Need OTA Help please

[JSFord]

Ok fellas. Moved from Miss Gulf coast to Chester VA last week just south of Richmond. I am about 15 miles from towers but apparently in a valley with lots of tress. Its really hilly around here compared to the flat gulf coast, lol. Antenna web just suggests a small directional. I got better recpetion with basically the same antenna before and I was over 60 miles from the towers.

Bought and installed a Radio Shack U-75R. Its above my Deck about 10ft which is just above the level of my road (Lot drops a lot below road and back of house is well below road level. Everything is pretty good 70+ consistent except NBC (54), which I am told is the problem child around here. It goes from 5 to 50 and back no consistency. I also have lots of trees in line of site.

So whats my next step? Add another 10 ft of mast? This would get me even with the top of the peak of my roof seems like that would help. Signal amplifier? Directv didnt use I seperate wire they combined and split behind the set. Should I try a seperate run? Any other suggestions?



Installer did crappy job on install as well but thats another post.lol

All Help greatly appreciated!!!

[rminsk]

Run a seperate line from the antenna and get rid of the diplexor the DirecTV install used. As a test do not try to cleanly install the line, just lay it across the deck. That should get you a boost without much work. If it works better go ahead the clean up the install.

If the runs are long (a few hundred feet) for the OTA would also consider using RG-11 rather than RG-6 for UHF channels.

[Runch Machine]

I had the same problem with channel 50. Without the diplexer it came in fine. Remove the diplexer and see if that fixes the problem.

[litzdog911]

Check out the "Local HDTV Reception Forum" at http://www.avsforum.com and look for the thread specific to your nearest city. You can ask folks in your area about specific antennas that work well for them.

[JSFord]

Thanks for the suggestions. Will try it out this evening.

[joetoronto]

Ok fellas. Moved from Miss Gulf coast to Chester VA last week just south of Richmond. I am about 15 miles from towers but apparently in a valley with lots of tress. Its really hilly around here compared to the flat gulf coast, lol. Antenna web just suggests a small directional. I got better recpetion with basically the same antenna before and I was over 60 miles from the towers.

Bought and installed a Radio Shack U-75R. Its above my Deck about 10ft which is just above the level of my road (Lot drops a lot below road and back of house is well below road level. Everything is pretty good 70+ consistent except NBC (54), which I am told is the problem child around here. It goes from 5 to 50 and back no consistency. I also have lots of trees in line of site.

So whats my next step? Add another 10 ft of mast? This would get me even with the top of the peak of my roof seems like that would help. Signal amplifier? Directv didnt use I seperate wire they combined and split behind the set. Should I try a seperate run? Any other suggestions?

Installer did crappy job on install as well but thats another post.lol

All Help greatly appreciated!!!


"It goes from 5 to 50 and back no consistency. I also have lots of trees in line of site."

this sounds like a large tree(s) moving in the wind.

a higher mast just might do it.

[newsposter]

may or may not help but here's what helped me. I got a home depot leviton amp for my 125ft run. I had the fm trap off and it was fine for months then something happened. Just turned on the trap and back to a good pic.

Also a few inches 'may' make a difference vertically or horizontally, there is no way to tell even if we were sitting there on your property studying it :) . As all our areas are different, it's just trial and error. 5ft of height did not help me at all. It was inching along the roof about 6 inches at a time that helped out my situation. I was shooting through a 'tunnel' somehow. So now the antenna is low on the roof, nice and stable, and I have excellent signal. It took me over 40 hours of trial and error myself in the attic and on the ground until i paid someone to do the roof thing. Well worth it so just be persistent.

good luck

[TyroneShoes]

...Antenna web just suggests a small directional...

Bought and installed a Radio Shack U-75R...

So whats my next step? Add another 10 ft of mast? This would get me even with the top of the peak of my roof seems like that would help. Signal amplifier? Directv didnt use I seperate wire they combined and split behind the set. Should I try a seperate run? Any other suggestions?
...
Keep in mind that antennaweb, while a useful site, has not really been dragged into the 21st century yet. What I mean by that is that their advice is very general, is for what you might buy if you wished to receive all available SD and HD channels, and is based on analog reception techniques, which are quite different from those for 8VSB. Use them for info on stations and pointing, but ignore their antenna advice. Figure out which channels have HD programming that you want, and target your antenna choice to something more specific for that.

I think hdtvprimer.com has the best antenna advice, and much of that can also be found right here. Also, Doug Lung at tvtechnology.com has good antenna advice. 10 more ft of mast is always better, but a better strategy might be a better antenna. Typically, the RatShack all-channels don't have the front-to-back ratios needed for HD. A DB-8 or a CM 4228 will perform much better for UHF (and the 4228 is good for high-V, too). That could be the smartest 50 bucks you can spend.

The higher the channel, the more diplexing is a compromise, so 54 will be affected more by this, so eliminate diplexors if possible. An amp can help, but can hurt if not used properly. It can help if you are 25-50 miles away or even much closer if combined with an attenuator, typically, but will not help if your problem is related to multipath interference, which takes a better antenna and higher placement. FM traps can also help.

An amp can get you more signal, but this will not help much if there is already enough signal and there is interference. But a variable-gain amp or amp and variable attenuator can fine tune levels best, and the amp will isolate the antenna from the tuner, reducing VSWR and thereby improving the net noise figure, even for folks close to the towers.

[newsposter]

general comment...please dont forget everything uhf 52 and higher will be gone after 2009...if you care :)

it may or may not affect your antenna selection ....you should find out what the stations in your area plan after that date for final selection. Here in philly it's great news as 64 67 and 54 will all disappear. I get great reception now but initially the higher ones were more difficult for me.