ok, so I have tried 3 antennas now and for some reason I can't pick up 2 OTA DT channels. I use Windows Media center and a hauppage win tv 1800. Both channels are in the exact same location South east of me at a distance of around 7 miles. According to the TVfool website and google earth, I am around in the orange rangeThey are both VHF-HI (10 and 13 I believe), and they both register as "one bar" in media center. Here's where it gets interesting. My room mate talls me that the roof of the house is aluminum (groan). Oh yeah, I live in Jacksonville FL a few miles north of downtown , so there are trees... and tall buildings lots and lots of trees and tall buildings. I get the UHF channels fine. Now, what I would like to know is the following:

1. is aluminum known to exclusively block/reflect VHF signals and not UHF?
2. If so, does that men I would have no choice but to build/buy an outdoor antenna? I don't think my room mate would be too pleased about that.
3. Would making a "coat hanger antenna" and leaving it inside help, or do you think the signals are being blocked outright?

Check out the Jacksonville thread in the locals forum just above this one. Welcome to the club of those of us having problems with 12 and 25. In addition to the antenna issue, reception also depends on where you are in town. Those channels also broadcast at a lower power which can make reception problematic.

What do analog 7 and 12 look like? What antennas have you tried? Amplified antennas at 7 miles would very likely have problems with overload.

The UHF signals may be reflecting well enough for reception, but I have not found VHF signals to reflect nearly as well when tall buildings are around.

Also, indoor VHF antennas do not work very well on the ground level. The difference between my analog 7-13 reception at ground level vs. the attic (effectively 3rd story) is stark. The change in UHF reception is small.

Do you have access to the attic?

What do analog 7 and 12 look like? What antennas have you tried? Amplified antennas at 7 miles would very likely have problems with overload.

The UHF signals may be reflecting well enough for reception, but I have not found VHF signals to reflect nearly as well when tall buildings are around.

Also, indoor VHF antennas do not work very well on the ground level. The difference between my analog 7-13 reception at ground level vs. the attic (effectively 3rd story) is stark. The change in UHF reception is small.

Do you have access to the attic?

I don't know what they look like. To be honest I never thought of plugging the OTA antenna into the NTSC tuner, which is currently being occupied by cable (comcast). The current antenna I'm using (a multidirectional RCA one.... it's white, model 1400 I believe) is not amplified, the one I used before it (it was a terk I believe?) gave me similar results

well, what I was guessing was aluminum reflects/blocks only VHF signal frequencies and leaves UHF alone., but I would like a professional opinion on hat, since I could be wrong and it could be a different factor all together.

as for what level, I live on the second floor. My pc is on the "window" wall. My antenna is near said window. As for the attic, I doubt my room mate would approve of me putting an antenna up there and having to route coax through the ceiling. He's perfectly happy with his SD cable and he is baffled that I'm going out of my way tro get HD broadcasts over the air.

My room mate talls me that the roof of the house is aluminum (groan). Oh yeah, I live in Jacksonville FL a few miles north of downtown , so there are trees... and tall buildings lots and lots of trees and tall buildings.


well, what I was guessing was aluminum reflects/blocks only VHF signal frequencies and leaves UHF alone., but I would like a professional opinion on hat, since I could be wrong and it could be a different factor all together.
Not a professional but IMHO aluminum would block/reflect all frequencies. The way you describe your location it could be a multipath h_ll. Multipath can be a bigger problem at high VHF than at UHF frequencies.

VHF has a harder time going through walls than UHF. Forget good reception if you're behind metal.

The attic would be a much better location, if the antenna could "look" through the roofing material instead of metal siding. Unless, of course, it's a metal roof.

Can you run a coax down from the attic through a closet, and then to your tuner?

The dipoles of the antenna should be as horizontal as possible and extended ~13" each.