. Here is how to aim tv antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

tkhk · 16-Oct-2011, 1:27 PM

The antenna model number is ANT3036WR. We will replace the preamp. What do you suggest? The reason why we are aiming at 84 degrees is to get ION, which we get at about 75% reception. We really do not want to give that up which is why we didn't turn the antenna to the 300degree mark. We did have it in that direction initially but no Ion. If we turn it to the 300 degree mark we do get all networks except Ion so that may be the tradeoff. I was just very confused why the ABC-WPVI is on the same line as KYW and we get that perfectly and 0 from ABC-WPVI. We do get WHYY at 50% so we are ok with that. Pointing it at Philly gives us everything we want except ABC so were not able to watch the NASCAR race which kind of dissappointed my husband so I thought I might see if a better antenna/preamp would work or if we are pretty well stuck.

Dave Loudin · 16-Oct-2011, 4:49 PM

Your difficulties with WPXI stem from their use of ch. 6. Very few broadcasters stayed or returned to the lo-VHF (2-6) band when analog broadcasting ceased in 2009. The noise in that band, especially from electronics, is worse than what was accounted for when the FCC allocated DTV stations. Even TVFool's estimate of reception in this band is a bit overstated, so the noise margin is not quite what is predicted. Add the craptacular preamp that is probably overloading from local TV and/or FM, and you don't have much hope with reception.

Your antenna looks like it has elements to handle ch. 6, so try a high-input preamp like the Winegard HDP-269 first.

John Candle · 16-Oct-2011, 5:48 PM

There are alot of broadcasters transmitting on channels 2 thru 6. Here is the FCC Federal Communications Commision , list. It does not look like the low band channels of 2 thru 6 are going away any time soon. http://transition.fcc/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&chan=02&cha2=06&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=1&dist=dlat 2=&malt2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9

John Candle · 16-Oct-2011, 5:54 PM

I will be back with correct recommendations for your reception of the channels you will like to receive.

tkhk · 16-Oct-2011, 6:49 PM

Thanks for all the info, am anxious to hear the rest. I have now just hooked up a digital converter box to my old HUMAX series 2 TIVO box and my signals have dropped greatly. Will the new Winegard amp help that?

Dave Loudin · 16-Oct-2011, 10:45 PM

The preamp will compensate for the losses in splitting the signal. If you still can't get WPXI, then you will need to add a low-VHF antenna to your system.

John, at RabbitEars, you will note that there are precious few full-power stations in 2-6, with only 8 nationwide on 6. There are at least 30 stations on each on virtually all channels from 7 on up.

John Candle · 17-Oct-2011, 5:35 AM

I recommend a Antennas Direct PA-18 preamp. Also turn the antenna for best reception of WPVI channel 6.

John Candle · 17-Oct-2011, 5:52 AM

Analog tv transmission has not ceased in the USA or Canada. Read and understand about , REAL Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , Virtual Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , Analog Broadcast Tv Channels , http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=695. The tvfool radar plots show both the Analog and Digital Tv stations.

tkhk · 17-Oct-2011, 2:46 PM

Thanks so much for the advice!

tkhk · 17-Oct-2011, 4:08 PM

I am curious. My husband travels a lot for work and this has been pretty stressful for him so I am hiring an antenna installer to move our antenna to the highest part of our roof and he is coming out on Thursday. At only $86 per hour I'm guessing it really should not take him more than a couple of hours. I am wondering if it really will be worth it to move it (I am guessing that it would go from about 25' high to 35' high) and number 2, the installer is reccomending a preamp he has in stock, the winegard AP-8700 preamp, is that as good as your suggestion and will it work as well? And finally, we did have another smaller antenna that did get the Harrisburg stations perfectly so is it possible to have him just add the other antenna to the mast or will we get some ghosting and need some sort of switch to go back and forth? We were hoping to add a DVR to the setup and if we need to add a switch then the dvr would not work if the switch was not flipped. It may be a crazy question but I thought I would ask. The other antenna was an RCA ant751R. I was extremely happy with the quality as it was rated for 36 miles and pulled in up to 55 miles, i just wanted to get a bigger one that was maybe more consistent with it's signal but if we added the smaller one to my larger RCA I would get all the channels I wanted...Thoughts?