Help Needed with OTA HD Signal

It's all about your antenna.

Check out the "Local HDTV Reception Forum" at http://www.avsforum.com. Find the thread for Birmingham, AL. There you can find out what antennas work well for folks in your area.

 

A simple relocation of the antenna can help as well. I had trouble with one channel and moving it 20' down the roof fixed it.

 

Shake the leaves off the trees? See if it improves again as we get into the winter months. Also, check and make sure you have tight coax connections that haven't leaked water or corroded.

Have you tried aiming it towards Atlanta to see if those signals are perhaps stronger?

 

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Put the antenna on a 500 foot pole.

But seriously, is the antenna amplified at all. If not, you could try that.

 

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=ANC4228

I'd recommend this. I'm using it.

Keep in mind its very directional, but in Raleigh, all stations except PBS broadcast from the same place. (3 towers within 100 feet of each other).

When I bought mine, that was the best price I could find (including shipping)
Try it without an amp, and get an amp if you're still unsatisfied.


Also remember, that a bigger antenna doesn't really help with rain or wind fade.

 

20 feet or 20 inches?

I'm just trying to picture moving an antenna 20 feet ~down the pole.

I'd be about 6 inches off the top of the ground.

..

 

I said 20' down the roof, not down the mast. It's now 20' further north on my roof peak.

Moving the antenna up and down on the mast may also help.

 

I started off with rabbit ears. Had nothing but trouble with it when they were connected directly to the TV (this was before I got the HR10-250). Switched to a Radio Shack UHF antenna that a lot of folks recommended on AVS. Started off with it in the attic and the reception was a little better. I figured that once I mounted it on the roof it would get significantly better. It didn't. In fact, it got worse. Since I live in an apartment, I'm limited as to where I can mount it, and I don't have a clear shot to where I need it to be. One day I decided to futz with it to see if I could get it working better (new seasons of shows starting and college football season upon us and all). I hooked up a pair of rabbit ears up to the HR10-250 just to get a base-line on the unit's signal strength meter. And lo, and behold, everything came in perfectly. Yanked down the outdoor antenna and haven't disconnected the rabbit ears since. I suppose this means the ATSC tuner in the HR10-250 is just that much better than the one in my TV. But it's definitely worth a shot.

 

Ohh. Gotcha. "down" is sometimes a little ambigious when you're dealing with antenna setups.

Kinda like "back" when it comes to seats in cars.

"I put the seat back".

..

 

I have a couple of simple Terk amplified units, and live about 50miles from Charlotte. I have a mountain between me and the towers (literally), and get a good signal. I could never get decent analog TV via antenna, but digital is working great.

Definitely get an antenna with a amplified-booster

oh, and I have a roof mounted Terk for my HR10-250 (family room), and a little inside unit for my non-Tivo hd box in my home Theater.