Antenna help (one channel)

[Audiophiliac]

I just moved into a new home and bought the Mohu Leaf (unamplified) antenna to try out. I get great signal strength on all channels (90+), but the local FOX affiliate is horrible. It is not watchable or the most part and displays a black screen. I checked the signals in the DVR Diagnostics section and the SNR is 27-29dB. If I move the antenna to lower the signal, it pixelates as you would expect with poor signal. But when it is at a seemingly fine strength, it still does not work. The funny thing is that this is channel 9.1...and channel 9.2 seems to be fine.

It is a VHF frequency.....same as NBC which comes in perfectly. I am 13.5 miles from the towers. A mix of UHF and VHF channels work fine. FOX lies right between NBC and another channel which both are ok.

I am at a loss as to what the problem is. I will likely try a different antenna to see if that fixes it. My old house was another 7 miles away and I got by fine with a set of rabbit ears. I might have to go back to those. I am basically limited to indoor antennas....I got the Leaf because it was unobtrusive and had good feedback from other users.

Any ideas? Is it simply a signal problem and can be fixed with a different antenna? Or is it the high voltage lines that run within 100' of the house causing issues? Ghosts? What gives?

[worachj]

Could be the antenna, I really couldn't find any real good spec's on it. It looks like its geared for UHF performance and handles the upper VHF signals somewhat. You may need a antenna that does a better job with both UHF and VHF. Your channel 9 is probably in the low range of the antenna's VHF range while NBC is more in the upper sweet spot.

Be careful of channel frequenciesl. Here in the Twin Cities, channel 9.1 is broadcasted on a VHF frequency and 9.2 on a UHF frequency. They did that because when they first started broadcasting digital signals they used a UHF frequency and switched back to a VHF frequency when the analogs were eliminated. They kept 9.2 on a UHF frequency for users of UHF only antenna's.

[dlfl]

Check frequency and location here:

antennaweb.org

tvfool.com

For good low-VHF performance the antenna has to have some size, comparable to the old rabbit ears fully extended.

Are you saying the signal strength on the bad channel is 90+? That ought to be plenty although your SNR is a little low, and that is affected by the antenna.

Even though this is described as an omni-directional antenna, it can't really be that. There will be directional sensitivity.

[worachj]

Try using a signal splitter in reverse and combine your VHF rabbit ears with your UHF Mohu Leaf antenna and see if that works. I use a signal splitter to combine a sliver sensor antenna with a VHF antenna. Works great for me on all three of my TiVo's (S3, HD, S4).

[dwit]

Have you checked using the old rabbit ears, at the new location?

[Audiophiliac]

Thanks for the replies. I am sure it is the antenna. The Leaf is definitely directional. NBC lies the lowest in the VHF range according to antennaweb. It has to be something odd between this particular antenna, this particular frequency, and possibly even the tuner in the Tivo.

I left the rabbit ears in the attic at my home....we are leasing it to some friends temporarily. I will just go buy another set and try them either on their own or in combination with the Leaf and hopefully come up with something.

It would not be an issue if FOX had not recently switched affiliates here and moved to ch. 9. They were on 12 before...and that channel comes in fine...but there is nothing worth watching on it now.