SF Bay Area antenna question

The problem is probably not aim. NBC is a VHF station, and all of our others in the SF Bay Area are UHF. Your antenna is likely just a UHF antenna, and you are getting the NBC channel only because they have a really strong transmitter.

You need a UHF/VHF antenna. You are also close enough that you don't really need a directional one.

 

Can you still get NBC via 48.2 subchannel in Oakland?
That's what I used to do. 48.1 is galavision, and 48.2 was NBC HD.

(Sorry, I no longer have an HD Tivo, so I'm going by memory...)

 

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Check antennaweb again. It's frequency assignment is 12. 2-13 is VHF.

I'm in Cupertino. I have a UHF/VHF antenna (the ChannelMaster StealthTenna with the optional amplifier, got it from Fry's) and I get a VERY strong signal for NBC (95+), but the rest of the major channels are all in the 70s. I think I need a bigger antenna. Of course, I'm a lot further from the city than you are (33 miles, and I have trees to contend with), and I certainly can't SEE the towers!

 

I am roughly the same distance from the towers as you with line of site (San Mateo) , but I only have 10 degrees seperation between the two sites. I'm using a directional channel master 4221A so I pointed mine in between. I would try a re-aim first just for kicks. NBC is on the upper edge of VHF (practically UHF) so I don't think the antenna is the problem unless you need more of a multidirectional. I don't have any problems with NBC here.

 

There is a huge spread in frequencies between the upper end of VHF and the bottom of UHF. Upper VHF (channels 7-13) is at between 174-216 MHz, and UHF (channels 13-83) is between 470-806 MHz.

To get good reception on VHF, you need a VHF antenna. But the original poster is probably close enough to get channel 11 in digital with indoor rabbit ears. Just get yourself a VHF antenna. An indoor one will almost certainly work for you. KNTV has a heck of a transmitter. But you'll have to mix the two signals (from the two antennas) together, unless you get an all-in-one VHF/UHF antenna.

 

It is not true that to get good reception on upper VHF that you need a VHF antenna. I have a field strength meter meter which measures raw signal strength. I also have a Channel Master 4228 and an all channel Radio Shack antenna. The 4228 gets slighly more signal on channels 9 and 11 here in Minneapolis than the Radio Shack antenna. However the 4228 gets very little signal on low VHF, channels 2, 4 and 5.

I often recommend the Channel Master 4228 for people who need to receive channels in the upper VHF and UHF band.

See this thread which compares different antennas and the use of UHF antennas on the VHF band.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

I think that the original poster of this thread will resolve his problem by rotating his antenna slightly. If that doesn't do it, a 4228 will solve his problem.

 

i live even furhter southwest (los gatos area). do i even have a chance at getting locals without a monstronsity on my roof? wife wont really go for the big antenna. i am like 43 miles away from sutro. anyone have any recomendations for me? any super powerful indoor antennas i could look at?

 

I live in Campbell, and really needed the "monstrosity" of a CM4228 to get all the channels reliably. The famous radio-shack bowtie antenna worked "sort-of" indoors for me, but I got sick of the contsant tweaking and dropouts, so went for the big boy.

With Los Gatos tucked into the hills a little more, blocking Sutro some more, I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for an indoor antenna working for you. But go buy a Zenith Silver Sensor from a store that you can return it (sorry, no idea where) , and see what happens.

 

thanks for the info jdk. i will give it a shot. i have an older sd tivo dvr., but also have a spaun multiswitch, and a samsung 50" DLP. do i cable the antenna to the spaun, or to the tivo (Phillips - dont know model #).

 

Well I live in Campbell, 42 miles from Sutro and I pick up all of the stations except NBC with a Silver Sensor sitting on the shoulder of my chimney. you could always try that for $30 and see if it works.

 

Well, you're going to need an ATSC (Digital TV) tuner in order to see if you can tune in ATSC (Digital TV). An SD Tivo doesn't have an ATSC Tuner.

Does you Samsung TV have one? If not, you'll need to get an HR10-250 (which has a built in ATSC tuner), or some other external ATSC tuner. You should wire the antenna directly to the tuner to get the best results.

 

I am in Santa Clara and I get them all with an indoor Radio Shack antenna on the top of a book shelf.

 

I live in Newark and I'm using the no-name antenna that Directv installed. I get 85-90 signal strength on all channels except NBC (11.1), which only gets 45 on a good day. Sometimes, I don't even get a signal. Once it stops raining, I guess I'll climb on the roof and try turning the antenna a bit to see if I can get a stronger signal on 11.1.

Does 48.2 broadcast NBC all day? A coworker also told me that 48.2 was NBC but I checked it once and it didn't look like NBC...I think it was like a PBS or Telemundo channel?

 

I don't think 48.2 is still broadcasting NBC. I believe when KNTV had their tower in the south bay they re-broadcast it through 48.2 for those that could not get the 11.1 signal. Since they moved the tower they no longer broadcast on 48.2, at least that is my understanding.

 

I'm in Campbell and with a 4228. I get gangbusters on all the UHF/HD channels. But ever since NBC moved their transmitter, I get nearly 0% signal strength. I must be in a null for the transmitter pattern or something. I've even tried a VHF only antenna, but only rarely get the NBC HD signal at all, usually when the weather is very bad, oddly enough.

When the weather gets better, I'm going to try a cut-channel yagi.

 

Robb,

I'm in the Oakland Hills with line of site to SB Mtn. and Sutro Towers as well. I use the CM4228 and have no problems (self install). I did find when installing that there was a sweet spot in pointing it to get all channels as strong as possible.

Also I bought this from a guy on Craigslist a while back and he gave me an amplifier which was of no use to me. I'm too close with too much signal. In fact I use an attenuator to dial down the signal. Without the attenuator I simply have too much signal.

When your NBC drops out have you checked too see signal strength?

 

I got the 2 bowtie antenna as well.

It's weird, but it seems like I can never get a signal on 11.1 when I try to watch the channel live, but it seems to get the signal fine it records a show. My Name is Earl recorded fine 2 weeks in a row so far.