Hello, I have looked at similar threads for this topic and I haven't seen the help I need so hopefully I will be able to ask here.

Here is my issue. I have a Sharp LC-37GB5U, it has an analog and digital inputs in the back of it in order to hook up an antenna. I just got a digital indoor/outdoor antenna from Monoprice and attempted to hook it up after work today.

I put the TV to the digital antenna set up which shows the signal strength. On the screen it says to get the signal at 60 or above. When I plugged the antenna into the digital port on the back of the TV it immediately registered a signal and with some different placements I was able to get it all the way up to 75. I was stoked!

Here is where the problems start. With such a great signal I did a channel search to see just how many channels I could get. While I was doing the search, I noticed that I was not getting any channels, so when it was over I went back to the signal and it was at 0. I tried to move the antenna and still 0 signal! No matter what I did it had no effect. I pulled the cable out from the back of the TV and put it back. Now the TV isn't even giving me the option to go to digital antenna set-up!

WHAT HAPPENED?! How can I have a very strong signal to having nothing at all? I am very frustated so here I am, please HELP!

This seems to be a problem with the TV setup. See page 21 of the manual.

http://www.sharpusa.com/files/tel_man_LC37GB5U.pdf

It appears that this TV lacks a QAM tuner (for digital cable), as digital only appears to apply for "air." Make sure that "air" is set to yes under digital.

You may want to check with the display forum for more help on configuring the TV or it may be time to call Sharp.

Plugging just the name of your town into tvfool.com's signal strength calculator suggests that most of your stations are more than 30 miles away. Reception of digital signals with an indoor antenna is usually problematical at more than 15 miles or so.

Enter your address or exact latitude and longitude there, save the image which contains the table of results, and attach it to a post here. Then people can see exactly what you're dealing with and can suggest an appropriate antenna.

I would like to thank both of you for your responses, I will be looking into your suggestions. I also have to say that I have a ViP622 DVR from DishNetwork that I trried plugging the antenna to and it still read as 0 signal. After doing that I am feeling that it is not the TV.

Another think that I have been thinking about is when I saw the signal on the TV screen, it was showing red bars, as opposed to maybe green? I don't know why this may be important except to say that I head of receiving "ghost" signals, and maybe that is what happened to me.

I don't know, I should probably just be happy for what I have already and keep looking forward to next month when I get my new Blu Ray player and Onkyo receiver. I have all of the HD channels from Dish and the locals (SD). It just would be nice to be able to see the network shows that I like in HD.

Anyways, if there are any more suggestions I would certainly appreciate it. Oh by the way, I have checked on anntenaweb and checked to see what outdoor antenna I should be using but what good is that if the signal does not get displayed by the TV?

Please tell us more about the antenna. Which model # is it? Is it an amplified antenna?

Do you have a rabbit ear/loop combo around or any other antennas you can try?

Okay, here it is. I GOT IT TO WORK! I called Sharp and they kind of guided me on how to get the digital channel set up to work. Once I got a signal from the one channel I could receive at the time, I was off to the races.

I hooked up the antenna to a pole that extends (used for unscrewing very high light bulbs) in three parts. Went outside with a long enough cord and leaned it up against a tree. Then came back inside to do a channel search of what I could get. I was able to get a few more channels though at a low level. I then got the ladder out and a couple of bungey cords and headed up to the roof. I extended the pole as long as it could go and placed it against the chimney and wraped the cords around each as to hold it in place. After running a channel search again I was able to get a couple more channels, still not the ones that I wanted. I looked at the signal strength of the one channel that was lowest and figured that if I could get the signal at 60 or above I should be able to get the rest of the channels I want to come in.

By that time, my wife had gotten home so I pulled out the Motorola walkie-talkies and headed back up to the roof. I kept turning the pole and asking my wife what the signal was. Once it was at around 63 (the highest I could get it) I went inside to see what channels would come up. More and more came up, but still not all of the ones that I wanted. I then remembered that this antenna has a built in amplifier and I had forgot to plug it in. Once I did, BINGO!!

I have so many channels now and when they are showing programing in HD it looks beautiful.

Thanks again guys, I will be doing a permanent set up of everything soon as I can get everything that I need as well as writing a positive review at Monoprice for this antenna.

it sounds as though you need a better external "real" antenna. www.tvfool.com or www.antennaweb.org will help you select an antenna and tell you where the transmitting towers are in relation to your home.

If you would post only your zip, we could help with some real world suggestions by viewing the web sites mentioned to get an idea of the proper antenna selection.

Good to hear things are working properly now. Make sure that the Monoprice antenna is able to receive vhf signals as well as uhf as you have several channels that will be hi-vhf after the transition.

Yes this antenna also gets in VHF channels as I get KAIL which is coming in on digital channel 7.1, as well as 15.1.

I then remembered that this antenna has a built in amplifier and I had forgot to plug it in. Once I did, BINGO!!

I have so many channels now and when they are showing programing in HD it looks beautiful.

Thanks again guys, I will be doing a permanent set up of everything soon as I can get everything that I need as well as writing a positive review at Monoprice for this antenna.
So often it's the little things. The other day after cutting in a new DSL router, I spent 30 minutes troubleshooting a fax machine that wouldn't work. Come to find out that it was in "copy" mode.