As an a/v nut, I've grown extremely frustrated over the fact that I don't have my locals in HD. I bought a cheap little set top antenna but all I can pull is the local NBC station and even that goes in and out every few seconds.

I'm subscribed to DishNetwork. When I joined in July of 06 I asked about locals in HD. They said they'd probably be available in 6 months. I checked in again last month and they said "probably in about 6 months". Needless to say, I'm not holding my breath. I was ready to switch to Comcast cable even though the price is much higher. I signed up for HD programming and they scheduled the installation. The morning the job was to be done, the service tech called and said "Are you signing up primarily or HD programming?" I said of course and he said they don't offer HD programming in my area. I asked when they would and he said "I'd say at least 6 months". Obviously, 6 months of TV speak for "maybe in a few years - if you're lucky".

So, I'm ready to buy an antenna. I have no experience whatsoever with antennas and don't know what I need to buy or how to hook it up. I'm assuming I can hook it up through my VIP622 box in the OTA input. Aside from that, I'm clueless.

Here's my info from antennaweb. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

blue - vhf WWCP 8 FOX JOHNSTOWN PA 329° 12.2 8
blue - uhf WPCW 19 CW JEANNETTE PA 327° 12.6 19
blue - vhf WJAC 6 NBC JOHNSTOWN PA 12° 22.4 6
*blue - uhf WJAC-DT 6.1 NBC JOHNSTOWN PA 12° 22.4 34
blue - vhf WTAJ 10 CBS ALTOONA PA 48° 46.5 10
violet - vhf WPSU 3 PBS CLEARFIELD PA 31° 79.8 3
violet - vhf WTAE 4 ABC PITTSBURGH PA 300° 45.2 4

Per that information you have 1 digital OTA channel, the rest are SD analog. Antennaweb is very conservative so there may be other digital stations broadcasting in your area that it isn't showing. Try going into the advanced options on antennaweb and enter inflate the elevation a bit then select Digital Only on the results page before posting them.

Please provide your zip code so we can look up the stations in your area. You should check out the OTA reception FAQ sticky in this forum.

Added: Even without your zip, you are in very hilly country and one of the more challenging areas for OTA reception. Do you live in a house? Do you a roof you can place an outdoor antenna on?

Thanks for the replies. My zip is 15541. On the Johnstown, PA HD boards they mention ABC (watm 23) and CBS (wtaj 10) in HD so I figured they'd be available to me too. I don't believe the local fox station is broadcasting digitally.

I do have a house and could mount an antenna on the roof. Not sure how I'd do the wiring though.

Thanks for the replies. My zip is 15541. On the Johnstown, PA HD boards they mention ABC (watm 23) and CBS (wtaj 10) in HD so I figured they'd be available to me too. I don't believe the local fox station is broadcasting digitally.

I do have a house and could mount an antenna on the roof. Not sure how I'd do the wiring though.
You are in a challenging area to sort out the digital stations which are located in Johnstown and Altoona. The Fox station in Johnstown, WWCP-DT 8, has a digital channel on UHF 29, but has a low power STA (Special Temporary Authority) entry and a full power 1000 kW entry in the FCC database. The station may be at at full power on the digital signal, but antennaweb locks on to the low power STA entry and does not show the station for your zip. A number of stations have gone full power on the digital channel since last summer and the FCC database still has the STA entry which messes up antennaweb. You need to check with the local thread for Johnstown - Altoona to find which stations are at full power digitally.

Depending on your exact location you may have a better shot at getting some Pittsburg stations. The terrain for your area is complex. You should enter your exact address and an antenna height of 100' or 200' into antennaweb to see what shows up.

Ignoring Pittsburg, here are the Johnstown - Altoona major network stations (if I did this correctly): WJAC 6 NBC (DT=34), WWCP 8 FOX (DT=29), WTAJ 10 CBS (DT=32), WATM 23 ABC (DT=24).

All of the digital stations I see using silly antenna heights with antennaweb are currently broadcasting on UHF. WWCP-DT Fox will be switching to VHF 8 in 2009 after the analog shutdown. But for now, you need a good UHF antenna for digital, but probably want VHF for the analog stations and for 2009.

You need to think about a long range VHF/UHF rooftop antenna with a rotator. An indoor antenna is not going to cut it at all. It you don't want to put up the antenna yourself, check with the local thread on reputable installers who can do it for you.

The station may be at at full power on the digital signal, but antennaweb locks on to the low power STA entry and does not show the station for your zip. A number of stations have gone full power on the digital channel since last summer and the FCC database still has the STA entry which messes up antennaweb. You need to check with the local thread for Johnstown - Altoona to find which stations are at full power digitally.


The stations are allowed to update thir own data on antennaweb, but there's no way to know if FOX in Johnstown has actually done so.