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I live about 1-5 miles from the broadcasters in my area, but can't get signal.

post #1 of 9
8/28/09 at 10:30pm
Thread Starter 
Basically, imagine a hill that runs north to south will valleys on the east and west sides of the hill. I am on the mid-section of the west side of the hill, where most of the towers that service Syracuse are on the east side of the hill. I have no line of sight, but they are all very close.

I get horrible reception no matter what I try. I bought the highly rated antenna from Monoprice (It was only ~$20 so I figured why not) and I got worse reception than the cheap junky $10 one I got from Radioshack 3 years ago.

Any ideas? I'm thinking of ordering a Terrestrial Digital DB4 and installing it in the attic.
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post #2 of 9
8/29/09 at 4:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ngamer007 View Post

Basically, imagine a hill that runs north to south will valleys on the east and west sides of the hill. I am on the mid-section of the west side of the hill, where most of the towers that service Syracuse are on the east side of the hill. I have no line of sight, but they are all very close.

I get horrible reception no matter what I try. I bought the highly rated antenna from Monoprice (It was only ~$20 so I figured why not) and I got worse reception than the cheap junky $10 one I got from Radioshack 3 years ago.

Any ideas? I'm thinking of ordering a Terrestrial Digital DB4 and installing it in the attic.

Before trying anything else, try a paperclip.

You might have either signal overload or excessive multi-path rather than weak signal. The DB4 would not fix either of the first two issues.
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post #3 of 9
8/29/09 at 6:41am
Use antennaweb.org or TVfool.com by street addresse to check reception.
In my city almost everbody can get get good reception from LA. However, I have a hill very close by with a water tower on the top which prevents me from getting any VHF or UHF reception at all from LA.
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post #4 of 9
8/29/09 at 6:42am
You're too close to the towers for an amplified antenna. If the antenna you bought has an amp, get rid of it. Something like this or this is probably all you need.

They are both good performers and you can return the first one if it doesn't work for you. If you have reception problems, try moving the antenna around the room until you find a hot spot. Use the TV's signal meter to find a good spot. Exterior walls are often best. If you can't find a good spot in the room for reception, try the attic.
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post #5 of 9
8/29/09 at 8:45am
Use TVFool to show us exactly what you've got. It appears you're literally on the side of a hill in which case getting the location exactly right is important. Sometimes your address gives you a location that's significantly "off." If you don't know your exact latitude and longitude, try the "MAPS" option which lets you adjust your location interactively by dragging a marker around on a map. Then use the "Make Radar Plot" button to get a table that you can post here by using the link given on that page.
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post #6 of 9
8/29/09 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I went ahead and built one of these: http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

Now I am getting 70% signal on stations I didn't even know existed, 80% signal on the stations I couldn't pick up, and 90-100% signal on everything else. This is by far the best antenna I've ever used, and it cost me $3 in duct tape.
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post #7 of 9
8/29/09 at 2:57pm
ngamer007, I'd be curious to know what stations you've gained from your antenna.

- Trip
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post #8 of 9
8/29/09 at 3:56pm
Another DIY UHF antenna success story, awesome!
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post #9 of 9
8/30/09 at 3:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trip in VA View Post

ngamer007, I'd be curious to know what stations you've gained from your antenna.

- Trip

I got like 4 PBS style stations, one of them in HD. I didn't know they even broadcasted OTA around here. And I also got some weird channel that broadcasts a picture of a speaker cone that floats around the screen, I'm guessing it's a music channel? But nothing ever plays.

The other stations I got which I could rarely (see: never for ABC) get before were CBS and ABC, which are blocked by a huge hill in between myself and the towers.
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