HD Off Air Broadcast Antenna

[Groundbeef]

I need some help. I am having a terrible time getting my NBC affilate HD signal to my DirectTV reciver. According to the NBC engineer taht I spent time talking to, I should not have any trouble getting the signal. The tower is approx 10 miles due east, and pumps out 950 kw all the time. I can get the signal, and it shows 90% strength on my HD receiver. However, it constantly, drops out and shows its searching for signal. My ABC and Fox affiliates are about 40 miles away, and their HD signals are very strong, and are not prone to dropping.

My HD off air antenna is on the roof. Would it be a wise choice to look for an "amplified" antenna, or is that a waste of money? This antenna was put up by DirectTV, but they only look at off air for 90 days if you have protection plan, and for 75$ hr, I am not paying them to look at my $50 antenna.

Are there better antennas and how big are they. My wife is already convinced that I am trying to contact Mars with the 2 dishes, and off air antenna up, so I dont want to go much bigger. The current off air is about 2' across, and flat. Looks like a blade sitting horizontal.

Thanks for any tips or help. I am really getting tired of getting on a ladder to adust this thing.

[edtyct]

Your problem doesn't seem to be signal strength for the NBC station. If you get a 90 reading, your basic situation appears to be good. Is your antenna directional? Do you have a rotor for it? Sometimes moving the resonating part one way or the other and/or raising the antenna can work wonders. The greater the height, the better is your chance of receiving a strong, continuous signal. You might have multipath problems with local NBC, that is, reflections that cause intermittent cancellations of the signal--sort of like phasing efffects in audio. Or maybe there's something (like wind-blown branches) that obstructs your feed periodically. I'd look into raising your antenna and/or getting a directional antenna--something that you can move around from your TV room. Stationary antennas might be capable of a strong signal but not be able to counteract a multipath problem. If you want to see your options for other antennas, check out the Winegard and Terk websites.

Ed

[s dog]

I need some help. I am having a terrible time getting my NBC affilate HD signal to my DirectTV reciver. According to the NBC engineer taht I spent time talking to, I should not have any trouble getting the signal. The tower is approx 10 miles due east, and pumps out 950 kw all the time. I can get the signal, and it shows 90% strength on my HD receiver. However, it constantly, drops out and shows its searching for signal. My ABC and Fox affiliates are about 40 miles away, and their HD signals are very strong, and are not prone to dropping.

My HD off air antenna is on the roof. Would it be a wise choice to look for an "amplified" antenna, or is that a waste of money? This antenna was put up by DirectTV, but they only look at off air for 90 days if you have protection plan, and for 75$ hr, I am not paying them to look at my $50 antenna.

Are there better antennas and how big are they. My wife is already convinced that I am trying to contact Mars with the 2 dishes, and off air antenna up, so I dont want to go much bigger. The current off air is about 2' across, and flat. Looks like a blade sitting horizontal.

Thanks for any tips or help. I am really getting tired of getting on a ladder to adust this thing.

I just went through this a while back . I live 40 miles away from all of my local stations. I have a non directional antenna with a channel master amplifier on top of my two story house. Hears what i have found CBS is comeing in at 74 % i have a little trouble once in a while not two bad , ABC comes in at 94% works good all the time NBC runs about 85% and yes it does go out now and then but i can live with it. FOX i can not get at all, very week signal in my area hardly no one can pick it up at even 20 miles ways from station. It seems sometimes every thing works pretty good and other times not.I know this much i have to run a amplifier to get anything standerd or HD but than like i said i live 40 miles away from everything. It almost seems like the stations turn there power up and down but surely that wouldnot be the case.

[topspeed]

I just had my off-air antenna installed today by DirecTV. It's amplified and I'm guessing non-directional as it's essentially and tall pole sticking up from the hitch of my roof line. I can pick up every digital broadcast with ease and was just marveling at how terrific A Beautiful Mind looked in HD on ABC's local affiliate . You might want to look into an amplified unit as they are only about $50 from BB or CC.

Hope this helps.

[edtyct]

There is a caveat about amplifying a signal. If you live close to a signal's point of origin (5 miles is definitely close; 10 miles might be), a amp on the antenna could well be counterproductive. Signals that are too strong along the antenna could send the receiver into overload, causing dropouts and poor reception. The fact that groundbeef gets a reading of 90 indicates that he might not need an amp. His antenna simply might be picking up reflected interference that makes his signal drop out. With a directional amp and a rotator, he might be able to face the antenna in such a way that the multipath problem for that station goes away. His channels that originate at a distance might then be lost, but he can rotate the antenna to pick them up again as needed, marking the various compass directions for each channel on the rotator. It's possible that other kinds of interference are disturbing his signal, like a strong FM station in his area. In that case, an FM trap would bring relief. RF interference from inside and/or outside the house is also possible, and there are methods to find out. But multipath is an obvious culprit. An antenna meant for HD is at a disadvantage if too low and nondirectional. The fact that groundbeef can pull in stations forty miles away suggests that the current antenna has sufficient gain; it just can't get out of its own way to receive the closest station.

Ed

[Groundbeef]

Well, I got the antenna moved from the roof to the fireplace. It is about 35' east of its original placment and about 10' higher. NBC is perfect, and now ABC dropped off the radar. This is maddening. I love the HD feed, but man what a pain in the ass getting it set up. I am in DirectTV lingo "rural" market so I wonder if I will ever be getting HD local on my box in the next year or so.
Is there anyway to have 2 antenna and feed it into the cable before it hits the box, or does that cause other problems? As the original location was great for ABC.

Thanks for any input.

[edtyct]

Some people use two antennas, one at a time into the receiver. But I still think that a rotator attached to a single antenna might be your best bet. If you can turn the antenna from inside the house so that you can keep track of the right setting for each station, you might find an end to your frustration. Other things may interfere with your signal, but your experience so far seems to indicate that if your antenna faces the right way, you'll get the channels.

Ed

[Groundbeef]

Unfortunatly, this is not the case. I cannot pick up ABC in the new antenna location. I have rotated it 360 with my kids shouting "still not on...still not on". Quite amusing for the neighbors, but not so much for me. ABC came in crystal clear in the old location, but not the new.

[edtyct]

Yikes. Sorry about that. The trials and tribulations of OTA HD reception. Maybe a second antenna is the way for you to go, unless you have other options on the roof to set up the one that you've got and unlimited patience.

Ed