Hello!

I bought my mother a Sharp Aquos 23 inch TV set but am now having a very hard time pulling in any stations. Her zip code is 30328. She lives in a single level ranch with several tall pine trees around it.

I've reconnected her ancient rooftop aerial plus indoor rabbit ears but very few stations come in clearly. Could someone please recommend possible antenna choices - outdoor/indoor, or amplifier or something that will work - I don't care - She's old and I just want her to enjoy her new TV set.

Thank-you very much!
meig

I bought my mother a Sharp Aquos 23 inch TV set but am now having a very hard time pulling in any stations. Her zip code is 30328. She lives in a single level ranch with several tall pine trees around it.

I've reconnected her ancient rooftop aerial plus indoor rabbit ears but very few stations come in clearly. Could someone please recommend possible antenna choices
"Come in clearly"? Do you mean noisy pictures or dropouts? The digital channels would come in with clear pictures, with dropouts, or not at all. Just want to double-check that you did a OTA ATSC digital channel scan.

Most of the Atlanta stations are digitally broadcasting on UHF. Does the ancient rooftop antenna have a UHF antenna? Does the indoor rabbit ears also have a UHF loop antenna?

The antennaweb results for the digital stations for your zip code show:

* yellow - uhf WAGA-DT 5.1 FOX ATLANTA GA 170° 9.6 27
* yellow - uhf WATL-DT 36.1 MNT ATLANTA GA 171° 8.9 25
* yellow - vhf WXIA-DT 11.1 NBC ATLANTA GA 172° 12.4 10
* yellow - uhf WUPA-DT 43.1 CW ATLANTA GA 180° 13.0 43
* yellow - uhf WHSG-DT 44.1 TBN MONROE GA 180° 13.0 44
* yellow - uhf WGCL-DT 46.1 CBS ATLANTA GA 171° 8.9 19
* yellow - vhf WGTV-DT 12 PBS ATHENS GA 07-08 127° 15.8 12
* yellow - uhf WPCH-DT 17.1 TBS ATLANTA GA 171° 8.9 20
* yellow - uhf WSB-DT 2.1 ABC ATLANTA GA 180° 11.6 39
* yellow - uhf WPBA-DT 21.1 PBS ATLANTA GA 173° 12.1 21
* yellow - uhf WATC-DT 41.1 REL ATLANTA GA 338° 10.3 41
* yellow - uhf WPXA-DT 14.1 ION ROME GA 333° 30.6 51
* yellow - uhf WUVG-DT 34.1 UNI ATHENS GA 171° 8.9 48

With WXIA-DT NBC 11 on VHF 10, you need an antenna for UHF and upper VHF. All of the major stations are in the same direction at 9 to 13 miles. A good indoor antenna might do the job. If you are willing to replace the rooftop antenna, any number of medium range antennas should do the job.

Hello!

I bought my mother a Sharp Aquos 23 inch TV set but am now having a very hard time pulling in any stations. Her zip code is 30328. She lives in a single level ranch with several tall pine trees around it.

I've reconnected her ancient rooftop aerial plus indoor rabbit ears but very few stations come in clearly. Could someone please recommend possible antenna choices - outdoor/indoor, or amplifier or something that will work - I don't care - She's old and I just want her to enjoy her new TV set.

Thank-you very much!
meig



If you really want to make her happy which she undoubtedly deserve it just buy her one of these "Dish One" Satellite and let her truly enjoy watching her TV. You are only have one mother in the whole world try to make her happy while she still alive.

"Come in clearly"? Do you mean noisy pictures or dropouts? The digital channels would come in with clear pictures, with dropouts, or not at all. Just want to double-check that you did a OTA ATSC digital channel scan.

Most of the Atlanta stations are digitally broadcasting on UHF. Does the ancient rooftop antenna have a UHF antenna? Does the indoor rabbit ears also have a UHF loop antenna?

Yes - digital dropouts. The picture is beautiful for a few seconds then almost all of them pixilate (sp?) and the screen goes black except for the message, "No broadcast signal available" or something like that.

Her rooftop antenna is at least 30 years old and I don't know if it has a UHF antenna. The indoor rabbit ears are brand new, but cheap and do have a UHF loop.

I am very willing to buy her a new rooftop antenna and install it myself, but she won't let me buy her cable or satellite dish and it's useless to try to force the issue with her. She gets mad :mad:!

Thank you for your help!:)

Oh man, I empathize with this, having a 90 yr. old Mother who's a rabid Braves fan and now TBS has pulled the plug on the Braves!!!

Here's what I'd do:

1. Buy a 4228 for about $60 and put on roof (kind of safe for me since just one level)
(Yes, I know, this may be huge overkill, but I'm desperate and besides, I can deal with: the signal's too strong!)

2. Buy long enough QS RG6 cable and run directly to tv (in front door if necessary) and see what I get.

3. No. 2 would then determine my next step. Hopefully, those pine trees are no problem!

Yes - digital dropouts. The picture is beautiful for a few seconds then almost all of them pixilate (sp?) and the screen goes black except for the message, "No broadcast signal available" or something like that.

Her rooftop antenna is at least 30 years old and I don't know if it has a UHF antenna. The indoor rabbit ears are brand new, but cheap and do have a UHF loop.
You said you reconnected the roof antenna? Did you run new cable or just reconnect a broken connection?

The distance is pretty close at 8 to 12 miles. I suspect the trees may be knocking down the signal and that the old antenna on the roof has poor UHF performance and corrision problems.

If you are willing to replace the rooftop antenna, I suggest you get the Channel Master 4221 4 Bay bowtie and run RG-6 coaxial cable. The CM 4221 should get the VHF 10 station at only 10 miles. Bill suggested the CM 4228 8 Bay, but that is twice the weight and wind load. If your mother was > 30 miles from the broadcast towers, then I would have suggested the CM 4228, but the CM 4228 is a long range antenna. I get stations out to 43 miles with a CM 4221 in the attic so it works pretty well. See
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4221.html for info on the CM 4221. The CM 4221 is around $40 including shipping from on-line dealers such as solidsignal.com (http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SCM4221A) or warrenelectronics.com. Lowes or Radio Shack are good places to get RG-6 cable and antenna mounting gear.

That's a good point about wind load and 4228's. Mine's in the attic and gets fabulous reception, but I've thought about going to the roof for a couple of problem stations.

It seems to me the wind would blow right through a 4228 with little resistance. Have there been surveys or have we heard of rooftop 4228's getting whacked by the wind?? I've had the wind twice take down a section of concrete-anchored 6 ft. privacy fence at the corner of my house, but I removed several slats and now the wind meets much less resistance and the fence is holding. My elevation makes me regularly prone to almost hurricane force winds!

Back strictly OT, in any event the pine trees may make wind load not a real factor for meiguoren and afiggatt always has good advice.

[QUOTE=afiggatt;12316434]You said you reconnected the roof antenna? Did you run new cable or just reconnect a broken connection?/[QUOTE]

Ewww....I'm embarrassed to answer.....I used the old cable.:( I inspected it and it looked o.k. I stripped it back some and bought new screws and stuff to re-connect it with. So, it could be bad cable wire. It was a monster of an ordeal - one I'm not really wanting to go through again just to try with new cable. I think I will buy the new antenna you all very kindly suggested, and of course, new cable for sure this time!:)

I really do appreciate ya'lls advice and help! (Can you tell I'm from the south?!)

meig

Oh man, I empathize with this, having a 90 yr. old Mother who's a rabid Braves fan and now TBS has pulled the plug on the Braves!!!
Not that I don't feel bad for her, but doesn't she realize that the *dynasty* ended a couple of seasons ago? She's only missing a mediocre team now. :p;)